Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77904 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77904 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“That does sound pretty lame.”
“I don’t know.” I took a sip of my drink. “I happen to like their movies.”
“I like them, too, but not at a party. That’s lame.”
“Whatever you say, boss.”
The conversation died down when the waitress brought over our pizza and placed the boxes on the table. As the lids were lifted, there was a chorus of “oohs” and “ahhs,” and eyes were wide as we each grabbed a slice and placed it on our plates. Cheese strings stretched and toppings tumbled, but none of us cared. We were too eager to take our first bite, and it didn’t matter that the pizza had just come out of the oven.
The table was silent for several minutes as each of us began devouring our dinner, but it wasn’t long before the eating began to slow. That’s when Nathan looked over to Ronin and asked, “So, what do you do? Like for a job and stuff?”
“Yeah, I work in construction. I mainly do electrical work and stuff like that.” Ronin kept a light-hearted tone as he told him, “We’re actually doing the big renovation down on the square.”
“The bank and ice cream shop?”
“Yeah, that’s us.”
“Wow. That’s pretty cool.” Nathan sounded so grown up as he said, “It’s looking a lot better down there.”
“We’re doing what we can.”
Samantha’s eyes danced with excitement as she leaned forward and announced, “Mom said you had a motorcycle.”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Do you ride it a lot?”
“When I can.” Ronin glanced over at me as he explained, “It’s tough to ride when there’s snow and ice on the road.”
“You ever been in a bike crash?”
“Yeah, a few minor burns, but nothing too serious.” Ronin glanced over at me as he added, “I always try my best to be careful.”
“Will you take us for a ride sometime?”
“That’ll be up to your mother.”
Samantha and Nathan both turned to me with hopeful expressions. I held my hands up as I told them, “I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it.”
“Oh, come on, Mom,” Samantha fussed.
“I said I would think about it. Now, finish up your pizza.”
To my surprise, they both complied, and it wasn’t long before our plates were empty and our bellies were full. Ronin paid our bill, then said, “I need to move around a bit. Are you guys up for some bowling or maybe the arcade?”
“Yeah, that’d be awesome,” they both answered in unison.
“Alright then.” Ronin stood as he told them, “But I gotta warn ya, I play to win, or I don’t play at all.”
A smirk crossed Nathan’s face as he snickered, “That sounds like something a loser would say.”
“Oh, you’re going down, kid.”
Ronin tossed the tip on the table, and we were on our way.
Going bowling was a wonderful idea. The kids laughed and opened up to Ronin in ways I didn’t expect. I won’t say that he’d won them over—at least, not completely. That would take some time, but he’d made some definite progress—with them and with me.
I was really starting to like him, a lot, and it scared the hell out of me.
I’d come a long way over the past year. I’d worked really hard, and I liked the life I’d created for me and the kids. The last thing I wanted to do was screw it all up, but there was something about this man that made me wonder if my fresh start had really just begun.
Rooster
“She lived in a dump right in the middle of the hood. I told her a hundred times that she needed to move, but she wouldn’t listen.” Beckett took another slug from his drink and swallowed hard. “It was her grandmother’s place, and Amy couldn’t stand the thought of walking away. She was just so damn stubborn.”
He was on his third round of drinks, and the more he drank, the more he talked. The angry kid with fire in his eyes and rage in his step had been replaced by a pitiful sight. The poor guy looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders as he sat there staring at his drink.
I’m not sure how we got on the topic of his girlfriend, but it was the first time he’d really talked about what happened to her. Knowing it was something he needed to get off his chest, we all sat back and listened as he said, “She saw them. She knew they were watching her. The Assassins watched everyone, including me.”
His voice wavered with the raw emotions he’d carried with him for much too long, and his eyes glistened with unshed tears of frustration as he added, “They saw me countless times. They knew who my father was. They knew I had connections to Fury, and they knew she was my girl. But that didn’t stop them from...”
Anguish etched his face as he took the bottle of whiskey and refilled his glass. He immediately downed it, and I thought that was going to be the end of it until he said, “She was just letting her dog out. She opened that back door like she’d done a million times, but this time, they were there waiting for her in the shadows. They drug her back into the house and...”