Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 99040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
“Oh, shit, sorry. I’m watching the rain on the porch at, uh… a friend’s place. Can you hear me? Need me to go in?”
“Nah, it’s all right. I’ll be quick. I drove out to work on my cabin. Board up the windows and repair a few spots in the roof.”
“Okay?”
Andrew owned a small cabin on the Alafia River. It was an interesting area not far from where they lived and worked. Unlike the very flat terrain of the majority of Florida, the Alafia had numerous elevation changes and was a favorite locale of hikers and mountain bikers.
“I, uh.. fell off a fucking ladder,” he said with a sheepish chuckle. “About ten minutes ago.”
“Oh, my God!” She straightened. “Are you okay?” She might not like working with the guy or agree with his philosophies, but she wasn’t bitchy enough to wish him physical harm.
“Pretty sure I broke my ankle. Bad sprain at best. I can’t get the fuck up.”
“Need me to send an ambulance?”
He sighed. “I thought about it, but they’re gonna be busy as fuck tonight. I don’t want to take them away from a true emergency. Any chance I could get you to pick me up and drive me to the hospital?”
Ugh, what an awful area to drive to during the storm. But how could she refuse? “Sure, um…” She glanced at the time on her phone with a frown. “Text me the address. I’m guessing it’ll take me about half an hour in this weather.” She kept a first-aid kit in her trunk so at least she could give him some ice and painkillers for the trip to the ER.
“Thanks, Jo.” He sounded strained like the pain was getting to him.
“Be there soon, hang on.” She hung up to find a frowning Tracker.
“What was that?”
“Andrew has a cabin on the Alafia, and he went out there to board it up earlier today. Said he fell off a ladder and thinks his ankle is broken. He asked if I would pick him up and take him to the emergency room.”
Tracker grunted. “Uh… hell no.”
“Excuse me?”
“Why the hell did he call you? You aren’t friends? You know how shitty that area gets in a regular rainstorm. You can’t drive there in this.”
His authoritative tone scraped like a cheese grater running down her spine. “He probably called me because I’m reliable. And I’m his partner. He knows I’m good in an emergency and had to go out in this shit tonight anyway for my shift.”
“Jo, it’s ridiculous. That area is muddy and hilly and has a fuck-ton of trees. You know how many of them will be uprooted in the next few hours? I’m guessing a lot.”
“Tracker, I have a four-wheel-drive SUV with emergency equipment. I can handle it. What the hell happened to me being a badass? Now I can’t drive in the damn rain?”
“It’s more than rain and you know it. That area had a mudslide during the last nasty hurricane.” He shook his head. “Fuck that. Call that asshole back and tell him to get an ambulance. Or crawl to the damn hospital. You don’t need to spend any more time with him than necessary. I swear he wants in your fucking pants. This is probably a ploy to get you alone in a cozy fucking cabin in the middle of a hurricane. Broken foot, my ass,” he muttered. “If he wants to say something’s broken, I’ll be happy to break his dick.”
Jo stared at the handsome face she’d come to love with an open mouth. Thank God for the rain, or she’d be swallowing flies. “Are you even hearing yourself right now?”
“Sure am.” He folded his arms over his chest and leaned back in the rocker.
The king had spoken.
Well, fuck that.
Too bad her taser was in her SUV because the high-handed man could have used a good jolt of electricity to snap him out of his stupidity.
She stood. “You know what, Tracker? I spent my entire life doing what I was told. Listening to men judge me and tell me how I should dress, walk, talk, and what the fuck I should do. If you think I’m gonna put up with that shit from you, you’re out of your mind. I’m going to help my partner because I’m a good person.”
She stomped toward the entrance to the clubhouse, then turned back to him again. “And you know what?” she shouted over the rushing of the wind. “Who the hell cares if he wants in my pants? I won’t let him in there.” She stopped walking. The wind whipped her ponytail all around, making it smack her in the face while her clothes flapped against her skin. “And, hey, look at that. Now you and Andrew have something in common.”
With that, she stormed into the clubhouse, grabbed her purse without acknowledging the curious gazes trained on her, then stomped right back out again.