Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80014 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80014 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
“I’m so sorry,” I blurted, as I held up my hands to show them I was unarmed. “I didn’t mean to trespass. I was on a date and it all went horribly wrong. I had to get away from him, so I ended up climbing over your fence.” There was actually a lot of truth to that. I just left out the fact that I was the reason it went wrong.
The woman with the bat relaxed her posture slightly, but she still looked wary. Meanwhile, the curvy blonde at her side rested a hand on her companion’s arm and asked me, “Are you okay?”
“I think I sprained my ankle when I landed in your yard.”
A tall, muscular Black guy and a cute twink with dark hair had followed the women outside, and the tall guy stepped forward and said, “Here, let me help you up. Don’t put any weight on your ankle.”
His confidence and the way he took charge of the situation made me ask, “Are you a doctor?”
“No, I’m a retired firefighter. My name’s Dylan, and this is my boyfriend Lark.” He indicated the twink with a nod as he hauled me to my feet. “Yolanda’s a nurse, so maybe she can take a look at that ankle. She’s the one with the bat. And that’s JoJo, her wife.”
Hallelujah, I’d managed to land in an LGBT household. “I’m Jack,” I said, as I balanced on one foot and leaned on Dylan. “Again, I’m so sorry about this. I can only imagine how it must look.”
“I’m just glad you escaped your date from hell,” JoJo said, as Dylan began to guide me toward the back door. “There are a lot of jerks out there.” Truer words were never spoken. In fact, they were currently helping one of them.
They ended up bringing me into their kitchen. It was pink, white, and purple, and it looked like its last remodel had been in about 1975. I absolutely loved it.
While Lark made me some tea, I took a seat, pried off my loafer, and put my foot up on a chair so Yolanda could examine it. “It’s starting to swell up pretty good, but there’s no way of knowing if anything’s broken without an x-ray,” she said. “Would you like a ride to the ER?”
“No thanks. I don’t have insurance. Even if I did, I hate hospitals and would only go if it was a matter of life and death. I think I’ll just give this a day or two and see if it starts to improve.”
“It’s your call,” Yolanda muttered, as she studied me carefully. She was the smartest one of the bunch, because she was the only person who seemed suspicious of me.
Not that she had a reason to worry. These were decent, working class people, like my mom. I’d never steal from them, not in a million years. As a matter of principle, I only stole from rich people. I was like Robin Hood in that respect, except that I kept the loot for myself. I was poor, so it still counted.
Yolanda tried a different approach for getting rid of me. “After I bandage your ankle, I’ll find you some crutches. We have a pair in the garage. Then I can give you a ride home.”
“It’s okay, I can just call a cab. I don’t really know what I’m going to do when I get home though, because I live in a third-floor walk-up.” The bit about the apartment was true. I just left out the fact that I didn’t want to go outside because a huge guy with a gun was hunting me.
Lark put a mug of herbal tea on the table beside me, along with a bear-shaped squeeze bottle of honey. Then he turned to Yolanda and said, “Jack should just spend the night here, because he’s injured and there’s no way he’ll make it up three flights of stairs. Plus, it’s really late.”
JoJo nodded. “I agree. He’s had a rough night, and I don’t think he should go anywhere.”
Yolanda caved under the peer pressure and asked me, “Would you like to spend the night on our couch?”
“I’d love that,” I said. “Thank you.”
Sometime later, I found myself tucked in on a comfortable, plum-colored couch in their cozy living room. I was dressed in a pair of Lark’s flannel pajamas, which had cartoon unicorns on them, and my bandaged foot was sandwiched between a towel-wrapped bag of ice and a stack of pillows. Even though my ankle was throbbing, the fistful of ibuprofen I’d taken was dulling the pain, and the herbal tea was making me feel warm and relaxed.
Everyone had gone to bed, but I was pretty sure Yolanda was sleeping with one eye open and totally prepared to clock me with her bat if need be. All the housemates were great, but I was a fan of hers because she was such a little bad-ass.