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)
“Did you bring my lunch?” I yelled at Wolf, hoping to garner his attention.
Wolf turned his head to study me, then turned back to study Dean, before he got off his bike and started heading my way.
“You want a ride home?” he asked as he sauntered toward me, a bag of food in one hand and a drink in the other.
Where he’d stashed them, I didn’t know. I hadn’t seen him produce them from whatever hidey hole he’d hidden them in, but then again, my eyes had been aimed at the ground in hopes that I could avoid that damn man who had the power to tear my heart into shreds with a single glance.
At the sound of his voice, I looked up and watched him come.
“No, I don’t want a ride home,” I said, pointing at my truck. “I want you to fix it.”
He looked over at the clunker of a truck that he’d given me when he’d bought his bike, and then turned back to me.
“July, honey,” he murmured softly. “That old truck isn’t going to make it, which I’ve told you a hundred times. Buy a new fucking truck already. You can afford it.”
“No I can’t,” I disagreed, grabbing the food from him and turning around to head back into the house. “I just bought this gem, and I’ve used nearly everything in my checking account to make it pretty.”
“You have a savings,” he countered. “I’m sure you won’t even see a dent in it. Just take enough to make a down payment, and get a new fuckin’ truck already.”
I glared at my brother.
“Where’s Nathan?” I asked. “Were you at work?”
He shook his head and lifted his hand to scratch his chest.
“Nathan’s at daycare,” he said. “And I wasn’t at work. I was tinkering with my project bike.”
I snorted.
“Is it running yet?” I asked, ripping the ketchup packets open and pouring it straight into my fry container.
He watched me with disgust clearly written on his face.
“You know the answer to that question,” he answered. “Why do you do that?”
He looked down at me as I picked the pickles off my burger, and I shrugged.
“Because I don’t like the texture of the pickle, but I like the taste,” I said as I threw the next pickle into the bag and took a bite of my burger.
“So…” Wolf asked, his eyes sliding to Des. “What’s up with that shit over there?”
My stomach started to churn, and suddenly the burger I was really looking forward to eating didn’t sound so appetizing at the thought of having Dean so close by.
Close, but so far away.
I shrugged and took another bite of my burger.
“This is new for me, too,” Des explained to my brother as she took her seat on the paint bucket once again. “I just learned last night that the houses were as close as they were.”
“Hmm,” he hummed. “You need help with anything while I’m here?” He looked up at the ceiling with curiosity. “I have to pick Nathan up by six, but I can stay until about four thirty or so.”
I grinned and clapped my hands.
“Sweet!” I chirped. “I need that down,” I pointed to the wall between the kitchen and the dining room.
“You want me to take the wall down?” he asked, calculating.
I nodded again.
“Got a sledge hammer?” His brows rose. “I think beating the shit out of something would be perfect right about now.”
I hid my smile and walked back out to the truck, only just now realizing my mistake.
I should’ve sent Wolf after it.
If I had, I wouldn’t have seen Dean doing his own dirty work. With his shirt off.
I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the cool metal of my truck and sent a silent prayer up, asking God to give me strength.
Reaching into the back of the truck, I came out with the crowbar, a Halligan I’d stolen from Dean before we’d split, and the sledge hammer.
I started walking back inside but stopped when Dean’s deep, smooth voice said, “That’s mine.”
I turned and looked at him across my yard and his, and shrugged.
“Possession’s nine tenths of the law,” I informed him haughtily. “And my brother would kick your ass if you came over here.”
I saw a smile kick up the corner of his mouth as he said, “Your brother’s not gonna be there to protect you forever.”
And on those haunting words, I walked inside.
He didn’t mean it the way it sounded. Nobody ever did.
Hell, not many people knew that my brother was shot in the head by a psychopath hell-bent on killing him simply because he was a cop.
That same madman killed his wife and unborn child.
The whole thing had broken Wolf and marked me.
I had nightmares. I couldn’t sleep when I knew he was on shift, and then I had to go saddle myself with a man that liked to live dangerously just like my brother.