Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 67795 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 339(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67795 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 339(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
The money is safe.
I’m safe.
Those motherfuckers are dead meat.
Chapter Seven
Letty
I finish my first day at work and smile as I pack up my things and get ready to head home. The work isn’t as exciting as I thought it would be, well, not after Shades left, but it’s interesting enough. And it lets me use my skills to help the church, which in turn helps the people of the community.
The kiss from Shades was a little shocking. He’s a beautiful man, but my mother would never allow it.
“All done for the day?” Pastor Braden pokes his head through the open doorway with a smile on his face.
“Yep. Is there anything else you need me to do today?”
“No, you’re good.” He steps inside the office and leans against the wall, casual and open. “How’s the job?”
“Good. Really good. I’m enjoying the work, and I’m working on some ideas to help with expenses.”
He smiles and nods. “That is excellent to hear, Letty. Enjoy your evening.”
“You too, Pastor. Don’t work too late.”
He laughs. “The Lord’s work is never done.”
“Maybe not, but even he took a day to rest after creating all this beauty around us.”
“When you’re right, you’re right. How about you go enjoy your evening, and as soon as I finish Wednesday’s sermon, I’ll head home too?”
“Sounds good to me. Good night.” I send a wave and pick up my bag, and head outside, where the sun is still shining. A little less bright but enough to warm my skin instantly. I take a moment to inhale the blend of flowers and plants wafting on the breeze from the gardens as the sun warms my skin. It’s the perfect way to end a productive day, and I let out a slow breath and head to my car.
I stop at the sight of the man, Shades, leaning over his bike. His shoulders are slumped forward, and he looks hurt.
I set my bag down back inside the church and rush across the parking lot, heart thumping against my chest. Was it a heart attack? A stroke? Something worse? Is there anything worse than those two?
“Hey, Shades, are you all right?” He looks over his shoulder at me, and I gasp. He’s bloody and bruised, sunglasses broken on the ground at his feet.
“Oh my goodness! What happened?”
He tries for a smile, but it quickly turns to a wince.
“Looks that bad, huh?”
I nod and rush to close the last of the few feet that separate us.
“Pretty bad. Come on.” I grab his arm without asking permission, without even thinking. He needs help.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
I sigh, but my feet keep moving, slowly because tall and muscly that he is, the man isn’t easy to move.
“I think I’m helping you.”
“I’m fine,” he insists.
I snort and shake my head. “I know fine, and you, sir, are not it.”
He laughs and then groans in pain before a cough comes out, thick and raspy.
“Thanks. Seriously, Letty, I’m fine. No need to worry about me.”
My feet stop abruptly, and I turn to him. “You’re fine?”
He nods. He even does an impressive job of folding his arms without wincing, but the ginger way he moves tells me he’s far more hurt than he wants me to know.
“Okay, you’re fine.” I poke his side, and with the quickness of lightning, he grabs my wrist before I poke it a second time.
“Totally fine,” I snort.
“A few sucker punches is all.”
“And this?” I put my free hand to the split in his eyebrow. “Doesn’t hurt either, right?”
“Right,” he growls. The sound is anguished, but I feel it all the way down to my toes, which are curling inside my shoes.
“Great. Then I won’t lose one wink of sleep if the gravel in your knuckles or one of those cuts gets infected and you die. I will rest easy because I tried, really tried to help you. Go on then, Shades. Go off into the sunset, be a big, strong, brave man. If you make it back to wherever you came from.”
I walk away, hoping my ploy works because there’s no way I can just drag him by his feet back inside the church.
“You’re kind of annoying, you know that?”
I laugh and shake my head. “I can be relentless when it matters. You’re not the only asshole around these parts.”
Shades laughs in reply, and the sound is absolutely wonderful, deep, loud, and well used like he has a life that lets him laugh freely and often.
“Funny.”
“Thanks,” I shoot back as we near the church steps. Suddenly his arm is around me and yanking me to the side with a gasp.
“What? What’s going on?”
His panicked expression freaks me out, and I scan the parking lot in search of the men who’d done this to him. “What?”
His lips curl into what can only be described as a seductive grin, his gaze on the sky before he turns back to me.