Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 76780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
“So what’s up?” he asks once we’ve ordered. “How is your life fucked up? Zak?”
I let out a heavy sigh and shake my head. “Well, there’s that. I think with some distance, we’ll be okay. I…” I trail off, wondering how much I should tell him. “You can’t say anything.”
His brows pinch together. “You know I won’t.”
Our waitress drops off some cheesy biscuits and our sodas. I stick my straw in my soda and move it aside so I can lean across the table. “I got busted doing something…bad.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
“The bank. Did you hear about it?”
He nods, his eyes meeting mine. “They said the Rainbow Vigilante….” His mouth hangs open. “Oh.”
I sit back and pluck up a biscuit. “Yeah, oh. I was just finishing up when the new cop, Atlas, caught me.”
“No way.”
“Way.”
“So you got arrested?”
“No, man, I ran.”
“You ran from the cops?”
“Just one. Don’t worry. He captured me.”
“Did he arrest you?”
I pull off part of the biscuit and chomp on it, wondering how much I’ll reveal to Cormac. In the end, I decide I have to tell someone, and Zak would absolutely be the wrong best friend to tell since he’s still holding out for me falling in love with him.
“He handcuffed me to his bed,” I whisper. “And, uh, punished me accordingly.”
Cormac blinks several times, color turning his pale cheeks a pretty shade of pink. “Did he hurt you?”
“I sucked him off, and, no, it didn’t hurt.”
“Wow.” He absently eats his biscuit, contemplating my words. “So you’re not in trouble?”
“Nope.”
“Why would he let you get away with it? From the chatter around time, whoever is responsible could get hefty charges stuck to them.”
“Atlas is cool. Ish. Okay, so he’s not cool at all. He’s kind of an asshole. But the asshole wants me. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want him, too.”
“So, what now? Are you going to start dating him?”
“I kind of moved in with him.”
“What?! Why?”
After I replay the entire morning about going home, the subsequent fight with my brother, and then my deal with Atlas, I take a deep breath and wait for his judgment.
“That’s a lot to take in.” He studies me for a beat. “Are you…worried?”
Our waitress brings the massive platter of fried…everything—clams, calamari, shrimp, and red snapper. It’s loaded down with corn cobs and potatoes, all seasoned with Martha Joy’s secret mixture. We dig in, piling our plates high with a variety of things.
“I’m not worried,” I finally tell him after I sample a fried clam that’s ridiculously delicious. “Atlas isn’t like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like he won’t take advantage of me.” A grin slips out. “Well, I mean, not in a way I won’t enjoy.”
Cormac cracks a smile. “It’s good to see you happy again.”
His words hit me like a punch to my chest. Is that what this is? Happiness? The urge to paint has come back, and smiling is much easier. Maybe this is exactly what I needed. An escape in the form of being a dirty cop’s captive.
“Oh shit,” I grumble, my smile dropping when a familiar face enters the restaurant.
Ned Townsend.
He looks like a buzzard with his big curved nose and watchful eyes. Hank must have taken after Ned’s wife because at least he was hot. Ned looks like the smarmy villain in a cartoon. Considering he spits on people for sport, he certainly has the part down.
As if he can sense me, his beady eyes meet mine. His lip curls up in disgust. The man that steps in beside him is none other than Mayor Bell. Jax’s dad. That guy is every bit as much as a douchebag as Ned is. It’s the other guy I don’t know. He looks familiar though I haven’t ever met him.
“Stop looking guilty,” Cormac murmurs under his breath. “It’s all over your face.”
I pick up my soda, gulping it down, to draw my attention away from the trio. As luck would have it, they’re parked at a table right by our booth. The guy I don’t know is seated with his back to us, Mayor Bell sits to his right, and Ned sits on Mayor Bell’s right.
Great.
Now I have to eat with Ned staring at me the entire time.
I think I’ve lost my appetite.
Another man joins them, his lip curling up at seeing me. I don’t know this guy either, but apparently, something about me bothers him. It’s then I realize I’m wearing eyeliner that I went a little overboard with.
It’s just makeup. It makes my eyes pop. Fuck them if they don’t like it.
“That’s him?” a voice booms.
All four of them are looking at me.
“That’s the Kincaid kid Jeremy got in trouble for,” Mayor Bell confirms to the man at his left. “ Terry, your son is arresting the fine people of this town, like Wallace’s son and myself. Jeremy is as good a man as am I. Neither of us deserved that.”