Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68937 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68937 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
I was just happy that Cutter didn’t have that same pinky promise that Milena had forced out of us.
“Good,” I responded. “Let me know if you need any help.”
He jerked his chin up at me and started off at a jog.
Closing and locking the door, I headed to my bed where I set Nate down.
I came back seconds later in sleep pants and had a warm rag in my hand.
He started to twist away but I caught him by the foot and hauled him back to me. “You clean it.”
Nate took the rag and looked at it like it was going to bite him.
“It’s warm and soft. It won’t hurt that bad,” I pointed out.
He rubbed his nose on it and paused to test out how bad it hurt.
It must’ve been okay because he cleaned it better the second time.
“Use the other side to clean your eyes,” I suggested when he went to get to his eyes.
The kid twisted the rag over to the other side and I saw all the snot that was left over.
I curled my lip.
Kids were cool.
I didn’t mind them.
Until they started leaking.
Then kids weren’t my favorite things in the world.
However, I seemed to be able to handle a lot more from my nieces and nephews than kids who weren’t related to me.
After he was cleaned off as best as he could manage, I said, “Now blow your nose in it.”
The kid did, then handed it to me.
I nearly gagged as I took the rag and tossed it into the trash.
That was one rag I’d never use again.
When I came back, Nate looked just as miserable as when I’d left him.
I reached for him and pulled him into my arms before sitting on the bed, propping several pillows up behind me, and yanking the comforter over the both of us.
Nate laid his head down on my chest and went to sleep—fitfully.
Which worked for me because I slept just as fitfully.
Luckily, no nightmares plagued me this day.
Visions of a green-eyed woman did, though.
And when I woke up, snot dried to my chest, I idly wondered if our kids would have her green eyes, or my brown.
We are the granddaughters of the grandmothers you couldn’t run over last year.
—Keely to Dima
KEELY
“Hello?” I answered, belly quivering.
“Hey,” Cutter’s voice sounded…odd. “You got a minute?”
I looked at my watch.
I had to work tonight.
Which, I might add, I was reluctant to do after the night that I’d spent worrying myself to death.
The only thing that’d calmed my ass down was an email I’d finally gotten around to checking an hour ago.
I’d gotten two emails from weird email addresses that at first, I’d thought were spam.
One had been a clean bill of health with the subject line reading: I’m safe.
After reading, then rereading the email and the ‘clean bill of health,’ trying to find the name of the man that’d clearly been redacted, I’d decided that I was going to believe the man.
And, to be honest, that particular thought hadn’t even crossed my mind until I’d received the email.
The second email had been what’d really calmed me down.
Which was crazy, because the email had been a video from a security camera from the club that I’d been in last night. The security camera was pointed directly at where we’d been last night, and it had night vision.
Meaning, I got to see the entire freakin’ thing all over again.
Which had me deciding that though last night had scared me, it hadn’t been in a way that I wouldn’t do it again.
But it made me realize that I needed to be a lot more careful.
What kind of fucked up person was okay with a complete stranger fucking her? Also, what kind of person was okay with the fact that she was okay with it?
Needless to say, my head was a freakin’ wreck.
Normally, I’d head to breakfast with one of my brothers when I was feeling out of sorts but today was different.
This morning sometime I’d gotten a text from Chevy that something had happened and he was heading to Montana.
I’d called him and he’d sent it to voicemail, only to send me a long-ass text message saying that something had happened with Milena. She was okay, but Cutter needed some backup.
I’d left it at that, trusting them to tell me when they got home.
Likely, they didn’t want to tell me something bad had happened so I didn’t worry.
That was the way of my brothers, though.
Always keeping me in the dark because they thought I was too fragile to learn the truth.
“Are you there?” Cutter asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Are you all right?”
“We’re fine.” He sighed. “I’m sorry for the secrecy.”
I hummed. “What was the secrecy about?”
There was a pause and then, “Can’t talk about it over the phone.”
Meaning, he’d done something illegal, and he needed to make sure he didn’t say anything over an unsecured line.