Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 135955 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135955 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
“Major,” Ace cuts me off, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her out of my space. “You okay?” he asks gently.
“Yeah, I’m good. The kids only have to spend a night in care. The grandparents are on the way.”
“Do you have everything you need from him?”
“Yes, I’m done for the day.”
“I’ll walk you to your car.” His offer is met with a shake of her head.
“Unnecessary, but thanks.” She kisses his cheek and rushes away without another glace in my direction. No one stops her this time, and she avoids all contact.
All the attention from the men in the room is aimed at me.
“What the hell was that?”
I swing my head to Ace’s icy glare. “What?”
“Tell me you didn’t almost call Jewls a whore.”
“Fuck no.”
“It sure sounded that way.”
“Where did you get that? You saw her.”
“Jewls is always attractive.”
“Attractive?” I chuckle in disgust. “She’s more than attractive.”
“You’re an idiot. And you’re wasting time.”
His mood shifts and I know this needs to be shut down. “Look who’s talking.”
“I wasn’t in the same city, sometimes not even on the same continent.”
I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from replying. The hurt on Jewls’ face fills my mind, and I blow out a frustrated breath, grabbing my gun out of my drawer.
“I was an asshole.”
“Yep, what are you going to do about it?”
“First stop is a visit to processing. Then I could use a beer.”
One side of his mouth curls in a disturbing half-grin. It’s an expression that’s brought grown men to beg for their lives.
“Sounds good to me.”
“I’m reserving judgment until I get your side of the story.” Harley glares at me.
A woman comes from the storage room with Tom and unloads glasses into the service well. This is not a good sign.
“Jay, it was a misunderstanding.” I use her nickname, hoping to thaw her anger.
“You insinuated she was a streetwalker!”
“It wasn’t meant to be an insult.”
“You know I love you, Major, but are you dense? Did that bullet shatter your manners and kindness? You hurt her.”
I wince, feeling the hit straight in my chest.
“Baby, roll it back. He knows his choice of words was a mistake,” Ace defends.
“A mistake? He called her a—“
“Supermodel, that’s what I meant. But my brain shit out on me and it came out as crass.” I cut her off. “Hearing she visited a man accused of beating his wife, looking like she did, I fucked up.”
The fire instantly dims and she hands over two bottles of beer.
“Where is she? I need to straighten this out.”
“She called out. Her day didn’t get much better after your exchange.”
“Shit.”
Jay whips her phone from her back pocket, eyes racing back and forth over the screen and growing wide. “Speaking of Jewls.”
“What about her?” My ears perk.
“The man she visited this morning is no longer fighting the charges. His lawyer is asking for a meeting.”
“There’s her silver lining,” Ace muses.
“What did y’all do?” she asks suspiciously.
“Whatever it is, this round’s on me,” Tom interjects.
“You’re gonna go bust if you keep giving away free drinks.”
He cuts his gaze to me. “Don’t tell me how to run my business, rookie. When Jewls told me about this bastard, it took all I could not to get to the station myself. Whatever you two did to speed this up deserves a damn beer.”
“It didn’t take much convincing when we explained everything at stake.”
I don’t mention the prissy bastard almost pissing himself when we crowded in his space.
“Respect.” Tom juts his chin and strolls off.
Jay makes a beeline around the bar and into Ace’s arms. “So much respect,” she choruses his approval.
All I can hope is that tomorrow, when I find Jewls, she’ll be as forgiving and have the same sentiment.
2
Jewls
“Bunco bitches!” Ronnie hoots, slamming back the rest of her whiskey sour.
“The dice are loaded,” Janice complains.
“You say that every time we play,” Bea says snootily. “It’s obvious you’ll never be a gracious winner.”
“Shut it, scrawny!” Janice snaps.
I sip my wine, settling back in my chair, ready for the show. These ladies may be my grandma’s age and completely off the chains crazy, but I love them.
Ronnie was the first person I met in this complex. It wasn’t exactly an immediate budding friendship.
She hated me on the spot.
The memory of that day comes back to me like it was yesterday.
A family friend owns the townhome I rent. When his job pulled him back to Kentucky full-time, he and his wife decided not to sell.
Harley and I may be the best of friends, but we knew we shouldn’t live together. So, the townhome was perfect timing. Harley came with me to tour the place, and when we walked out the door, Ronnie was perched against the wall, glowering at us.
I casually tried to start a conversation, but she instantly demanded to know what ‘two young college twerps’ were doing viewing the Rolands’ house.