Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
With the two of us alone, the living room fills with an undercurrent of tension that sets my teeth on edge.
“So.” His eyes come to me. “You and Olivia live next door to each other.”
“We do.”
He nods, opening his mouth before closing it once more, seeming to turn something over in his head.
I let out an annoyed breath. “I’m going to have a look at the window to see what I need to close it up.” I don’t wait for his response before I head down the hall.
When I get to the room next to Olivia’s, I step inside. Like Lincoln said, there is a brick on the floor, and it was thrown through with enough force to push the sheer curtain covering the window out of the way, but the glass is mostly contained behind it. I walk across the room and push the curtain aside to get a better look at the damage.
“How bad is it?”
I turn to Olivia, who’s standing in the doorway, dressed in a pair of baggy sweats and a hoodie three sizes too big for her.
“The entire window will need to be replaced due to the splintering of wood around the pane of glass that shattered. They must’ve clipped it with the brick.” I pull back the curtain to show her, and she cringes.
“Great.”
“I think I still have the ones I took out of my house after I replaced them with new energy-efficient ones. I just need to track them down tomorrow.”
“You kept them?”
“I try not to toss too much stuff into the trash, especially when it can be refurbished and used for something else.” I let the curtain fall back into place. “You ready?”
“Yeah.” I follow her down the hall to the living room, where Lincoln is still waiting.
“We’ll be back in five minutes.”
“Sure. I’m going to run out and turn off the lights on my cruiser.” He heads to the door, and I stop to pick up my gun before we follow him out.
When we step outside, the cold air slaps against my bare skin. I didn’t notice the temp earlier when I ran over in just my boxers, but I definitely notice it now. As Oli and I cut across my yard, Lincoln goes over to where the other two policemen sit in a patrol car with the doors open. A second patrol car is parked at the curb with the lights still on, shifting from red to blue as it lights up the night.
“The neighbors are going to hate me,” Olivia grumbles under her breath.
“I doubt they are going to hate you, but I’m sure they’re wondering what’s going on,” I assure her. “I’m surprised I haven’t gotten a phone call.”
She raises a brow. “Let me guess. You’re the leader of the neighborhood watch?”
“No.” I laugh. “But living on a cul-de-sac, we all look out for each other.” I open the door to my house and let her inside before maneuvering her down the hall to my bedroom, where I flip on the light. My layout is the same as Kourtney’s, putting my bedroom on the side of the house near Olivia’s room, which is why I heard the window breaking next door and assumed it was here.
“Should I call Kourtney?” she asks when I step away from her and walk across the room to put my gun back in the safe before going to my dresser.
“I’d wait.” I pull out a pair of sweats from one of the drawers and put them on, noticing her look away as her cheeks turn an endearing shade of pink.
It’s cute.
She’s cute.
I thought that same shit last night about a million times while we were hanging out. Though, I thought a lot of other shit last night that I should not have been thinking about when it comes to her.
I grab a long-sleeved tee and drag it over my head as I continue. “You can call her in the morning and tell her what happened. Hopefully, I’ll be able to fix the window tomorrow and see about installing some motion lights on the backside of her house since she doesn’t have any.”
“I can have my dad and Liam do that.” She shifts on her feet as our eyes lock, and I close the distance between us.
“We’ll sort out the details when the sun is up.” I wrap my hand around the side of her neck, watching her pupils dilate when my skin comes into contact with hers. “You okay?” There haven’t been any tears, and besides her trembling and tight grip on me when we were at her place, she’s been so cool about everything that has happened, and it’s kind of freaking me out.
“Yeah, I just hope it wasn’t those guys trying to pay me back for what happened and that it was just some kids being stupid… if that makes sense.”