Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 73716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
I placed them on the ground, right on the top steps, and dashed back for the next two.
I did that two more times, and was exhausted by the time I arrived back at the porch steps.
The boxes were gone.
I saw, clearly, Tobias’ back as he loaded them into the back of the truck, all the while the cop and the screechy woman yelled at his back. Sometimes at him and sometimes at each other.
“Oh, boy,” I said as I took the steps.
The first box started to fall, but before it could, both boxes were easily taken from my hands and I saw a big, strong, muscular male back as he took the boxes, turned and headed back towards his truck.
Instead of going to the passenger side, I went to the back driver’s side, and got in, clearly not wanting to get mixed up in the shit that was brewing on the other side.
And that’s when I saw the little girl crying.
Not knowing what else to do, I clapped my hands, bringing her eyes to me.
“Now,” I said. “This is what we’re going to do.”
***
Four hours later, I walked with Leida and her little red wagon, into the police station.
“Now,” I said. “What you’re going to want to do is give them the sob act. You have forty more boxes to go. You can do this. I believe in you.”
She’d done well. I felt like fucking Yoda with the way I was doling out advice on selling these cookies. I’d tell her something, and she’d follow the act perfectly.
She looked up at me warily, and I heard that low amused chuckle directly behind me.
I’d been hearing it for hours now, and it was still sending powerful shivers straight down my spine.
I looked at the annoyance at my back and lifted my lip up at him in a silent snarl.
He raised his hands in acquiescence.
“Can you…will you…can you…”
I snorted and touched the top of her head. She’d done this each time we’d gone some place new. The grocery store. The gym. The freakin’ medical plaza. I’d taken lead, shown her how it was done, and she’d followed suit with the next target.
“Watch and learn, honey.”
And then I walked away, much less confidently than I would’ve done all those years ago when I’d been selling Girl Scout cookies of my own.
The fear was a constant throb at the back of my skull.
Even though, logically, I knew that these men wouldn’t hurt me in any way, I couldn’t turn my brain off.
I saw threats everywhere.
These men were police officers, for God’s sake.
Did that matter to my fear-filled brain? Hell no. It didn’t. Not even a little bit.
Everywhere I looked I saw men.
Men who were at least six-to-eight inches taller than me. Men with strong, bulging biceps. Men who had weapons that they could use against me in order to garner my cooperation. Men who saw way too much.
Luckily, I saw the one person that I knew that I could trust and made a beeline for him.
“Hello, Big Papa!” I called out, my heart still hammering.
Big Papa’s bright green eyes turned to me, and he grinned. “Hey, girl. Give me one sec, would you?”
I nodded and stopped directly next to his desk, pulling the red wagon up alongside me before taking a seat in the cushioned chair to the right of his desk.
He looked at me, taking me in, while he continued to speak about some case he had that was pending. He grinned when I pulled up a box of cookies and shook it at him.
He held his hand out for the box, made a ‘two more’ sign with his hand, and I grinned.
Taking out two more of the same kind, I handed those to him as well and watched with laughter in my eyes as he leaned over and withdrew his wallet from his back pocket.
He fished out a twenty-dollar bill, and then handed it to me.
I took the money, pocketed it, and then fished out a five from the wad of money that was in my pocket.
He took it, and threw it on the desk.
With my transaction complete, I waved at him and made a gesture sign to where Tobias and Leida were standing at the front door watching me expectantly.
Leida’s eyes were wide with awe, and she was bouncing from foot to foot.
I circled the wagon around as I got up and then started back toward the two of them, not bothering to stop when someone called out for me to ‘hold up.’
Once I reached Leida, I handed her the wagon. “Go get ‘em, Tiger!”
She grinned nervously at me. “Where should I start?”
I looked around the large room where multiple desks were perched. “Start with the man who tried to stop me as I passed him. From there, use those big puppy dog eyes and hit up the rest of the ones at their desks.”