Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 73192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
“Everything okay?” he asked.
I hadn’t planned on telling my family anything. However, thanks to Rome now being back in my life, I’d had to share everything with them. And when Reagan had come up, one thing led to another and then every dirty secret had been aired—by Reagan, surprisingly.
She hadn’t wanted any secrets that we had to keep from our families, though she hadn’t told her siblings just yet.
That would come tomorrow, though.
We were set to go over there for dinner and I’d finally meet Reagan’s step-mother and her brother and sister.
“I haven’t made any progress,” I admitted. “But, I guess no news is good news at this point. He can’t stay hidden forever and with the number of people looking for him in the East Texas area? Yeah, he won’t be able to keep himself under wraps. When he does come out, they’re going to arrest him.”
“The 9-1-1 recording?” he asked.
I nodded. “It’s obvious that something happened. What isn’t obvious was who did the hurting. It’s a ‘he said, she said’ sort of thing at this point and until they can get the other side of the story, it’s going nowhere. I’m going today to talk to a potential witness.”
Rhys’ eyes darkened. “If you need help, you know where to find me.”
I didn’t bother asking him how he planned to help. He was a professional baseball player. What, exactly, was he able to do that I wasn’t?
But then again, there were aspects of Rhys’ life that I tried very hard to stay away from and I would continue to do so because I wanted my sister to be happy.
If I knew the things that he was keeping hidden, I might be forced to act and I didn’t want to do that.
“Thanks,” I sighed. “Y’all do know that I’m not going to be here and neither is Reagan?”
“We know that you have to come back eventually. You can’t stay at work all day,” my mother informed me. “And when you get home, we’ll cook dinner. Reagan just said that she can be back mid-afternoon and despite what you think your presence is not mandatory for us to have a good time.”
My sisters, along with Reagan, snickered.
I sighed. “Whatever.”
Another knock on the now open door had me turning to survey Theo, who looked amused.
“I keep telling him that he’s a stick in the mud, but it’s nice to have the confirmation from his own family,” Theo drawled.
I flipped him off.
“I gotta go, or I’m going to be late,” I murmured to them all. My eyes turned to Alana. “Don’t allow that brat to break my house.”
Autumn’s eyes lit on me and the smile she aimed in my direction was pure Alana.
“Autumn would never…”
I snorted and walked to the door. “Come on, Groot.”
Groot trotted to my side and Theo cursed. “Good god, man. Is that the same dog that you just got?”
“It’s been more than a few weeks,” I told Theo. “But yeah, this is him.”
“He’s enormous. I didn’t think they grew that fast,” he admitted.
I looked down at the beast whose back was up to mid-thigh on me now. “And he isn’t done.”
“You can leave him here,” my mother offered.
I laughed and shouldered past Theo. “That’s a big hell no.”
Before my mom could ask why, I tossed a wink at Reagan over my shoulder and headed on my way.
First stop, police station. Second stop, kick some ass—at least hypothetically, anyway.
My day didn’t go as planned, however.
Three-quarters of the way into the station, I had to pull over to help somebody with a flat tire.
Once I’d changed the flat tire, I’d then had to pull three people over for speeding in a school zone.
Once I’d finished with that, I’d then had to go to a robbery, which was where I found myself presently.
“Ma’am,” I said with barely concealed patience. “I know that you stole something. It was plain as day on the security cameras. Would you like to review it with me?”
The woman, a little, old Vietnamese lady who spoke English, but tried to make it seem like she didn’t, stared stubbornly silent at me.
I sighed.
My eyes turned to the other officer on scene, Beverly Rios. “Would you like to do the honors?”
I’d learned better than to put my hands on a woman unless it was absolutely necessary, in this day and age, it was almost a given that a woman would scream rape if she thought it would get her out of the predicament she found herself in—which was a pity.
That was also why all the female officers couldn’t do the same for males, too.
When people found themselves backed into corners, they did stupid things.
And I wasn’t fuckin’ stupid.
I didn’t get to be my age and do the things I did, by not using the brain that God gave me.
“Sure, Chief.” Beverly sighed. “Ma’am, I’m going to search you now.”