Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 62580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
I’d pick something up on the way to work.
Or would have had I not gotten to the parking lot and felt a wave of lightheadedness roll over me.
I had to catch myself on the car beside mine, and would’ve fallen forward had something strong and unyielding not gripped my arm to keep me from kissing the pavement.
Looking down at the arm, I realized very quickly that the arm didn’t belong to anyone that I knew. It belonged to a well-dressed man in a pin-striped suit, and he looked really out of place in between the blood place and the McDonald’s.
“Hi,” I said. “Thank you.”
His smile was warm but calculating.
“You’re most welcome, ma’am,” came his syrupy sweet reply. “Do you need assistance to your car?”
I pulled away and would’ve backed up, but I ran into something immovable.
This time, I had no need to look up at the man at my back. I knew this one about as intimately as anyone could know someone.
And I instantly relaxed.
Whatever part of me that had been up in arms about the man that’d caught me from faceplanting was instantly at ease with Constantine at my back.
“Amari.”
That rumbled reply was directed to pin-striped guy, and I shivered at the cold look this ‘Amari’ shot Constantine.
“Hello, Mr. Worth,” Amari replied coolly. “I’m surprised to see you actually doing something for once.”
I blinked, surprised at the vehemence in the man’s voice that was directed toward Constantine, and of course, I was in the middle of it.
“I wouldn’t have to be here if someone didn’t keep trying to cheat my people out of the money that they were promised,” Constantine shot back just as coolly.
Amari’s mouth tightened, causing his jaw to clench.
Constantine’s hand tightened on my hip, and suddenly a Dr. Pepper appeared in his hand, and he offered it to me.
“Drink this,” he ordered me.
I took it and then twisted the top off of the twenty-ounce bottle—my favorite kind—and took a drink.
It was liquid awesomeness in my mouth and burned so good.
“Whether or not I give out a work bonus is my decision. I’m sorry that one of your ‘people’ thinks that it’s her due, but sometimes they actually have to work to get incentive pay.” Amari grumbled.
I had a feeling there was more going on here than I knew.
“Thank you,” I said shortly after taking my second sip.
My eyes were bouncing between the two men as they had some sort of silent conversation only men could have, when I saw something out of the corner of my eye.
A car, speeding toward us, with absolutely no regard for all of the pedestrians in the parking lot that were trying to cross.
People were hurrying out of the way, because it was more than apparent whoever was driving didn’t give a shit about anybody but themselves.
They were likely on their damn cell phone, not paying attention to anything but their next text message.
“Go back inside.”
My brows furrowed, and just when I turned to ask why, I found myself not only inside, but through the ‘Personnel Only’ door that was supposed to keep anyone that didn’t work there out of the room.
Just as suddenly as I was brought there, the man that was responsible blinked out.
It was like some weird time warp, and I was at the very center of the craziness.
“You can’t be in here.”
I looked over at Tracy and nodded my head. “I know, but my fiancé brought me here and told me to wait. Point me in the direction you want me to go, and I’ll go.”
Fiancé?
What the fuck, Acadia? Fiancé? You couldn’t come up with anything better than that? There was no way in hell Constantine would go along with that.
“Fiancé?” Tracy asked in stunned surprise. “I wasn’t aware that Constantine was engaged to be married. Congratulations.”
The words were said with such skepticism that I almost laughed—with her, not at her. Because she was right to be skeptical. Constantine didn’t even want to date me anymore, let alone ask me to marry him.
I clearly knew when I wasn’t wanted, and this was one of those times.
But how was one supposed to explain the unexplainable when Constantine wanted his secrets kept?
“Yeah, it happened just a few days ago, actually,” I lied easily. “If you want to show me where to go…”
I left that hanging, hoping she would lead me to the outside since I had no clue which door to actually use seeing as there were four of them, and all of them were plain white metal doors.
“This way,” she said easily. “You can wait in Mr. Worth’s office, and I’ll let him know where I put you in case he doesn’t head there first.”
That was not what I wanted.
I wanted to go back outside, to see what exactly was going on.
What I got, though, was led into Con’s office and ordered to ‘make myself comfortable.’