Total pages in book: 217
Estimated words: 207224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1036(@200wpm)___ 829(@250wpm)___ 691(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 207224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1036(@200wpm)___ 829(@250wpm)___ 691(@300wpm)
“You need a haircut,” I say, prompting him to run a hand through his dark hair that’s no longer tickling his nape but resting on it.
“Well, my wife has a new salon so that shouldn’t be a problem going forward.”
“Oh?” I look at Rose, and she shrugs with a sneaky smile. “I’ve sent the girls to beauty school to finish the courses they started,” she declares, smiling fondly at Anya and Pearl. “And once this baby’s out of me, I’m going to business school.”
I flick a discreet look at Danny, who’s brushing his cupid’s bow thoughtfully. I can’t imagine he’s loving that idea. “And I thought I would help Brad at the club,” Beau declares out of the blue.
What?
I give Brad a dark look. So that’s what’s been going on while I’m laid up, is it? Enticing my fiancée with a job at our laundering hub? “I’m not t—”
“Unless you want me to continue smuggling your guns, of course,” she adds casually, peeking up at me.
“I think this is a conversation for us to be having in private.” I grab some more cake and ram it in my gob before I yell a resounding no!
“Coming through, coming through.” Esther joins us in the room. “You’re sitting up.”
“I’m sitting up,” I mumble through my cake, holding it up, nodding my approval. The woman can bake.
“Did someone say cake?” Otto enters, followed by Ringo and Goldie.
All suits.
“When are we going to St. Lucia?” Brad asks, breaking his silence but keeping his attention aimed on his side of the room.
“I thought you hated the lack of action?” Beau replies coyly, nibbling her lip as she fills my water up.
“Maybe you’ll find a Four Seasons hotel in St. Lucia too.” Pearl smiles sarcastically, everyone falls silent, and Brad’s lip curls.
“Well, well,” Doc chants, appearing through the growing crowd in my room. “How’s my latest patient doing?”
“Hungry,” I say, taking a piece of toast and wrapping my mouth around it. I can’t get enough.
“When did you last have some pain meds?”
“Just now,” I waffle as he takes my blood pressure.
“Good, good. We need to start getting you on your feet, James.”
I slowly turn my eyes to Beau. She’s scowling at Doc. “Yes, Doc,” I say obediently, finishing my toast.
“Want some more?” Pearl asks, loading me up anyway.
“Hey, Uncle James.” Daniel darts into the room with a racket in his hand, followed by the Vikings. And Leon and Jerry.
“Is there a party and no one told me?” I ask my crowded room.
“It’s Brad’s birthday,” Rose declares.
“No shit.”
“Shit.” Brad rolls his eyes as Zinnea bursts through the middle of everyone.
“Happy birthday!” she sings, seizing Brad and planting a kiss on his cheek.
“Thirty-five today,” Danny says, looking between him and Pearl, as do I. And Rose. And Beau. Even hauled up in this room, I’m fully aware of the situation. Brad seems hell-bent on ignoring it, though. It’s probably wise. Fuck me, fourteen years? It’s a stretch, but he is actually old enough to be her father. And perhaps that’s part of the problem.
Danny clears his throat and stands. “We have a meeting with Sandy.”
What? “You’ve not dealt with that yet?” I ask.
“We wanted our wingman,” Brad adds. “Up for it?”
“Yes, I’m up for it.” I need a change of scenery. Something to take my mind off this pain. “Give me five and I’ll be ready.” I look around the room to the endless people, literally every member of this fucked-up family. “I’m naked under these sheets.”
The girls scatter like ants, all bar Beau, of course, and the men casually leave, heading down to the office. I whip the covers back and shift my legs off the side of the bed.
“No!” Beau puts herself in front of me, adamant in her stance.
I lean forward and bury my face in between her shirt-covered boobs, getting a hit of her natural smell, my hands sliding to her arse and holding it.
“James,” she pleads, holding my head. “It’s too soon.”
“Doc said I need to get on my feet.” I look up at her. “I’m walking down to the office, Beau, that’s all.”
“To have a meeting with a man who sent someone into my hospital room while I was unconscious to kill me.”
“It’s all water under the bridge,” I say, making her laugh out loud. “I’m not joking.” I’ve thought about this endlessly. I’ll never be his best mate, but I have to accept that he has made moves, shared information, that has gotten us to the end. A few bullet holes to boot, but we’re at the end. “It’s over, Beau,” I whisper. “Now we get to enjoy the light.”
She shakes her head but smiles, smoothing over my face. “You’re about to go downstairs and negotiate a deal on some guns.”
We both accepted quite a while ago that this is our life. We just need to make it as easy as possible, and that is what we’re doing. Setting the bar. Defending the bar. “We’ve risen,” I whisper. “We cannot fall.”