Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 126840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
“Oh my God. Stop talking about sex,” she snapped.
Core and Marcy exchanged a glance.
Marcy made an “eek” face.
In other words, Hellen also hadn’t been properly laid.
Yet.
Core chuckled.
“I kinda hate both of you right now,” Hellen stated.
“Just trying to lighten the atmosphere, sis,” Marcy said conciliatorily. “It’s getting heavy because everything Core is saying makes sense. This is a bigger bad than we knew, and we’re stuck. Also, Bree is too if she doesn’t get her head out of her ass about Christos.”
Hellen plopped back into her couch and took a long drag off her beer.
This was silent speak, meaning she agreed with her friend, but she didn’t like it.
“I say we wait it out,” Marcy suggested. “If she tells us she’s given him more money or something weird comes up, we give her the three strikes, he should be out talk.”
“And if she doesn’t listen?” Hellen asked.
“We’ll make sure her parents don’t remortgage their house for this guy,” Marcy answered.
Core butted in. “Say what?”
“The Tinder Swindler, it’s a documentary. Have you watched it?” Marcy asked.
He shook his head.
Marcy explained.
“Same thing, except, and I hate it that these words are coming out of my mouth, that man was masterful. We’re talking yachts and private planes. And his bitches weren’t rolling in it. They were opening credit cards and taking cash out of them for his ass. He’d woo one with the money he got fleecing another. He left them hundreds of thousands in debt.”
“Fuckin’ hell,” Core grunted.
“Exactly,” Marcy agreed.
“What happened to the guy?” Core asked.
“He got a little bit of jail time and now he’s putting up pictures of himself in his garage full of Lamborghinis because, whatever his new angle is, he’s got one and it’s working for him just fine,” Marcy told him.
“Fuckin’ hell,” Core growled.
It occurred to him then that Hellen was quiet, so he looked to her to see she was slouched in the corner of the couch, sipping beer and moping.
“You put your ass on the line for your friend, which is really cool, babe, whether she listens to you or not,” he reminded her.
It was then she said something he really wished she hadn’t.
But she did.
She said, “Life sucks all around. You’re born into it being a shitshow. You gain coherent thought and learn what a shitshow is, and you’re in the thick of it. And then you live it, with each day that passes, understanding how huge of a shitshow it actually is.”
After she said that, she sucked back more beer.
But when she was done, she looked tired, sad…
And beaten.
Which was why Core made the decision he made in that moment.
And, fuck him, it was crazy.
She might be uppity and high maintenance, but there was definitely something about her that got to him.
So he made it.
And like any time he made a decision, he wasn’t going to change his mind.
He was all in.
4
BINGO
Hellen
I sat at the desk in my office, irritably tapping the end of my pen against my blotter.
I was irritable because a man I only knew by the biker name Core had strolled into my evening plans, dropped the bomb that Eleanor was up to no good (as usual), horned in on our investigation of Christos, pointed out it was much worse than we thought so our hands were tied, helped himself to my beer (or, to be fair, didn’t say no when offered one) and looked far too good sprawled on my couch…
And then, after I bitched about how life was a pain in the ass, he’d looked at me with this expression on his face like he’d beat down an entire army with just his fists if they threatened to do me harm.
I’d seen that look before. On occasion, Andy, my stepdad, wore it. These occasions included when my birth father was dicking with my mother, me, my sister, Liane, or anyone was messing with us or his kids from his first marriage, Archie and Elijah.
Also, Jagger had watched Archie the entirety of their wedding ceremony with that look on his face. And before him, his brother Dutch had done the same with his bride, Georgie.
Still, I’d been stricken by that look on Core’s face because no one had ever looked at me like that.
Stricken and moved.
Something velvet glided through me as we locked eyes, and it was a feeling I’d never felt in my entire life.
It was akin to how it felt to have Andy in our family.
But it was much stronger.
It was exquisitely beautiful.
And after that…
Nothing.
He downed his beer, ordered me and Marcy to stay out of trouble, then waltzed out my apartment.
Did he leave his number?
No.
Did he tell us his real name?
No.
Did he suggest he’d see us (namely me) again?
No.
Just walked out like he walked in.
Smoke.
Of course, I could text Jagger and ask how to get in touch with Core, but that would mean Jagger would ask questions.