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)
I rolled my eyes and hurried inside the store. A chime sounded, and the man at the counter glanced up. His smile faltered as he caught Stone coming in behind me.
“Uh… hey, Stone. Didn’t think I’d see you for a while. What can I do for you?”
Stone stalked to the counter, a friendly smile on his face. It seemed to scare the guy even more. “We came to find a game for Sen.”
He motioned toward me and winked. My mouth dropped open. Not only had he remembered my nickname, but I loved how it sounded when he said it. Oh jeez, could it get any worse?
“She’s real interested in the…” He glanced my way. “What game was it again?”
Since I had no idea, I glanced at the games on display. “It was this one.” I picked one of them up and smiled at him, surprised by how expensive it was. I turned to the manager. “Stone’s buying it for me. Isn’t that sweet?” Before he could answer, I held out my hand to shake his. “I didn’t catch your name.”
“Oh…” He quickly shook my hand. “I’m Grady.”
“Nice to meet you, Grady.” Touching him had given me a quick flash of a video game cover. I had no idea what that meant, so I glanced around the store, hoping to find it.
With shaky fingers, he grabbed the video game I’d pointed to and began to ring it up. “Is there anything else you need?”
I swallowed. “Well, I’m not sure that’s the only one I want, but I can’t remember what the other one is called.” I chewed on my bottom lip and continued to glance at the games. “Is there one that has a man fighting on the front?”
Grady looked at me like I was nuts. “Can you be more specific? I mean… look around… most of them have someone fighting on the cover.”
“Oh! Right.” I chuckled. “This one is for my… nephew, um…” I closed my eyes, trying to picture the game I saw in my vision. “I think it’s actually got a tank on it.”
Grady’s eyes widened. “Uh… sure. We might have a few like that.” He motioned toward the back wall. “They’re back there.”
Stone glanced my way, narrowing his gaze before turning to Grady. “That reminds me. Is Tank around? Someone’s messing with me, and I’d like to talk to him.”
Grady blew out a breath. “Look… we don’t want any trouble with Vanetti. My guys are sticking to the agreement.”
Stone shook his head. “Even Tank?”
“Especially Tank.”
A shuffling noise came from the back room, followed by the banging of a door. Stone rushed around the counter and into the back. Grady ran after him, and I chased after them both.
I followed Grady out the back door and to the left, where we found Stone holding a man by the throat against the wall. The guy was shorter than Stone, but larger around the middle, so it made sense that he was Tank. In the tussle, Tank’s phone fell out of his pocket, and I cringed to hear it crack.
“Let him go!” Grady ran toward Stone and tried to pull him off Tank.
Grady’s puny efforts didn’t make a difference, but Stone let Tank go anyway. Tank slumped and leaned over, heaving in big gulps of air. Grady patted him on the back. “Why did you run, man? I had it handled.”
Tank couldn’t answer, so while we waited for him to catch his breath, I picked up his phone to see if I could get anything from it. I closed my eyes and concentrated, but nothing happened, and I knew he wasn’t our guy.
Finally, he straightened. “I didn’t do nothing… I just panicked… okay? I didn’t plan anything. It’s not me. Okay?”
Stone raised a brow. “Then who? Who’s behind it?”
“Who’s behind what? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You said it wasn’t you. What did you mean by that?”
He huffed out a big breath. “How the hell do I know? You’re the one who came after me. I figured something must have happened, and that’s why you’re here. I’m just telling you that whatever it is, I didn’t do it.”
Stone closed his eyes before glancing at me with a raised brow. “You have anything to add?”
They all glanced my way, so I sent them a small smile to put them at ease. “Do either of you know how to make a bomb?”
Grady jerked. “What the hell? No way.”
“Hell, no.” Tank’s brows drew together.
I glanced at Stone. “I don’t think it’s them.” I held up the phone and handed it back to Tank. “You dropped this.”
“Thanks.” He took it, glancing between Stone and me.
Stone heaved a sigh. “Fine.” He shook his head and stared daggers at both of the men. “But if either of you get in my way, it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”