Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
“What?”
“Nothing.” His cousin lifted his hands as though surrendering. “You just seem a little… tightly wound.”
“Fuck off.” Tightly wound. Bullshit. He wasn’t tightly wound. He was pissed off.
“Wanna talk about it?” Curly asked as he pushed off the wall and sauntered toward the bar.
Did he want to talk about it? Hell no. But he knew his cousin. The president of the Hell’s Handlers MC viewed himself as some sort of father figure to all the men in his club, Ty included. It didn’t matter that they were practically the same age and grew up wreaking havoc together or that Ty had managed his life fine while Curly was behind bars for over a decade. No, the man had a serious daddy complex.
Or he’s just a good man who cares about the family he created.
Dammit.
Ty sighed. It wouldn’t kill him to chill out a bit. “Want some?” he asked, lifting the bottle.
“Nah, ten a.m. is a little early for me.” Curly chuckled.
“Yeah, yeah, you don’t have any vices. We get it.”
That got them both laughing because Curly had countless good qualities, but the man was far from a saint.
He swirled the bottle, watching the tequila run down the insides. “Came here from the hospital.”
Curly’s eyes flared in surprise. “Really? You visited the girl?”
“She’s not a damn girl, Curly.”
His cousin smirked. “Woman, pardon me. Did you visit the woman? What’s her name again, Kelly?”
“Kelsie. And yeah, I saw her.”
Curly nodded but didn’t respond.
Damn, the silence was worse than anything his cousin had to say. “What?”
“Nothing. Just wondering if she was a huge bitch to you or something? Maybe cussed you out and called you an ugly fucker.”
Ty stared at his cousin. “What? What are you talking about?”
“Well, you came crashing in here, knocked down my pest control consultant, and practically made the poor guy piss himself. I’m trying to figure out how you go from visiting Kelsie to being this irritated. So I’m asking if she was a bitch to you.”
“No. She was fine. She’s not like that.”
“So…” Curly rolled his hand, encouraging him to keep talking.
“So nothing.”
“Ahh, I get it now. Thanks for clearing that up. I assume this chat helped you feel better.” Throwing his hands in the air, Curly shook his head. “Talking to you is like talking to a teenager.”
“Can you quit with the sarcasm?” Ty poured another shot and downed it like the others. “She tried to kill herself,” he said before the burn had passed.
Those five words sobered the mood faster than anything else could have.
“Oh shit.” Curly ran a hand down his face, pausing to rub across his lips.
“Cut her fucking wrist.” Saying it out loud made him want to vomit. It could have gone bad so easily. If she’d sliced a little deeper or EMS took a little longer to get to her, they’d be having a very different conversation.
If he’d even know about it.
“I’m sorry, brother. I know the two of you formed a special bond whi—”
Ty reared back. “What the fuck? No, we didn’t.”
“Ty, you can’t tell me you don’t care about the gir… woman. She looked at you like you hung the damn moon. And you hovered like a mother hen when she was here. It’s okay.”
He shook his head. “You’re crazy. I helped rescue her. What kind of dick wouldn’t want to make sure she was okay? That’s all, it was nothing more. Any deeper connection is all in her head. Don’t go looking for unicorns when it’s just a damn mule. Told her the same thing.”
“You told her that?” Curly’s jaw dropped.
“Yes. I don’t want her getting any whacked-out ideas. For fuck’s sake, Curly, she’s half my age. I don’t need her trailing after me like an eager puppy with some misplaced hero worship.”
Curly ran a hand through his hair. Or he tried, but it snagged on the curls halfway through, so he gave up. “Okay, the pieces are starting to come together now.”
“Shut up. This isn’t a damn puzzle.”
“While you were there, did you dole out any other words of wisdom to the young lady recovering from a serious trauma?”
His stomach turned as heat washed over him. “I mighta said something else,” he mumbled.
Curly’s eyes narrowed. “What?”
Another shot of tequila was required before he could confess his sin.
“Four shots in ten minutes? Shit, you must have said something really dumb. Come on.” He waved his hand. “Spit it out, cuz.”
Nope. Not saying it.
Curly merely arched an eyebrow.
Fuck. The guy spent thirteen years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Ty didn’t stand a chance against him in a battle of wills. He set the glass down and shoved the bottle away. The last thing he needed was to be plastered while in such a foul mood. That’s when shit tended to go south fast. “I told her she was stupid.”