Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 133849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
“And if she can’t?” Nicole asked.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” His brother had the right idea. It was time to start rebuilding trust. “And I’ll tell the shop to fix your car as quickly as possible so you don’t feel like we’re holding you hostage. I’ll trust you not to run, and hopefully over time, you’ll trust me again.”
How could she refuse him? They were giving her everything she wanted. Time and space and maybe a way out. “All right. I’ll come home with you. But I do want my car.”
“About that.” Jack’s face had a sheen of pink.
Abby’s jaw dropped. “You didn’t.”
“Well, I was worried she would leave,” Jack said quickly. “And Al said that junker wasn’t safe. She’s lived in that car before. She’s got pillows and blankets in it. I couldn’t let her leave when she’s obviously in danger. This isn’t my first rodeo.”
“Of course I knew that,” Josh said, frowning his father’s way. “Did you think I wouldn’t check out her car? I wasn’t going to cube it, though.”
That sounded bad. “Cube?”
Abby stood up to her husband. “How could you?”
Jack shrugged. “The same way I did it to you and Sam. See, Al takes it down to the dump and there’s this big machine…”
“He smushed my car?” That car was all she had.
“You can pick your new one in the morning,” Josh said, sending his father a fierce stare. “We’ll go shopping before we leave. Dad’s paying.”
“Of course I am,” Jack replied like it was a forgone conclusion he would be writing a big check.
“And now Nicole’s got a cube of her own.” Sam wrapped an arm around his wife’s shoulders. “We can show you how to style it and everything.”
She wanted to argue but she was getting a new car out of it. Shouldn’t she be more upset about the principle of the thing? Or should she be practical? She could find a nice, inexpensive used car.
Or she could teach all the men not to mess with her. “I like Olivia’s Benz.”
“An excellent choice,” Kim said, settling her bag against her hip. “I’m going to get some sleep. I’ll reschedule my flight back and we can discuss how this is going to work over breakfast. I’m sure Jack’s paying for that, too.”
“Oh, I’ll be paying for a while now,” Jack replied.
Abby reached for his hand. “Come to bed and I’ll show you how you can pay me back, Jack.”
“They have zero discretion,” Grim said with a shake of his head.
She thought it was sweet they’d been married for so long and still wanted each other. Still wanted to play and hold hands and explore. Still got excited about coming to the club.
Could she have the same with these men?
Should she even want it when she knew how badly it could go?
“I’m tired.” She was infinitely weary, and nothing was getting solved tonight.
“Then we’ll go to bed,” Grim promised. “Come on. I’ll carry you down.”
“I can walk.”
But Grim was already lifting her up into his arms. “You still don’t have shoes, baby. You know as long as you don’t have them, I’ll have to carry you around.”
Josh’s eyes lit up.
“You are not cubing my shoes,” Nicole protested. Although hers were kind of ragged.
“I promise.” Josh leaned over and brushed his lips across her forehead. “And I’ll sleep on the couch. Grim didn’t want to do any of this. He wanted to wait. He wanted to be patient. I had to push.”
“I let you do it, so I was involved. I take responsibility,” Grim argued.
She didn’t want to go to bed alone. Josh was right. This problem wasn’t getting fixed with a conversation. It would take time. “Just come to bed, Josh.”
He nodded solemnly and they carried her out.
When she was finally between them, she was able to sleep.
* * * *
“You can’t sleep?” A deep voice brought Josh out of his brooding.
There was no other word for it. He was brooding in the dark, looking out over the Austin night. He was high enough up he couldn’t hear the people milling about on the streets below as the clubs started closing and people started finding their ways home.
His home was in a bed behind him, wrapped around Grim. It had started awkward with Nicole in the middle, but at some point she’d fallen asleep and turned into Grim’s warmth.
And Josh had been jealous as fuck.
He turned to his father, who stood on the balcony beside his. Between their suite and his parents, they were taking up half the floor, and the wraparound balconies met in the middle. Which appeared to be a good thing since both he and his dad were in the doghouse.
“No. I’m afraid I can’t turn my brain off tonight. I thought you would be…” How did he put this? “Making things up to Mom.”