Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 88262 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88262 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
My phone had stopped buzzing and then started up all over again. Whoever was calling really wanted to reach me, and I hated them for it.
“Your lucky fucking day,” I murmured, handing Max the towel again. “I need to take this.”
“What?” he asked. “If you didn’t have to answer the phone, you’d kill me right here?”
“I’d pin you against this wall,” I told him, “tie your wrists with my belt so you’d stop fucking with me, then sink my cock so deep inside you that I wouldn’t even have time to consider killing you.”
His eyes flared wide just for a moment.
God, you really do want it, don’t you?
I watched the dimples at the bottom of his back as he padded down the short hall toward his bedroom.
Finally, I answered my phone, heat still rolling through my veins.
“Dom. Hey,” I said.
“Got a little gift for you,” Dominic said in a singsong voice.
I pulled in a long breath, walking over to Max’s kitchen and looking out the little open window above his sink. “Tell me. What’s up?”
“A certain police chief had a little oopsie last night.”
My interest was piqued immediately. “No way.”
“Oh, yes, Draven,” Dominic said, like he knew exactly how good this news was. “It was him.”
“McGowan? What happened?”
“McGowan, indeed. It was a DUI,” Dominic said. “A really bad one. Not just alcohol. He was still on painkillers after his time at the hospital. They’re trying to keep tight-lipped about it, obviously, but you know what that means.”
Shit.
Dom really did have a gift for me. A Christmas gift the size of a fucking police chief.
Brody McGowan.
The youngest police chief the department had ever had, thanks to his family connections.
The fucking piece of shit who used to be our friend.
“Leverage,” I said.
“Leverage.”
I drummed my fingers on the kitchen countertop, possibilities floating through my mind. “This is fucking huge, Dom.”
“I know. I’m still working on the Bill Franklin problem, but the worse problem seems to be moving in our favor.”
I pulled in a slow breath, looking out at the overcast skies outside Max’s kitchen window. The shrubs and trees were blowing in a gentle breeze, and I saw the fluffy white cat, rooting around next to one of the honeysuckle plants.
“Maybe I’ll actually be able to come back sooner rather than later,” I said.
The thought of going home to Montana still felt like a far-off mirage.
For a while it hadn’t seemed possible that any solutions would present themselves back home.
But if Brody McGowan was out as police chief, that would be massive.
If I was able to get out of any major legal repercussions, and could somehow get Franklin not to press charges…
Would Montana ever feel the same again?
Everything I’d ever loved was back there. My horses, my land. The dramatic mountains. The way it looked from my living room windows at sunset, right as people were about to start showing up to my house, or the way it looked from the infinity pool at sunrise, when the party was still raging on.
Montana had my mansion, my cars, my memories, but none of them seemed to matter right now.
When I’d left, all I’d wanted was to go back.
Why did it feel so hollow right now?
Dominic discussed a few other things with me, talking finance, updating me on my mom’s issues, and talking about yet another agribusiness venture my brother and sister were getting involved with. Everything seemed to be carrying on as usual back home without me.
Like I was a ghost.
Maybe as if my family felt like I’d never been there at all.
“I’ll let you know how the DUI shakes out,” Dom said. “Ah… how’s Lily?”
“She’s fine. I still hate that she had to deal with any part of this, but… she’s fine.”
That was a layer of guilt I still hadn’t been able to peel away from my heart.
Talking to Dom about Lily would probably always be painful, because Brody had shown all of us his true colors.
On that day.
That day I will never fucking talk about, for the rest of my life.
But at least I knew the worst of it was over, now.
Max appeared in my peripheral vision, coming into the kitchen and starting to make yet another abominable sort of protein drink.
“And how are you doing, D?” Dom asked me.
“I’ve got to go,” I told him.
“Damn. Thought you’d scream with joy when I told you the news.”
“It’s very good news.”
“Is everything okay with you?”
“Don’t worry about me.”
Dominic sighed. “Fine. But you owe me a longer call later. Talk to you soon.”
We hung up and I slipped my phone away, the news swirling around in my mind.
I watched in silence as Max blended up another drink, this one vaguely brown instead of green.
“Isn’t one protein shake enough for one day?” I asked him. “Swallow my cum if you need more protein that badly.”
“This one’s not protein, it’s electrolytes, antioxidants, and adaptogens.”