Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
My brothers this time.
“Why is my door closed?” I heard Quaid ask.
“Locked, too,” another one of my brothers confirmed.
Athena hastily got off my lap and readjusted herself.
I scooped up her panties and tucked them into my pocket.
Next to go was the condom, which I pulled off and tied in a knot, then shoved it in my other pocket.
No way was I using Quaid’s trashcan.
He might very well murder me.
I’d had sex in his car one time when I was in high school, and had accidentally left the wrapper in there, and he’d used my face as a punching bag for a total of two minutes before Mom had stopped him.
It’d been worth it, though.
And this time would be, too.
I gave her a once over to make sure that she was presentable, and other than the flushed look on her face, she looked edible.
Perfectly fucked.
I was never going to hear the end of this.
But there was something about her, something I just couldn’t resist.
Something that made me make terrible decisions, like fucking her in public.
I pulled her into my arms and said, “My brothers are out there.”
She was frantically nodding her head.
“It’ll be okay,” I promised.
She bit her lip and didn’t say anything.
I rolled the chair back to where it belonged, then drew in a deep breath before heading for the door.
I unlocked it, then pulled it open, to find all of them staring at me.
And I do mean all.
Even Quincy and Auden, who no longer worked at DPD, were there.
At least my parents weren’t with them.
“I know you didn’t just defile my office,” Quaid snarled.
I rolled my eyes. “Payback from when you and Ellodie decided to fuck on my bed last month.”
And they had, too.
He hadn’t been the least bit apologetic about it, either.
“That was an accident,” Quaid declared.
There was a snort of laughter, followed by outright guffaws.
“You accidentally fell into Ellodie’s vagina on his bed?” Quinn asked. “Sure you did. Kind of like you accidentally fell into her vagina on my brand new pool float.”
“Gross,” Garrett said. “But since y’all are here, do you want to go to lunch?”
I bet you would be really motivated if the weight went to someone you didn’t like.
—Athena to Maven
ATHENA
“So, you’re, what now, head of your neighborhood watch?” Quinn sat back and stuffed a mouthful of French fries into his mouth.
“I guess,” I shrugged. “I had only meant to cover for today since our regular neighborhood nosy Nancy was sick. But for some reason, the heads of all the neighborhood watches in this program decided that I needed to be the head honcho in charge.”
“It’s because she was so likeable, and she didn’t shoot down any of their ideas,” Gable suggested.
He did have a point.
I made it a point to be nice to everyone.
I’d been like that since I was a young girl.
My dad had pressed me to always make friends, and never be a bully.
And, seeing as I was a smart kid who skipped several grades, and was a senior when I hadn’t hit puberty yet, I tended to get bullied a lot.
It’d been in those particular moments in time that I swore I would always treat people with respect and love.
Even if they didn’t deserve it.
“Made them all feel like they had a voice,” Gable continued. “That’s good. People want to be heard. Which is what you gave them. I hope you’re okay with being here every single Friday, though, while we continue this program for the next twelve weeks.”
“What is it, anyway?” Quincy asked.
“A new program that Quaid implemented so we could see if we could prevent crime in the worst areas,” Gable answered.
“It’s my hope that we give these people who live in these areas a voice,” Quaid said. “And by giving them an officer they can talk to, bring their concerns to, I’m hoping they’ll be more comfortable when actual crime hits their area. So they’ll talk to the cops instead of bottling it up and letting the crime continue to degrade each area even more.”
“And when their neighbors start having shootouts in the middle of the street, they don’t just let them die out there but call someone to help,” I muttered.
Because that had literally happened a block over from me.
A shootout between two gang members had happened, and instead of the gangs, or the occupants of that neighborhood calling the cops, they instead let them die out there.
“Amen,” Quaid grinned. “You sound like you know your stuff.”
I grimaced. “I moved out of the house when I was young. By the time I graduated with my bachelor’s and master’s degrees, I didn’t want to go back home, so I started working. That was the only area I could afford.”
“Why didn’t you want to move back home?” Gable asked.
I thought about lying to him, like I’d done to so many other people before, but decided against it.