Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96978 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96978 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
“And don’t get me started on my own mother. The one who only calls when she needs more money. I’ve basically been a whore for her from the day I was born, so fuck you, and all of the haters,” she screams, then looks over at Bobby.
“Why the fuck isn’t the gate opening?”
I take an inhale on my cigarette, wondering the exact thing. The subject change is probably good for Courtney, because as much as I sympathize with her childhood, nobody gets a rose garden.
“Stay here,” I demand, getting out with Bobby as we walk over to the gate. I do a visual sweep of the perimeter, but all I see is a couple walking their dog across the street. Otherwise, everything looks normal.
“I’m firing her security. Where the hell are they?” I take one last inhale and toss my cigarette, snuffing it out with my boot as a man wearing a security guard uniform walks over to the gate.
“Can I help you?” he calls out and I almost start laughing.
“Yeah. Open the fucking gate.”
His eyes widen when he recognizes me. “Sorry, Mr. Adams, the power went out. We just got the system up and running. The gate must have locked…hold on.” He nods, walking into the small control booth to the right as the couple walks by and I nod at them.
“Big fan.” The man walking his dog stops, not seeming to notice his goldendoodle jumping around, ready to drag him down the street.
“You live around here?” I squat down to pet the dog as he happily jumps on me.
“Yeah, couple houses down. I’m Derrick Manson, I’m an agent at—”
“Cool, man, did your power go out too?” I have to interrupt him because I’m just not in the mood for ass kissing or him pimping himself to represent me right now.
“Um, no, ours is fine, right?” He looks at his wife, girlfriend, daughter? Who the hell knows these days.
“Yeah, ours is on. Can I take a selfie with you, please?” the girl asks…she has to be his daughter.
“Sure.” I stand up and the dog pounces on me again.
“What is happening?” Courtney opens the passenger door, and the girl squeals.
“Oh my God, it’s Courtney. Can I please, please get a selfie with you and Ammo?” The girl calls out, jumping up and down, her hands clasped together. And I just know this is going to wind up all over the Internet but screw it. This is the lesser of the evils we’ve experienced tonight. The papz already got wind of us walking into Granger’s party, after all.
“Courtney, hello.” The man walks forward as I move closer to Courtney. When it comes to her I trust no one.
“Derrick Manson, we live in that white house. If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to call. In fact, here’s my card….” He reaches into his slacks for a card that I intercept.
“Nice to meet you.” Courtney frowns as she looks at me completely discarding him. This is why they call her the Ice Queen, but in her defense, she’s been admired and ass kissed since she was a child. It’s surprising she’s doing as well as she is.
“What’s going on?” Her eyes are locked with mine.
“Power went out,” I state as her large gates start to jerk open, and two of her security guards come out.
“Sorry, Ms. Falcon, the power went out. We think the refrigerator in the game room malfunctioned,” the older man announces. And as much as I’m sure he at one time knew the security business, he’s clearly slipping, because where is everyone and why are they just allowing random people to get close to us? Jesus Christ, he’s not doing security for some small-time person. Courtney is a giant star.
“That would make sense seeing as our power is fine,” Derrick repeats himself, and I’m done with all this.
“Here, let’s take a couple selfies with…?” Seeing as I’m trying really hard not to let my aggravation show, but this day is definitely testing me.
“Ammmooooo, you’re the man, Rock and Roll!” A guy on a bike shouts as he slowly pedals by. And I grit my teeth at how fucked up this is. We’re literally locked out of her gate, looking like schmucks, SUV running, neighbors wanting selfies, every Tom, Dick, and Harry within arm’s reach all because her security is inept.
“Zoe. My name is Zoe.” The poor girl is shaking with excitement as I try and breathe, because losing my shit is not gonna help us. I nod and take her phone so I can snap a bunch of pictures of all of us.
“There ya go, darlin’, nice to meet you.” Taking Courtney’s hand, I almost drag her up the small incline onto her massive property. The calming fountain of the man and woman wrapped in each other’s arms is such a contrast with the energy that’s swirling around us right now.