Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 67490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
“Italian. You can’t go wrong with lasagna and breadsticks,” her mom murmured, her eyes on the back yard.
“She’s going to be okay,” I said to the lot of them. “She has her moments, but she’s doing well. She cries a lot at the drop of a hat. She had a really tough time with the funeral and going through Addison’s house. But she’s strong.”
A soft hand hit my shoulder, and I smiled at Garnett, who I hadn’t realized had shuffled her way toward me.
“You’re good for her,” she said quietly.
I grinned. “She’s good for me.”
“And maybe you being here will mean I get to see my baby more.” She winked.
I thought about her leaving, going on another assignment far away, and it hurt.
The idea of her leaving for anything more than an hour literally made me panicky.
“I’ll do my level best to keep her here,” I told Garnett honestly.
She grinned. “I have no doubt in my mind you’ll get her to stay. She looks at you like I look at my Ger. Like you hang the moon.”
“Ewww, Ma. We’re literally trying to eat here,” Gable whined.
“You’re not eating, you moron.” She rolled her eyes. “Set the table.”
Gable winked at his mother, then got to setting the table.
Eventually, Germaine and Ande made their way back inside.
Ande came directly to me, and I twisted so that she could stand between my legs.
She leaned into me, and I held her until it was time to eat.
But even then, I never let go of her hand.
And let’s just say, eating with your left hand was damn near impossible.
But it was worth it.
CHAPTER 26
I’m fat, but not fat, fat. Like my stomach jiggles, but my shoes aren’t too tight.
-A random man to Ande at Target
ANDE
Keene was between my legs, slowly pumping his cock in and out of me.
My legs were pinched in close to his chest, my hands were around his neck, and I had my neck turned into the crook of his neck, breathing him in with each breath.
He growled and caught my ass, his hand squeezing, and I knew he was coming.
I’d come only minutes before, and he’d continued the same pace—slow and easy. Lazy.
It was sweet.
It was exactly what I’d needed after the long day I’d had.
After hours of going through all of Addison’s belongings, the only thing that we’d found was the journal.
The journal where I slowly read and watched the life bleed out of my sister’s words.
The journal that would haunt me for the rest of my life.
The questions had started surfacing after we’d found nothing else.
How could I have missed this?
How could I have totally skipped over the fact that her phone calls had become less? That her attitude about life had changed? How could I have not known that she’d gotten married?
All these questions that would never be answered haunted me now.
And Keene, sensing I was having issues, had protected me all night long. Going as far as to hide me from my brothers, or interject into a conversation, at times.
That led to now, him coming.
He grunted, and his body tensed.
Then he was filling the stupid condom with his release, his breath coming out in harsh pants.
“I have a doctor appointment for birth control next week,” I breathed into his throat.
“Good,” he uttered. “Because I want to enjoy you spontaneously, and not have these stupid things between us.”
I bit his throat, causing him to chuckle.
“You doing okay?”
The sexy rasp of his voice had my heart vibrating with excitement.
“I’m okay,” I promised, groaning when he rolled us over to our sides. “How is this super-secret thing you’re doing?”
He’d talked a lot with Hannibal and Winston today.
They’d had a lot to talk about regarding my sister’s husband.
And apparently, none of it was good.
I’d decided that it was best for my mental health to stay completely out of it and had shared that information with Keene. He’d taken it very literally and hadn’t had any discussions about Addison or Abraham in my presence since.
I knew on some level, whatever he was about to do would be dangerous.
He was trying to keep me out of it.
He was making it so I didn’t have to lie to my family.
Whatever he was about to do didn’t scare me.
I knew that he was about to rid the world of a problem. Between him and Winston’s secret words, I knew that it had to be big for Winston to fund it.
Yet, I wasn’t worried.
Apparently, the team that Keene was working with was a great one, and they were all overly qualified to be doing whatever it was they were doing.
That didn’t mean that I wasn’t curious, though.
“I’m going to go,” he said as he got up and got dressed. Only when he was completely clothed did he come back to the bed and plant a kiss on my forehead. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”