Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
She snarled silently at me and followed the path up the walk to her house. When she disappeared inside, I grabbed another box from the pile and halted suddenly when I came face-to-face with an expressionless Tommy Tom.
“What?” I asked him.
“You act differently around her,” he accused. “Like you’re fucking human.”
I shrugged.
“Doesn’t mean that you’re off the hook.”
I raised a brow at him.
He growled something under his breath, grabbed his own box, and took off.
Before I could follow suit, Ghost appeared out of nowhere with haunted eyes.
“How’s it going, man?”
I hadn’t expected him to answer me. If I were being honest, this was something he never did. I didn’t know if it was due to me being so new or the fact that he didn’t like me, but the man never spoke to me at all. When he did, it was to relay something that somebody else asked him to relay.
“Fucking dandy,” Ghost grumbled. “Found my kid and wife, though.”
My brows shot up to my hairline. “I thought that they moved and you couldn’t find them.”
He picked up two boxes and walked away without answering, leaving me with the question of ‘is that it?’ before I followed behind him.
There was no talking again until well past lunchtime, and by that point my belly was eating the inside lining due to its eagerness to have food filling it.
“Babe,” I yelled at Ellen when she started to pass me.
She glared. “What?”
“Will you order some pizza?” I asked, placing the box on the tailgate of Big Papa’s old Chevy Silverado. “Here’s my wallet. Just try not to spend over two hundred dollars or you might need to use the credit card instead of the bank card.”
Her lips thinned, but she took the wallet without a word and walked away, only looking back once to glance at me to see if I was still standing there watching her go.
I was.
I watched her until I couldn’t watch her anymore. Then continued to watch until she passed by the large picture window in between the kitchen and the dining room.
She paused and looked out, her eyes catching mine, and gave me a tiny smile that told me this wasn’t nearly as bad as it could be. She could be really pissed. She could hate me for inadvertently causing her to get kicked out of her place and practically forcing her to move into mine. She could be doing a lot of things right now, but she was calm, cool, collected and helping us pack.
That was not the way I would think that a woman not keen on moving in with a man would act if she really didn’t want to do what she was doing.
No, she wasn’t upset by this at all.
Not even a little bit.
***
“Dad, do you want me to take her clothes into your room, or the spare bed…” I gave him a look, and Linc started to walk away, heading toward my room with the box that held all of Ellen’s clothes.
“This is the last box,” Big Papa said, setting the cardboard monstrosity down next to the other piled boxes.
I offered him my hand, and he took it.
“I got some news today while we were moving that you’re not going to like.”
I waited for him to explain, and he didn’t leave me in suspense for long.
“Your ex made bail last night.”
My head tilted.
“How did she make bail already?” I grunted, not really surprised that she found a way out.
“Had someone show to pay the big bucks.” Big Papa shook his head. “They let her out of there yesterday. She sat in a jail cell for about three hours before she was allowed to make her one phone call. A man showed up to pick her up; supposedly he looked pretty rough, too.”
I gritted my teeth.
“Probably her fuckin’ dealer,” I grumbled, dropping his hand. “Maybe even the baby daddy.”
Big Papa shrugged. “Could be. I don’t know. Asked the man on duty if he had any details on the man. He gave me his info he had to fill out to post bail, but every piece of information was forged. License was fake. Pulled the video feed, and the man knew not to look up at the cameras. Never got a clear view of his face. We have nothing but the plate number at this point, which we’re running.”
Fucking figured.
I nodded. “Thanks.”
He clapped me on the shoulder and headed for the door.
“She comes over here again, I suggest you file a restraining order,” he advised. “That way you have something to fall back on when you take this to court.”
“How do you know I’m taking this to court?” I questioned.
He opened the door and stepped through it. “Been a cop for thirty years now, boy. I know this kind of behavior better than you, and you’ve been dealing with it firsthand for going on sixteen years now.”