Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 37824 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37824 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Ace is down on his knees working on something while Joe is standing over him with a flashlight in her hands. My eyes meet those of another man. He’s in jeans and a flannel shirt. He appears to be significantly older than Ace.
He quickly removes his white cowboy hat. “What do we have here?” he asks. Both Ace and Joe turn their heads my way. Ace's eyes narrow as they scan up and down my body. He abruptly stands and shoves a silver-looking tool into the other man's chest.
“Finish it,” Ace orders before he’s stalking toward me. I take a few steps back and stop when my back meets the wall. “What are you doing?”
“Are you mad or something?” I can feel the tension rolling off of him. But I’m unsure of the reasoning behind it. Is he upset that I interrupted his time with Joe?
“I thought we didn’t ask questions to not answer other questions?”
“My sister is on her way.” Ace clenches his jaw; I see a tic. “Why are you so mad?”
“I’m just trying to fix the air pump so everything doesn’t go to shit.” I don't believe that's the reason he's upset. I tilt my head to the side, staring up into his handsome face. “Don’t want you roaming around down here.” His hands come down on both sides of me, caging me in.
“Why?” Is he embarrassed of me? He hadn’t seemed like he wanted to introduce me to Joe either, but there wasn’t much of a choice. Now this man with the cowboy hat.
“Babe—”
“Libby!” my sister shouts.
“Winter!” I push on Ace’s chest to see my sister stepping through the back door. I bolt toward her. She meets me halfway, wrapping me in a giant hug. It’s all too much. I burst into tears. Winter does too.
I knew we were both out, but finally getting to see her in person makes it all that much more real. “We did it.” Winter presses her forehead to mine.
“You did it.” It was thanks to her that we managed to escape. Winter had the courage to leave that night for the both of us.
“We. Without you, I don’t think I could have pushed myself to do it.” I hug her again. “Now you gotta meet my Garrett.” Winter sniffles, stepping back. I have met him, but not in person. He and Ace are built the same, but Garrett has a much more stoic expression. It’s intimidating.
Winter runs her hand up Garrett’s chest. She is clearly not intimidated by him in the least. “This is my sister.” Winter beams.
“Nice to see you in person, Libby.”
“Nice to meet you too.” I give him the best smile I can muster up right now. I’m not sure how I feel, but I am grateful. “Thank you for everything.”
“And thank you,” Winter says loudly. I turn to see Ace standing right behind me.
“No thanks needed.”
“You got my sister back for me. That means everything to me.” Winter takes my hand. “I brought you some clothes.”
“I have some that should be delivered today,” Ace cuts in.
“I’m sure you’ll need more, but these I have now.” Garrett hands her a bag. “There somewhere you can change? I’m sure you want out of your shirt dress.” Not really, but I can't say that. Can I?
“Do I get jeans too?” I’d been so excited to see her I hadn't noticed what she was wearing until now.
“I got you jeans,” Ace cuts in again.
“Thank you, Ace,” I say, but now he too has a stoic expression.
“We need to talk,” Garrett tells Ace. “The girls can use your place to get changed, right?”
"Yes," Ace acknowledges, but it doesn't seem as though he truly agrees.
“Come on.” Winter tugs on my hand. “It’s up here, right?” She keeps on pulling me toward the stairs. I have no choice but to follow her. "I thought he was the more upbeat twin," Winter asks when we make it back up to our place. Crap, Ace's place. It's not mine. I need to keep reminding myself of that before I become too attached. Even though I believe it’s a bit too late for the latter part.
"I don't know. He's been acting kind of different today," I admit. Maybe Winter can help me figure out what the heck is going on with Ace. Not that she has any more experience with men than I do, but she is dating and living with his twin brother. She has to have some sort of insight.
"Something happened?" Winter puts the bag down on the kitchen island and starts pulling out clothes.
"I don't know." I shrug. "He's just grumpy, I guess." Winter tilts her head to the side.
“Garrett says Ace is pretty laid back. Always giving him a hard time and has to be doing something.”
“He can be laid back.” I only know Ace with the two of us. This is the first time we’ve been around others. What if I don’t really know him at all? I push that thought away. I won’t accept that. I have been with him day and night for the past seven days.