Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 121755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
I gave myself a moment to drink him in.
Mm…yes.
It was good having a hot guy to come home to.
“Hey,” I said, walking in and dropping my bag (that had my Taser and holster in it, so it landed with a thump) on the armchair.
“C’mere,” he murmured after he switched off the television.
And I saw I had sweet, sexy Gabe back, and not scary, furious (still sexy) Gabe.
(Also important to note, of course he was that guy who was more interested in his woman coming home than whatever he was watching on television. Gah!)
I went there and Gabe adjusted so we’d both fit, stretched out on the couch.
My couch had deep seats, but this was accomplished because I was mostly lying on him.
Truth: I’d thought of this often when we were watching TV, how it would feel to be cuddled on my couch with Gabe.
Fact: it felt fucking amazing.
“You get done what you needed to get done?” he asked before pushing the last bite of cupcake into his mouth.
“Duane is in for setting those jerks up for a takedown, but whatever we’re going to do is going to take a lot of scheming, and I’m not sure the Angels have ever pulled off anything complicated.”
“You know you got resources if you need help planning.”
They were all just the best guys.
I didn’t confirm I knew that.
I shared, “And now we have the new mission of getting Jinx’s head out of her ass after she screwed the pooch when her accountant client, who’s in love with her, offered to take her away from the life, and she threw it in his face.”
“Well, fuck,” Gabe muttered.
“You can say that again,” I muttered in return.
“You’re wading into that?” he asked, sounding like he didn’t think it was a good idea.
“She burst into tears, Gabe, and she’s not a crying type of female. As in, oh-so-totally not one.”
“Ah,” Gabe replied.
“And Raye’s on a tear to make everything all right for everybody, and you know what that means.”
“Yeah, it was me who dropped you off at your pimped-out headquarters yesterday. I know what it means.”
Hmm.
Moving on.
“Has Liam ever mentioned anything about Shanti?”
He assumed the universal male I’m-not-gonna-lay-my-brother-out-there expression.
“He’s not into her,” I whispered, my eyes roving over his expression.
“He thinks she’s gorgeous and has it going on.”
My heart took flight.
“And his mom is a Rock Chick, and he has no intention of following in his dad’s footsteps,” he continued.
My lips turned down.
“Baby, I know his parents’ story. It’s some intense shit. I get where he’s coming from,” he finished.
Since Shanti had a type, and both of those men were her type, including their race, I asked, “What about Roam?”
“Roam’s a long story too.”
“I know about his story. He was adopted with Cap by Shirleen. They were both on the street before that.”
“Did you know he took a bullet for one of the other Rock Chicks? Jules? And she took two for him and nearly died doin’ it.”
I wasn’t sure, in all the terrifying information that filtered down about all of that, if I remembered that part.
But that seemed more terrifying than all the rest, so I figured I’d remember it if I’d heard it.
Or I didn’t remember because I blocked it out.
I made a face at Gabe.
Gabe concluded that one too with, “He’s got some shit to work out.”
Okay.
Well, that was that I guessed.
Bluh.
Time to move on.
And this wasn’t any better.
Indeed, it was a lot worse.
But after that afternoon, it had to be done.
“His name was Christian Darvill,” I whispered.
Gabe’s body grew taut.
He knew it was worse as well, probably because Brody already gave Gabe his name, and me bringing up the reason why Gabe was so pissed earlier would definitely be a worse topic of discussion.
“I was a sophomore. He was a junior,” I continued. “He wanted to have sex with me. I wasn’t ready. He pushed it. I pushed back. He took offense to that and decided to lash out. And rearranging my clothes after I fell asleep watching TV with him at his parents’ house, taking pictures of me, lying to his buds that he did me, and sharing those pictures was how he did it.”
None of this made Gabe any less tense.
In fact, the opposite.
Times a million.
But we were there.
We had to share this stuff.
So might as well get it all out.
“Those pictures made the rounds,” I went on. “Life got really awful for a long time. Mom flipped her shit. Went to the principal, who told her, since the event that started it didn’t happen on school grounds or during any school activities, there was nothing he could do. She went to Christian’s parents, who refused to believe Christian was behind it, even if the picture showed me on their couch, and it was clear I was dead asleep. She then went to the school board, who told her there was nothing they could do, using the same excuses as the principal. So she finally took me to visit the cops, where I told them I’d been sexually assaulted in my sleep, and I had the pictures to prove it. Things went a lot faster from there.”