Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“What was it?” I asked softly.
“Humpty.”
I blinked.
“Why Humpty?” I wondered.
“Because, apparently, my leg looked so bad when it broke that everyone thought it’d never be put back together again,” he explained.
I snorted.
“Mine’s worse,” I promised him.
“Try me,” he challenged.
I gave him a look, then shrugged.
What was I going to lose by telling him?
So I told him. Just a taste.
I didn’t want him to get the full story when we were about to go into a place that was filled with people who tortured me throughout my high school career, just in case I got lucky and no one said anything.
“That woman right there,” I pointed at the fake-boobed, bottle blonde standing in front of her jacked up Tahoe wearing pants so tight it was a miracle she could even breathe, never mind move, in them.
“What about her?” Dean asked.
“Laney Jones was one of the people who told the entire graduating class of 2006 that I was a lousy lay, according to Patrick Bowen, who took a bet from a football player that he couldn’t fuck me,” I explained to him. “And my brother asked me to talk to the same football player who was responsible for that entire thing so he can get some dirt on him.”
Dean blinked, then he leaned forward and started the engine of his truck again.
“What are you doing?” I asked him when he put the truck into reverse.
“We’re leaving,” he said, allowing no room for argument.
I placed my hand on his forearm, stilling his movements.
“Don’t,” I whispered. “I just wanted you to know about this place. About me. In case I freak out while talking to these people who tried to make my high school existence a living hell.”
“Tried?” he prodded me. “Seems to me they didn’t just try. They succeeded.”
I smiled at him sadly.
“It’s not like I can do much about it,” I told him. “I’m going to pull my big girl panties up, go in there, and do what I came here to do,” I hesitated. “And then I’ll collect on the five-hundred-dollar informant fee my brother promised me when he told me about this in the first place. Oh, and let’s not forget about the fact that he’s tearing the roof off my project house in return.”
Dean’s lips twitched. “Is he now?”
I nodded in excitement. “He came by last night and told me he was going to do it for me, and that he would supervise the crew putting the roof on. Can you believe that?”
A smile came and went on his face, and my eyes narrowed.
“Why aren’t you acting surprised about this?” I asked him.
He shrugged.
Instead of answering me, he put the truck back into park, got out, and then rounded the tailgate to come to my side.
My eyes narrowed when Dean’s movements were caught by Laney, and her eyes started to focus on him.
I opened the door and got out before she could get too bold and slammed it closed behind me.
Leaning against the truck door, I watched Dean come closer, his eyes on me and my breasts.
“I told you to stop doing that,” I teased him. “It’s not appropriate.”
“I’m not really sure what you thought you were going to accomplish by wearing something like this,” he ran his fingers along the hem of my sundress. “But I know what I’m going to do and that’s admire your breasts.”
I laughed softly under my breath.
“Is that right?”
He nodded.
“You’re incorrigible,” I told him. “Are you ready?”
He nodded his head, leaning in slightly so he could press the button on the door handle that locked the doors to his truck.
The honk had me jumping in surprise, and I shot him a glare.
“Not funny,” I said to him when he started to laugh.
“You would do the same had the situation been reversed,” he grinned as he pulled me away from the truck.
His hand was warm and solid in mine, and I wanted much more than his hand wrapped around mine.
Sadly, I was in a place that I most certainly did not want to be, and charged with a task that would hopefully help my brother accomplish whatever he was trying to accomplish with this job.
“Don’t leave me tonight, okay?” he rumbled as he pulled me closer into him.
I nodded.
“Yes, Sir,” I said, not thinking about the effect it would have on him if I said it.
His hand squeezed mine, and my eyes turned up to survey his.
They were smoldering.
Licking my lips, I turned away just in time to nearly bust my ass on the steps that led to the old gym that I’d graduated in, and would apparently celebrate the tenth anniversary of that graduation.
Dean caught me before I could face plant into the cracked concrete, and I gave him a relieved smile.
“Thank you,” I whispered to him.
“Well, if that isn’t the July Amsel that we all know and love,” Laney, the snotty bitch that I remembered from my hell years, said from behind me.