Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 81584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Grandpa was silent for a moment. “You’ll carry it with you,” he ordered finally.
“Planned on it.”
“Let us know if you run into any trouble.”
“I will,” I replied, getting to my feet.
“She’s it?” he asked curiously.
I paused. Fuck.
“Yeah, she is.”
“Good choice,” he said simply.
I spent the next few minutes tracking Frankie through the line as she chatted with a couple of the old ladies while they filled their plates. She looked so fragile standing between them. It was so incredibly unlike her that I was still fucking furious no one else seemed to notice.
“Mick,” I called out as my cousin opened the front door. He waited until I caught up to him. “Round up the Hawthornes. Cian and Bas. The MacKenzies. Meet me out back.”
“On it,” he agreed.
Ten minutes later, we’d gathered around the side of the building. The boys were confused but game for whatever.
I hit Cian first. While everyone was wondering why the hell I’d done it, I turned and clipped Bas in the jaw, too. Brody, well, he knew by then what the fuck was happening, and he stood still for his.
“The fuck?” Rumi asked, his eyes lit with glee. “I mean, I love a good sucker punch, but I have no idea what’s going on.”
“She’s fuckin’ wastin’ away, and not a single one of you noticed,” I ground out.
“Who—” Cian muttered, staring at me. My hand curled into a fist again as realization hit his expression. “Frank.”
“That motherfucker has been terrorizin’ her at work,” I said, barely keeping my voice level. My throat strained as I struggled against raising it. “I asked you, every one of you, and every one of you said that shit was over.”
“That’s what she told us,” Brody replied quietly.
“All you had to do was fuckin’ look at her.”
Bas was silent.
“I’m not seein’ what you’re seein’, man,” Otto said softly, trying to calm my ass down. “It’s easy to miss.”
“I noticed it,” Mick countered. “Just saw her inside and wondered if she’d been sick or somethin’.”
“I did, too,” Jamison muttered.
“I’m takin’ her out for the week,” I announced, looking around at them. “And you’re gonna take care of it.”
There were nods all around.
“Cian, Bas, Brody, Titus,” I snapped. “You’re out. He’d recognize you too easy.”
“Fuck that,” Brody argued.
“Not up for discussion.”
“The rest of you are gonna make it hurt. You find him every day. He never knows who you are. You never, ever, say Francesca’s name. Make it clear that if he ever fucks with any woman again, you’ll be back.”
“We’ll make sure it sticks,” Rumi said, his face unnaturally solemn.
“Keep this to yourselves. This gets back to Frankie, those love taps I handed out are gonna be the least of your worries.” I met each of their eyes. I wasn’t fucking around. “Now go back to your women before they start wonderin’ where you are.”
The group thinned out, but I stayed where I was. I wasn’t ready to go mingle again. I was having a hard time stopping myself from going to grab Frankie right then so we could take off.
“Can’t believe I missed it,” Bas said once it was just the two of us. “How the fuck did I miss it?”
“Don’t know,” I replied. I didn’t have it in me to console him. If he’d pulled his head out of Lou’s ass for two seconds, he would’ve noticed.
“Fuck,” he spat. Turning, he punched the brink. Once, twice, a third time.
“Don’t break your hand,” I ordered as I walked away. “You’ll be useless in the garage.”
I had no sympathy or patience for the men who called themselves her best friends and then let her wither away. None.
Chapter 9
Frankie
“Hey, come here,” I muttered, grabbing Lou by the arm so I could tug her across the grass.
“What’s up?” she asked happily.
“So, Gray’s going to take me out on the bike—”
“Oh, fun!”
“—we’ll be back sometime next week.”
“Wait, what?” she looked at me in confusion.
“We’re going to take the week off.”
“When the hell did you decide that? You’re going with Gray? I didn’t realize that was still a thing that was happening.” She shook her head. “I’m so lost right now.”
“We decided today,” I replied, glancing at my phone. It was five o’clock. I needed to get home soon if I was going to be ready by seven.
“So, what, you’re together now? And you’re taking a trip?”
“We’re friends. He noticed that work’s been wearing me down and asked if I wanted to take off for a while.”
“Okay,” she said slowly, still completely confused. “I mean, can you just do that?”
“I’m doing it,” I replied, feeling more sure of it as I tried to explain. “I’ll deal with whatever when we get back.”
“Okay.” She looked at me closely. “If you think it’s a good idea.”
“I do.” I nodded firmly. I was excited for the first time in…so long I couldn’t even remember. “Could you run me back to the house real quick so I can pack?”