Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 76559 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76559 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
“Nope. Not at all.”
“Not even a little bit?” He smiled and held up his thumb and forefinger a few centimeters apart.
“If you must know, it’s just sex. For now.” When Emmett’s shoulders fell in disappointment, I felt an even greater fondness for him.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Me too, but it is what it is. I’ll see you around, Em.”
I couldn’t think of the confusion that was me and Terry, not now. Not with him so close and my feelings so raw. I kept my head held high and signaled Terry we were leaving. We marched through House of Ashby until we were outside and the feeling of being watched intensified.
“What’s the hurry?” Terry’s long legs caught up to me quickly. “Can’t stand the stench of gym sweat?”
I glared at him and shook my head. “No, I feel like someone is watching me.”
Terry smiled. “You’re a beautiful woman. People are always watching you. Don’t tell me this is the first time you’ve noticed?”
The honesty mixed with amusement in his voice made my heart skip a beat, because that was how far gone I was over this man. Even backhanded compliments made me feel good, and I blushed like a schoolgirl.
I shook my head, refusing to respond to his unintended compliment. Terry was trying to be a peacekeeper, to keep me from getting upset about our lack of a future without decimating my confidence. I appreciated it and loved him even more for it, but I couldn’t let it matter.
“Emmett thinks Ravager came into some cash right before the fight.” I texted Cal and Jasper the information to see if anything came of it.
“You think someone else paid him to win the fight?”
“Possibly.”
That narrowed the list considerably if that was the case. There were only a few people who knew enough to know the damage his win would do to the Ashby family.
“It’s getting late. Want to have dinner with me in Mayhem, Kitty Kat?”
I should have told him to shove his invitation up his gorgeous ass. I should have just said no, but the smile that spread across my face at his question was unstoppable, as was the rapid beat of my heart. I was too gone, too in love to say no. I’d grab any chance I had to spend time with him.
“I’d love to.”
It was probably the closest I’d ever get to saying those words to him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Terry
“Any progress on Madison’s sister?” Jasper and I shared a back booth at Midnight Mass, catching up since I’d been spending most of my time with another Ashby. Kat. Dinner in Mayhem had been more romantic than I’d intended, but the Japanese steakhouse had offered up a private terrace for a starlight meal and a little too much Japanese whisky.
“Well?”
I blinked away the memories of that whisky and the tangled hotel sheets, the thick brown hair draped across my chest. The slow, sensual goodbye later that morning.
“Nothing good. She’s alive but not willing to give us any details or provide her sister with any peace. Kat and I are both fairly sure the old dude called Miller is actually Mueller.”
“Fuck. It was too much to hope that it was all some big fucking coincidence, I suppose.”
Lines of strain showed around his eyes and mouth, the uncharacteristic way he raked his hands through his hair. “You think he’ll come after Madison?”
I nodded and took another pull of my beer.
“If I were him, I wouldn’t let it go. She might not be able to name him, but she’s seen his face. If she sees one local mass service or one of his many appearances in the newspaper, it could be all over for him.”
In response, Jasper drained his beer and motioned to the waitress for another. “Between Mueller, the fucking green Lambo fiasco and the mysterious fucking resurrection of Brendan Rhymer and his sister who’s in the wind, I’m about to lose my shit, man.”
I could see the truth of his words in the tense set of his shoulders, the way his gaze jumped around the room, from other diners, to the servers, and finally back to me.
“No other sightings of Brendan?” I asked to get his attention.
Jasper shook his head. “Or Savannah, goddammit.” His hand smacked the table hard enough to draw stares just as two more beers arrived at the table.
“Thanks,” I said and smiled at the server to assure her all was good.
“Look man, we know Brendan is alive and that he was probably the figure Bonnie saw in the parking lot.” If she even saw anyone. With her behavior lately, she wasn’t a reliable witness in my eyes. “He seems to be getting off on this cloak and dagger shit. We should put a team on finding him and nothing else.”
He gave me a guarded look over his beer. Before he took a swig, he asked, “And where would you like them to start?”