Total pages in book: 227
Estimated words: 220940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1105(@200wpm)___ 884(@250wpm)___ 736(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 220940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1105(@200wpm)___ 884(@250wpm)___ 736(@300wpm)
40
BRAD
* * *
The ride to the boatyard is painfully quiet. Danny thinks I’m pissed off with him. I would be if my mind wasn’t pre-occupied with how the fuck I tell them about Pearl. I’m taking her out tonight. Not sneaking her out. Taking her out. And everyone will watch me. Accept it. And when we get home, she’ll be coming to my room and getting in my bed.
I get out and immediately light up, my eyes following two jet skis across the water. “Beer?” Danny asks.
“Yeah.”
He and James stride off together side by side, talking quietly, and I’m about to go after them and find out what the hushed whispers are all about, but stall when my cell rings. I answer to the contractor who’s working on my apartment. “Brad,” he says, his Texan accent thick. “Quick update for you. We should have everything done and be out of your hair in a few weeks.”
“Thanks, Barry.” I hang up as Tank pulls up, and the flash of red in the passenger seat flips my stomach. I told her not to leave the fucking house.
Pearl gets out and glances over at me briefly, and maybe a bit cautiously. I give her an expectant look. She shrugs. Rose gets out the back, and Tank helps her get the stroller from the trunk as Pearl lifts Maggie out of her infant car seat. I frown when Fury pulls up too, Beau and Esther getting out. And Anya. And Zinnea. What is this, a family reunion?
What the fuck’s going on?
Beau looks me up and down as she comes to me. Checking for blood. “How did it go?”
“How did what go?”
She looks at me tiredly. “Come on, Brad.”
She’s a gem. “Beau, babe, how long have we known each other?” I drop my cigarette on the ground and try to waft the smoke away as she gets closer.
“Not that long, actually.”
“Feels like centuries,” I mutter, chuckling when she whacks my arm.
“Oh my God,” she gasps. “It laughed.”
“If you weren’t pregnant—”
“Don’t let that stop you.” She moves in, getting her face up in mine.
I snarl, then scrunch my nose and kiss her cheek. “What are you all doing here, anyway?”
She links arms with me and starts leading me toward the cabin. “Just hanging out.”
I look down at her, suspicious, as she peeks up at me. “Just hanging out?”
“I wanted to feel the sun on my face.” She directs it up to the sky, closing her eyes.
Tank passes, carrying Maggie’s stroller, Rose following with the others. “If I’d known today was a family trip to the beach, I would have bought a bucket and spade, maybe some games.”
“Oh my God,” Beau blurts. “We should absolutely get some games. Volleyball, beach bowls.” A gasp. “Water polo!”
I stare at her, bemused. Yeah, that sounds like a perfect wind down after a torturing session and a car chase. “Where’s Daniel?”
“He’s at home with Barney on the Xbox. Lennox had some work to do.”
“Beau, what’s going on?”
“Nothing.” She beams at me—totally fake—and hurries up the steps to the cabin. I trudge after her, scanning the café when I enter. Rose and Danny are by the beer fridge, whispering angrily at each other. “What the hell are you doing here?” he growls at Rose, swigging a beer.
“Moral support.”
I reach between them and they both quit their fight briefly, giving me enough time to get my beer. “Don’t let me interrupt,” I muse, seeing Nolan out on the decking, his bad leg up on a chair, his good leg supporting the ass of Ella. I grab another two beers and wander out, and the moment he sees me he tries to move her. “Leave her,” I say, lowering to a chair, placing the beers down and unscrewing the caps. I pass one to Nolan. One to Ella. He looks shocked. I expect Ella is too behind her shades. I hit my bottle with theirs and rest back. “Have you called things off with your boyfriend?” I ask Ella.
She swallows, nodding, tentatively taking a sip of her beer.
“Yes, she told him.” Nolan reaches for her shades and tries to pull them off her face, but she fights him.
“Nolan, please.”
Nolan wins their little wrestle, and I recoil when he reveals a shiner of a black eye. Ella immediately covers it with her palm.
“He did that?” I ask.
“It’s nothing.”
I look at Nolan. I see the anger he’s struggling to hide. I can feel it myself. He gives Ella her glasses and she quickly slips them back on. How many times has she told people it’s nothing? “She’s got nowhere to stay,” Nolan says, awkward. I laugh, but it dries up when I see Pearl go through the shop area toward the ladies’ changing rooms and restrooms.
“You better speak to Danny,” I tell him, eyes on Pearl’s back as she disappears through the door. “I’ve got to go check . . . something.” I stand, leaving my bottle on the table, and Nolan looks back into the café.