Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 109695 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109695 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Groaning, she held out her hand. “Tylenol. Now.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I opened the cabinet doors over the sink. Rummaging around, I found the bottle and handed it to her.
“Ma’am? Really” She took a couple out, filled a glass with water, and swallowed them down.
“Would you rather I addressed you as sir?”
She rolled her eyes. “No. Thanks for the pills.” She set the glass in the sink and leaned her elbows against the counter. “What’s the plan for tomorrow?”
“It’s nearly two in the morning. Why don’t we start at nine? That would give us a few hours of sleep.”
“Sure.”
She straightened, but I wasn’t ready to let her go. “Hey… do you think Cash was in the trailer when it blew?”
“Yeah… from my vision, I’m pretty sure of it. Plus… there’s something else—”
She lowered her head and wouldn’t look at me.
“What?”
Taking a breath, she glanced up at me, and her mouth twisted. “You’ll never believe this, but I heard a Johnny Cash song when I touched the doorknob.”
“What? No way! Which one?”
She shook her head. “The burn, burn, burn… that ring of fire one.”
I nearly choked. “Holy hell!”
“Yeah… pretty crazy, huh?”
“Damn. So, I guess they’re connected then.”
“That’s what I’d say.”
“Shit… then I guess talking to Cash about Johnny is a dead end.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, but her lips quirked up. “You’re just full of puns tonight, aren’t you?”
I shrugged, not admitting that last one had been unintentional. “I guess so.” A chuckle burst out of me, and I couldn’t stop laughing. “I’m gonna be singing that song all night, now.”
She chuckled and shook her head as well. “I know… me too!”
We mused together in comfortable silence for a minute before Serenity sighed and met my gaze. “Okay… well, I’m going to bed. I sure hope we can figure this out by tomorrow.”
Really? Was she that ready to get away from me? I raised a brow to hide my disappointment. “Me too. I’m kind of tired of dodging bombs.”
“No kidding.” She rolled her neck to work out the kinks. “It’s got to be someone who wants revenge pretty bad, because they’re going to a lot of trouble to kill you.” Sighing, she moved her hand toward my chest, like she was going to pat me, but caught herself and pulled back. “Uh… goodnight. I’ll see you in the morning.”
My heart twisted, and I shook my head as she limped away as fast as she could. I opened my mouth to ask her if she wanted some company, but her door shut before I could. It was probably for the best.
A woman like her wanted different things than I did. And, since I was a cold hearted bastard, I didn’t want to hurt her. Besides that, nearly getting blown up twice in one day was tiring. Plus… I wanted her to enjoy my company, and she couldn’t do that with a burn on her butt. I grinned before downing a couple of pills, and turned out the lights.
Lying down on my bed felt amazing. Still, as tired as I was, my mind wouldn’t rest. Serenity was right. Someone was going to a lot of trouble to end my life, and I needed to figure out who it was before they succeeded.
Like she said, it had to be someone with revenge in mind. In my line of work, that added up to a lot of people. I’d kept most of that information tucked away, but now it was time to look a little closer.
Sure, I’d killed a few people, but they were all criminals who’d gotten out of control. Vanetti lived by a code, and I helped him maintain it. It’s how he’d become so successful. Hell, even the police appreciated that we could clean up things they couldn’t.
It was time to dig deep into the past. Something I should have done before now. Three people came to mind, and all of them had the guts to use explosives.
First was Needles. I’d killed his brother in a shootout, leaving Needles wounded and several members of his gang in the hospital. I’d tipped off the cops, and they’d conveniently found all the drugs and money he and his gang had been dealing. He’d gone off to prison, along with several members of his gang. I hadn’t thought of him for a while, but what if he’d gotten out?
There were a couple of others who came to mind as well. That gang fight last month was one. I’d stepped in to settle things between the members who didn’t want to play by Vanetti’s rules. They didn’t like that much, and I’d had to make an example of the biggest asshole of the bunch. I’d left Jangles alive, but in hindsight, maybe that had been a bad idea.
The last person I worried about was Anna. She’d tried to cheat Vanetti out of a boatload of money, and it had backfired. Her boyfriend had ended up in jail, and she’d lost her job along with her reputation. She definitely had a bone to pick with me.