Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 125517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 628(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 628(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
“Puck, go to Margarita’s room and ask her for some makeup wipes,” Wizard ordered.
“That won’t be necessary.” Arden didn’t want to remove the camouflaging makeup and expose the extent of the injury to her face. “It’s just a small bruise. When I went to the coffeehouse this morning, I was going in and didn’t see someone was opening the door. The door caught me in the face.”
“Now, Puck.”
Puck left the bar.
The unnatural silence in the room had Arden wishing she had just ignored Doom’s order to come in today. This is what I get for lying to Mama, telling her I was going home and was going to stay there, she told herself.
Puck came back with the makeup wipes and handed them to Wizard. Doom took them out of his hand, moving behind the counter as he pulled out several wipes. Turning her in his direction, he gently started removing the makeup, revealing the dark purple-blue bruise under her eye and reaching her jawline. The whole time, Doom’s eyes bore into hers. The rage inside his cyan eyes had her tensing under his touch.
When he was done, he moved aside so Wizard could see.
Wizard’s expression was just as cold as Doom’s.
Unable to look at them any longer, she looked toward the men sitting at the bar, only to find the same expression on their faces.
“I’m only going to ask this one time…” Wizard grated out between clenched teeth. “And you better not lie this time. Who in the fuck hit you?”
Arden pressed her lips together stubbornly, instantly regretting it. She lifted her hand to her hurt mouth.
Doom slammed his fist against the wall next to him, sending the sound horn tumbling down to the ground. “Who in the fuck hit you!” he shouted.
Becoming frightened at his anger, she took a step back. “I don’t know who he was. He showed up when I came out and saw I had two flat tires. He pulled up and asked if I wanted a ride to get new tires.” Arden told the men the partial truth, hoping it was believable enough to satisfy them. “I started to get in the car, but he had a bunch of stuff on the front seat and told me to get in the back. When I did, I noticed the child lock was on and decided I’d just call Mama to take me to get the tires. When I closed the door, he got out of the car and grabbed my arm. I started fighting him, but he hit me twice before I could spray him with my pepper spray. I should never have talked to him anyway. I called Mama.”
“You call the police?” Wizard asked.
Arden couldn’t tell if they believed her or not.
“No. He left.”
“You didn’t file a police report?”
“No. I just want to forget about it.”
From Wizard’s and Doom’s expressions, they weren’t about to forget about the bruises on her face.
“Where did this happen?” Doom took over the questioning.
“At my apartment building.” she outright lied.
“Are there any security cameras there?”
“No.”
“Why would you live in a place where there aren’t cameras?”
“Because it’s cheap,” she told him honestly.
“What kind of car was it?”
“I don’t remember. The whole thing is still kind of a blur. There is no need for your concern. I handled the situation. It’s over. I learned a hard lesson to be more careful not to talk to strangers.”
“How did you know to check the back door?”
“My dad drilled it into my head when I was younger.”
“Yet he didn’t tell you not to talk to strangers?” Doom asked sarcastically.
“I—had a lapse of judgment.”
Wizard moved toward her, gently grabbing her chin to lift her face to the dim light. “You’re having an even bigger lapse if you think we believe this bullshit.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Wizard…”
Jesus’s voice from the open door had all the men turning in his direction.
“We have a problem.”
Wizard dropped his hand to give Jesus an irritated frown. “Deal with it. I’m busy.”
“Okay, but I’m going to need some help. The whole parking lot is filled with Italians, and they’re carrying bats.”
CHAPTER 20
THE ITALIANS
Barefoot, Doom went to a front-facing window to look outside.
“Fucking hell,” Wizard swore, standing next to him and peering out at the same chaos Doom was.
Without a word, Doom turned away from the clusterfuck happening outside to stride toward the hallway.
“Where in the fuck are you going?”
Doom didn’t glance back at Wizard as he snarled from over his shoulder, “Where in the fuck do you think I’m going? To get dressed!”
Doom made his way to his room and ignored the naked woman on his bed. He left on the pair of jeans he had hastily pulled on when Wizard had woken him after Kat told him about the bruises on Arden’s face, and grabbed a pair of clean socks from his bureau before putting on the boots lying by the bed. He opened another drawer to take took out a clean T-shirt. He was still shrugging it on when he strode out of his room to go back to the bar area.