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)
“Not really. She’s just shutting me out. Said she needed time alone and locked the bathroom door when she went in for a shower.”
“Ahh.” Jinx folded his massive arms across his even more massive barrel chest. “Been there.”
“So what do I do?”
Shrugging, Jinx said, “You give her the space she’s asking for. Sucks, brother, believe me, I know, but it’s what you gotta do. Hearts fly outta Kels’s eyes every time she looks at you. Don’t worry, she ain’t going anywhere. Let her process at her pace. Remember, that girl is used to being alone. Having people who care and want to manage shit for her is going to take some getting used to.”
Huh. He scratched his chin as he thought about Jinx’s words. He’d purposely not shaved because Kelsie loved the way his stubble felt on her skin, but the new growth was beginning to itch.
“When the fuck did you get so mature about this shit? I was the one who was married.”
Jinx tilted his head as he let out a loud laugh. “Yeah, and how’d that work out for you? I don’t know, brother. It’s common sense.”
“Thanks, I feel so much better now,” Ty quipped in a droll tone. Jinx, as always, with the snark.
“Nah, I’m kidding, man.” He slapped Ty on the back so hard that he nearly stumbled, and he wasn’t exactly small. “Just easier to see the right thing to do when it’s not you in the hot seat.”
“True. He returned the pat on the back. Thanks, J. Hey, do you mind getting started on the inventory? I’m gonna make a quick call.”
Jinx hoisted a ruined tire over his shoulder. “No prob. Just gonna dump this one out back, and I’ll get on it with AJ,” he said of another employee.
“Thanks.”
Ty headed for his office as Jinx walked the blown tire to the dumpster. Once a week, they were picked up for recycling, and today was that day.
When he reached his space, Ty locked the door and pulled the blinds. This would be a private conversation he didn’t want interrupted. He sat at his desk and scrolled through his contacts for the number he’d never bothered to memorize.
“Ty! To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?” The sultry voice on the other end had his hackles rising with nothing more than a standard greeting. “Have you called to concede the property?”
Laughing, he leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet on his desk. He grabbed a stress ball Brooke had left him a few weeks ago and tossed it in the air. “I gather you haven’t seen the news this morning.”
“No. Why?” Her voice held a note of suspicion.
“Cuz your buddy, Lorenzo, is ruined. He doesn’t have enough money for a gumball, let alone to steal my business out from under me.”
“W-what?” she whispered.
Ty grinned as he caught and tossed the ball again. The shock in her voice was music to his ears. “You heard me.”
“I-um, I hadn’t heard anything.”
“Well, you might want to flip on your television because it’s all over the damn news. But that’s not all I called to say. Trina?”
“Yeah, Ty?”
He could practically hear her twirling her hair and plotting how to get back in his good graces. “The moment I hang up this phone, we are finished. I don’t want to see you or hear from you again. Ever.”
“Baby, you can’t mean tha—”
“Oh, but I do. You stay the fuck away from me, but you especially stay the fuck away from Kelsie.”
Trina laughed. “The child? Please, Ty, there’s no way she can give you what I can, and you know it. Remember how we used to—”
“What I remember is the relief I felt the day our divorce went through. I mean it, Trina. I’ve played nice up until now, but that’s over. You come near what’s mine, and I will bring the full power of my club down on you, and trust me, you don’t want that.”
“Ty, you don’t mean that.” She went for a verbal pout that time.
“Goodbye, Trina.”
Before his finger hit the end button, he heard a shrill, “You fucking asshole,” but the words rolled right off his back. He ended the call, set the phone on his desk, and then booted up his computer.
It's time to get his work done. He had a woman to get back to, and he didn’t want to arrive home a minute later than he had to.
CRYING JAGS ALWAYS left her weak and exhausted—this one was no different. Add to it the mountain of guilt she had over locking Ty out of his bathroom and the complex feelings over the information she hadn’t processed from that morning, and Kelsie was a general mess. She went through the motions of dressing, styling her hair, and applying her makeup as though walking through a fog.