Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 101872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
“It’s nothing,” she said, waving her hand. “Just, some, um, nightmares.”
Alec eyed her knowingly.
Renard was standing across the room from her, leaning against the wall, watching. “She got close to six hours last night before someone woke us.” He glared over at Jake who was standing by the door.
Jake sighed. “Look, the complainant wanted me to come out last night, but I wasn’t waking everyone up. This is the best I could do.”
“Who is the complainant?” Alec asked.
“Old shrew across the road,” Renard said.
Alec eyed Opal. “What’s wrong?”
“Wrong?” she asked.
“You’ve been moving slowly, like you’re in pain.”
“I’m fine.”
Alec narrowed his gaze at her. “Wanna try again?”
Uh-oh. She’d forgotten that he seemed to have some sort of built-in lie detector.
“Hurt my back carrying the carpet. Tweaked it again last night at the club. Renard brought me home and helped me.”
“That’s better,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Tweaked it at the club?
“Yep.” Him being her guardian did not mean that she had to tell him everything.
Right?
Well, she wasn’t telling him what happened. Alec glanced from her to Renard.
Shit.
“Nothing to do with Renard. I mean, the tweaking had nothing to do with him. He helped me home and . . . stayed and why am I telling you all this? I’m not a fucking teenager who snuck a boy over.”
To her shock, Alec’s lips twitched. “Nope. You’re not. Just want to make sure you’re safe. And happy.”
“Jeez, this town. Something in the water, I tell ya.” But she owed him this truth and she owed it to Renard, too. Glancing up, she looked right at him. “But I am happy and safe. Renard kept me that way.”
“Then I owe you thanks,” Alec said to Renard.
“None needed seeing as I’m now gonna be Opal’s guardian.”
“Wait, what?” Jake asked. “You are?”
“Yep. We’re together,” Renard said. “So, Malone, good of you to come, sorry it was a waste of your time. But I’ve got her.”
He had her?
She nearly groaned. Alec Malone wasn’t a man that you just dismissed like that.
She knew because she’d tried.
“You’ve got her? Well, that’s good to know. Opal? That’s what you want?” Alec asked.
She took a deep breath. She could say no.
But she didn’t want to.
“It is. Doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate all that you’ve done for me, though, Alec.”
Alec waved a hand through the air, silencing her. “I’ve done hardly anything. Nothing that I wouldn’t normally do for family. And that’s what you are. No matter who you’re with or who is your guardian. Remember that you’re a Malone. We’re always here for you.”
“I can stay here?” she whispered.
Shit.
She hadn’t meant to sound so worried . . . so stark.
Alec walked over and crouched in front of her. “Bought this place for you, sweetheart. If I thought you’d agree, I’d sign it over to you now.”
She sucked in a breath.
She’d never expected that. Not in a million years.
“Why?” she asked hoarsely.
“Told you. You’re a Malone. You might not have the last name, but you helped keep my sister and my nephew safe. You kept Lilac safe. That means I take care of you. No matter who you’re with or who is your guardian. Got me? I can say it as many times as you need for it to penetrate.”
No need, it was starting to penetrate.
“I got you, Alec Malone. Haven’t had one good thing in my life until I met Lilac and Ryleigh. And now it seems my world is overflowing with good. Kind of hard to adjust to when you’ve had a life of bad.”
“You’ll get used to it,” he advised. “If you just let the good settle in, you’ll live the life you deserve.”
She nodded, unsure that she could speak without bursting into tears.
“Gonna stay and hear what’s going on, though,” Alec said, standing and glancing over at Jake, then Renard.
She wondered if Renard would protest. He could be prickly. But he just nodded back.
“Seems your right as her family,” he said.
Crap.
Those tears were coming. She blinked them back rapidly.
“Don’t cry, Gem,” Renard told her.
“Don’t be foolish, why would I cry?” she countered. “Just darn allergies.”
Jake cleared his throat. “Right. Back to why I’m here. I got a complaint that there was a stalker in the neighborhood.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Renard said. “She really called you about that?”
“Who? What?” Opal asked, feeling confused.
“Grackle,” he said.
“I should have known,” Opal replied. “What’s she complaining about now? Was I breathing too loud?”
Jake cleared his throat. “I know you’ve had problems with Mrs. Gingers. But I’m going to have to ask you both to use her real name.”
“You can ask,” Renard said.
“Doesn’t mean we’ll do it,” Opal added with a smile.
Jake groaned. “Great. Anyway, Mrs. Gingers reported that a dark, menacing truck has been prowling the streets, obviously scoping it out so the driver could commit a crime.”
“Wow, she should write a book with that imagination,” Renard said sarcastically. “I’ve been driving by each night to check on Opal.”