Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 71880 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71880 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Hmm. Yeah, no, that had to hurt. I wouldn’t be able to stick around for that sunshine story.
Something wasn’t adding up, though.
“What was with the 180?” I wondered. “Did he have a reason to avoid you?”
He shrugged and flattened the dough some more on one of the trays. “I don’t know. I guess he felt bad about changing his mind and didn’t have the balls to say it to my face.”
I reckoned that made sense—though, it didn’t fit my profile of Joel Hayward. On the other hand, I didn’t know the man. It was just… These past few weeks, he’d struck me as a man of integrity, someone who was honest and didn’t mind taking the back seat—until he felt the need to step in. He’d definitely eased Shay’s nerves tonight before we’d gone up into the helicopter.
When someone needed him to do something, no matter how dangerous, he said, “Sure.”
He and Crew had single-handedly taken down Luca, Marco, and Enzo Blanco tonight. One grunt and one sniper.
And with Joel’s everyday job…? For chrissakes, HITRON was one of our most elite military units. Could he be anything but fearless? But as I thought of it, I knew it didn’t compare. Riv and I had thrown ourselves into all kinds of shit, knowing full well we might not make it out alive. Hadn’t stopped us from being insanely nervous when we were introduced to Shay’s family for the first time.
“He made shit clear once when he was drunk anyway,” Elliott muttered. “He came up to me—at their fucking wedding reception, mind you—and rambled drunkenly about how Piper was his whole world.”
I winced.
“You make me wanna drink, Elliott.”
He laughed.
CHAPTER 3
Joel Hayward
“Daddy?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“Uncle Ellie says I have his eyes, but I have my own, see!” She blinked hard at me.
My mouth twitched. She was too fucking cute.
“Get in the car and I’ll explain,” I chuckled. “How was school?”
“Meh. Trey called my dress ugly, so I called him a turd. He was wrong, and I was right.”
That’s my girl. “Your dress is beautiful.” I got in behind the wheel and buckled in. “You wanna get tacos?”
“Do you even have to ask?”
I smiled and pulled away from the curb. Maybe I could distract her from bringing up Elliott again.
“So, about Uncle Ellie,” she started.
Fuck.
Fourteen messages from Piper.
I turned off my phone again and pocketed it, then leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees.
I’d call her when we got to Europe. We didn’t want anyone to trace our activity to South America.
I shouldn’t have turned it on in the first place, but I’d just needed to see my lock screen photo of Blake and me for a second.
A few more days, baby. Daddy’s coming for you. I promise.
River and Shay were next to trail into the common room, with River supporting himself on a crutch. I guessed they were used to handling injuries in this place. They collapsed down onto the couch next to mine, and Danny soon followed.
I rubbed my right ear, the one where the ringing sound bothered me the most.
The room was divided into three seating areas with mismatched couches and one corner with a pool table and dart board. No pictures on the walls. No Hillcroft logo anywhere. No training stats or records listed on a fancy wooden board. Nothing that could identify anyone.
“I wanna sleep for a week,” Shay mumbled, cuddling up against River.
I swallowed hard and cracked my knuckles absently. I’d had this pressure building up in my chest since we’d stepped out of the helicopter. I knew why too. Because we were standing still. We weren’t doing anything. We weren’t on the next flight to Europe.
Coach returned, wheeling in a whiteboard.
That was good, right? We’d get to work and do something. I couldn’t handle another bonfire nostalgia trip.
Danny yawned and kicked up his feet on a coffee table. “Are we gonna compare whose gold loot is the biggest?”
River grinned sleepily.
Coach chuckled. “I don’t think anyone can beat River in that arena.”
“Wait.” Shay sat up straighter. “That’s actually a thing you all do? Because River and Reese freaking emptied Luca’s desk. Mostly River.”
“Good to hear they listen to me sometimes,” Danny chuckled. “And fuck yeah, defund the cartels.”
“Amen,” River murmured.
I mustered a faint smirk. “Elliott did his part too. So did I, I guess.”
“Attaboy.” Danny smiled lazily. “We take what we can when we can, and we split it with those who helped out but couldn’t be there.”
I liked that. Most of the time, front-liners had teams of people helping in the background.
“Who wants pizza?” Reese’s booming voice echoed down the hall, and Danny sat up straighter and rubbed his hands together.
“My body is ready—bring it!” he hollered.
Reese and Elliott soon appeared, and the former was pushing an industrial serving cart with several homemade pizzas. The square kind, seemingly thick crust, and dripping in melted cheese.