Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Goldie slapped Nina’s arm with a hand towel. “Don’t be mean. He’s just…unpredictable, and he makes poor choices.”
Nina glanced up at her. “He shipped a man’s balls to his wife.”
She winced and blew out a breath. “Okay, yeah, he did do that. But that’s one of the poor choices I was talking about.”
Nina rolled her eyes as I stared at both of them in horror. I was scared to ask for more of the story on that.
“Besides, I’ve never seen him act around a female like he does with this one. I’d say she’s safe,” Goldie told her.
“Eh,” Nina replied, cutting her eyes at me. “Depends on how much she cares about Tex’s health and safety.”
“He wouldn’t cut off Tex’s balls,” Goldie replied, rolling her eyes.
“Are we one hundred percent sure about that?” Nina asked.
“Y’all, please,” Pepper interrupted them. “She is almost as white as the flour you got all over the counter. Stop talking about shit like that. Besides, my buck would be on Tex. He ain’t crazy, but he is packing more muscle.”
Goldie and Nina looked at each other, and Nina shrugged as if maybe Pepper was right.
“Anyway, back to what we want to know. Where did you go yesterday? What happened?” Goldie asked me.
“Is his cock really pierced?” Nina added.
My eyes went wide as I stared at her.
“Wh-what?” I asked.
She looked let down. “So, you didn’t see his cock. Well, that’s okay. Plenty of time for that.”
“She’s not a club slut. Jesus, Nina,” Goldie scolded her.
“I know that, and that wouldn’t make her a slut. She said that he took her virginity twenty years ago. They aren’t strangers,” she shot back at her just as the door to the kitchen opened again.
I glanced back at the door and then froze in horror. Rome came strolling in, his eyes glancing over the others, then locking on me. I couldn’t read his expression to know if he’d heard any of that, but he didn’t say anything. Turning back around, I let out the breath I’d been holding.
The stool that Lick had just left was being moved once again as Rome came to sit beside me. The other women said nothing, and that made us all look guilty.
“What? Don’t let me stop you. So, you know I took Salem’s virginity. Please continue. I’m fascinated to know where this conversation was headed.”
My entire body flushed, and I closed my eyes tightly. He had heard her. Crap. Why had I told them anything? Now he would think I had gone around spewing out our past to everyone. Was he mad? He hadn’t sounded like it, but he had to be. Right?
“If I’d thought she was a slut, then I’d have had her straddling me on my bike yesterday, but, no, that didn’t happen. I know her too well. She’d never have done that.”
My eyes flew open, and I saw Goldie biting back a grin and Nina smirking at him before I turned to look at him. Had he really just said that?
He was watching me. Waiting for me to react. The teasing glint in his eyes sent a tiny shiver through me.
“You look surprised, Angel Face,” he said.
I blinked and said nothing. He’d called me Angel Face in front of the other women.
“Angel Face, huh? I take it, that’s not a new endearment?” Nina said.
Rome shook his head but kept holding my gaze. “No, it’s not new.”
This was…not what I had expected today. Or was this because we were friends? Adult friends who had a past. Was I the one making it awkward? God, I needed a handbook to navigate this.
“I thought you’d be headed back to Ocala by now,” Pepper said, saving me from having to speak.
“Not going back anytime soon. Things require me to stay here.”
“Things?” Nina asked with a chuckle.
A crooked grin touched his lips. “You’re being nosy, Nina.”
“There you are,” a female voice called out.
I glanced back to see it was Nixie strutting into the kitchen in what looked like a bra and panties.
Pepper muttered a curse beside me, and Goldie shot the new arrival an annoyed glare before she walked over to the stove.
“You weren’t in bed, and I didn’t know where you had gone,” Nixie said as she walked up behind Rome and put her arms around his chest, pressing her huge boobs against his back. “Morning,” she cooed in his ear.
That was the cold water of reality I’d needed to snap me out of thinking things were something that they weren’t. I wasn’t the something keeping Rome here. She was. I wanted to leave, seeing as my appetite was now gone.
If I made an excuse to leave, then I’d look as if I cared. No need to further my embarrassment. Might as well defuse it rather than feed it. Rome liked his women young and their bodies on display. I wasn’t young, and there was no way in hell I’d ever walk around like that.