Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 82973 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82973 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
That left Matt with a choice: go down with the ship and let it drown him in pain or pull himself out of the wreckage and move on.
For a long moment, he closed his eyes. This fucking wasn’t what he wanted. If Madison were still an option, he’d pick her every time. But she wasn’t. And Haisley had made it crystal clear that nothing he did could change that.
“You stay,” he told Nash. “Go chat up the hot brunette. I hope you get lucky, man.”
“Where are you going?”
Matt clutched the truck keys in his fist. “Don’t worry about me.”
Before Nash could say anything else, Matt squared his cowboy hat on his head, rounded the bar with a fake-as-fuck-smile and flashed his dimples, then stopped inches from Hannah Jamison. “You still want to fuck?”
She took another sip of her margarita, then swallowed with a smile. “You offering?”
“Yep.” He raked his gaze over her friend, another attractive blonde wearing too much makeup and not exercising enough caution, then stared at Hannah. “You mind sharing?”
Her smile widened. “Not at all.”
“Good. Bring her with you. It’s going to be a long night.”
CHAPTER SIX
July 2
Present day
Lafayette, LA
“Matt?” Madison shouldn’t look into his eyes. She would only lose herself there, but she couldn’t stop. His stare, not to mention his body heat, melted her. Being this close to him again was something she’d fantasized about. Now her most secret longing was coming true. “Say something.”
He went rigid. His grip around her wrists tightened. “What else is important for me to know? I can’t ensure your safety if I don’t understand everything that’s happening.”
She swayed into him for a forbidden moment, desperate for his comfort and so hungry for his touch. Then she backed away, because he was right; this was life and death. Her feelings weren’t important. “I’ll tell you everything I know. Just ask me.”
With a sharp nod, he released her and tossed her a blanket, barely looking her way. Feeling small, Madison wrapped the fleece around her naked body and sank to the bed. He settled in the chair halfway across the room and breathed out as harshly as a curse. Clearly, he wanted distance between them. It hurt.
Madison tried to swallow back tears. She’d been so raw and afraid for the past twenty-four hours, keeping herself together took effort she didn’t have anymore. Silent drops ran down her face. She thanked goodness for the shadowy room. In stripping herself bare, she’d made herself too vulnerable. Matt wasn’t interested. His rejection was humiliating…but it didn’t surprise her. From the beginning, she had been a sucker for him, and he’d walked away from her so easily.
“Tell me about the senator’s security detail.”
That wasn’t the question Madison had been expecting. “Day-to-day, Ivan is his cover man. He’s a mean Russian who hates the motherland. But when Winston does public appearances or travels, he has four. They’re two teams of two. Ivan is the lead.”
“Strictly bodyguards or would they do wet work?”
She nodded. “They definitely do wet work. I’m not supposed to know that, but when more than a handful of people suddenly off themselves, die of heart attacks at forty, or get violently mugged in upscale parts of town…the truth is fairly obvious. And based on frequency, I’d say Winston’s goons are busy.”
“The senator has a lot of enemies?”
“You don’t get as powerful as he is without stepping on some disgruntled people along the way. And you don’t stay powerful without breaking rules and having influential friends willing to turn a blind eye.”
“What about Todd?” Matt asked, saying her husband’s name like he spit out something bitter. “Bodyguards?”
“Not usually. He’s convinced he’s too manly to need his grandfather’s ‘babysitters,’ as he calls them. He’ll grudgingly take one along if he does a public appearance.”
“You think your husband will hire muscle to come after you?”
“I don’t know. This is personal for Todd. He wants to end me himself. But with Brent’s murder so recent, Winston will do his best to tighten his leash.”
Matt shifted in his seat. “Your death would draw more attention. The senator is too smart not to realize that, so it makes sense that he’d stop his grandson from doing something that stupid.”
“He’d try. Controlling Todd is like harnessing a tornado. Unlike his father, he won’t merely lick Winston’s ass for money. Todd uses his connections, and he’s got his own grift going. I don’t know what it is, but he’s too happy with himself for it not to be flourishing.” She smiled bitterly. “I was supposed to tame him, you know. When that didn’t happen, everything Todd did became my fault. I proposed an amicable divorce a few months back, but…”
Matt sat up. “You asked Todd for a split?”
“I approached Winston. Todd was too stoned. Honestly, he never gave a damn in the first place. But the senator refused to entertain talks of any sort of separation until after the election.”