Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 70185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
“Does he do this a lot? Pick up strange women, I mean.”
“No, this is the first time I’ve seen it in fifteen years,” Carl answered, and I looked at Monique for confirmation. She’s like my tribe; she won’t bullshit me.
“He’s done some crazy shit, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this nuts over a woman before. It must be the real thing. Tell him to give me his new Phantom, and I’ll tell you all his secrets.”
“Give her your Phantom.”
“I’ll get you your own and Monique, no.”
“Why not?” She actually pouted.
“Because it is illegal for someone with your intellect to get behind the wheel of a car,” Carl answered with a straight face.
“Eat shit and die, you old sea dog.”
“Time out, both of you, or you can go sit in the sand.”
“You must be out your damn mind. You know how much you paid for these shoes?” She cocked one of her heels to the side, and I got a glimpse of the snakeskin red-bottomed shoe.
“No, I try not to pay too much attention to your highway robbery. Though I think Carl is keeping a tab.”
“Two-hundred and fifty-three thousand….” She threw something across the table at him, but I wasn’t sure what it was.
Justice was sitting up in his seat with his chin on the table, enjoying the show. ‘I like her. She’s my kinda girl. We’re going to do lots of naughty things together.’
Your ass gonna end up in jail or the madhouse.
Either way, we fucking, either way.
Marcus made Monique her eggs and brewed another pot of coffee because Carl seemed to need it intravenously. He kept casing the place like he was on twenty-four-seven alert. “You two ready? Monique, take notes.” She opened her bag and pulled out a notepad and a felt pen. I haven’t seen one of those in years.
She saw me looking and explained. “Oh, Che Guevara over here don’t like me to take electronic notes.”
“Why not?” I stupidly asked.
“You can eat paper or burn it. Everything you put in those devices leaves a trail.” Marcus answered as he refilled everyone’s mugs.
He went through pretty much everything we had discussed so far about my divorce and the three of them were discussing the best course of action and who would take care of what.
I felt like I was standing outside a big-picture window watching a play being enacted. This whole thing was so far out of the realm of my norm that it wasn’t even slightly plausible. And yet, I could almost feel like it was happening.
My husband is rich, not life-changing for the long run rich. But if he stayed in his job for a good few more years, he’d be able to retire without a worry. This wasn’t that. I’ve never seen what this is before, not up close and personal.
Was I to believe that this man, who was not only wealthy but handsome, was interested in me? An almost divorced mother of three? I started laughing and couldn’t stop, and each time I looked at Monique’s face, I laughed harder; it was even worse when I looked at Carl, and I dared not look at Marcus.
“I told you about springing your shit on the unexpecting? She’s going into shock.”
“She’ll have to get used to it, Monique. Now, pay attention. The first thing I want to get started on is the daycare. Justine is the only one of us who’s been local for a while so we’ll let her do the hiring of the staff.”
“Carl, you’ll run the background checks as usual.”
“That’s like sending a fox into the henhouse.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Carl seemed a bit affronted at Monique’s assertion.
“It means that sending a criminal to fish out other criminals might not be such a smart move.”
“Listen, you infuriating pain in the ass.”
“Why don’t you two just go to bed with each other already and put me out of my misery?”
‘That’s what I’m saying. The tension is just….
Shut up, Justice. This is not your circus. These are not your monkeys.
“Eww, gross!” Justine turned her face and turned up her nose.
“I’d as soon fuck a wallowing walrus.” Carl deadpanned, which set me off again, which had Marcus coming to my side to rub his hand up and down my back while the three of them muttered and pointed at each other over my head until Marcus made a slashing motion across his throat and the other two stopped bickering.
“I guess this isn’t the right time to talk about the wedding.” I started to hyperventilate at his words, and he freaked. “Okay, babe, we’ll hold off on that.” Monique shook her head and kissed her teeth.
“I knew you were spending too much time with those Orangutans. You’ve reverted back to your cave-dwelling days. The woman hasn’t even been divorced yet; she just found out that her husband is a cheating scumbag, and you’re hitting her with all this?”