Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
He wasn’t. They didn’t have a lot of money, but he tipped. He simply didn’t throw down wads of cash the way Stef did. He tried. The whole money thing was in his lap, like most of their existence.
“Shane, I’m sorry.” Bay frowned, his eyes softening. “I shouldn’t have used that word.”
He had to think about it for a second, and then he waved his brother off. “It’s fine. I am what I am. It doesn’t bother me. Also, you didn’t mean it that way. You know your mother was surprisingly old fashioned for a woman of her age.”
He’d been called it all by his stepmom’s family. Bastard. By blow—he still wasn’t sure what that meant. Illegitimate. Base born.
That was Shane Kent. First of his name. Ruiner of Marriages. Mistakenly Born.
Someone should have worn a condom.
“My mom was a mean woman who couldn’t find it in her heart to be kind to a kid who had nothing to do with the circumstances of his birth,” Bay corrected.
“No, but my momma could have handled it better.”
His mother had gotten sick of waiting for her married lover to leave his wife and marry her.
“I’m sorry all the same. I’ll be nice to Max, but we have to think about the fact that we’ll be late if we don’t leave soon,” Bay pointed out. “Some of those supplies we picked up are for the work this afternoon. Bo is planning on mowing the back field, and we need to get those parts in or he’s going to have a hard time with it.”
He’d thought he might be able to get through this without telling Bay who was sitting in a booth across the café, but they were tight on time. He glanced over and she wasn’t there. Her big suitcase was by the table, and it looked like Max and Rye were in serious conversation, though Max also had a now-awake kid trying to stuff his fist in his father’s mouth.
Damn, but he wanted that life.
He shoved the thought aside. The key takeaway was that Brooke was gone and they could sneak out and walk right by. Easy peasy. They didn’t have to engage. She likely wasn’t staying for long and would be back to her high-powered job in New York, surrounded by men with affluence and money who came from good families.
“We should go. I’m being ridiculous. Like they’ll even notice.” He pulled out the cash and set it on the table. And then pulled a few more dollars out. He didn’t mean to be tight with money but money was always tight.
The woman from the booth in front of him strode back, a huge smile on her face. “I have a solution. I ran into Brooke Harper. She’s literally got a degree from Parsons, and she’s in town for a couple of weeks. She’s coming to the party at Hell on Wheels tonight, and we’re going to make her part of the team. She’s fabulous, so everyone is expected to treat her like the queen she is.”
The group got up, all chattering about the party tonight.
The party Brooke Harper was attending.
Bay stopped, his eyes catching Shane’s. “She’s here? She’s not supposed to be in town. I haven’t heard anything about her coming to town.”
They both listened to town gossip whenever they could. Strangely, Bo was the helpful one. The man was always willing to talk about what he heard. She’d turned them down once, but asking her again as long as they were polite and not aggressive was fine. They’d discussed it endlessly. She hadn’t told them she didn’t want to see them. She’d explained she needed to spend time with her family.
He knew it was an excuse, but he was taking it.
“She walked in fifteen minutes ago with a big-ass suitcase, and despite the smile she gave her brothers, I don’t buy it. She’s had some trouble,” Shane explained. He leaned over and let his voice go low. “And now we know where she’s going to be tonight. A bar.”
A public place. Where they could be as well.
He kind of wished he’d heard when that party was supposed to start.
Bay’s lips curled up as though he was thinking the whole plan through. “And we have tomorrow off.”
Shane held up a hand. “She’ll probably turn us down, and we need to be ready for that.”
Bay looked back, and Brooke was sliding into the booth. He stared for a moment, and there was a determined look on his face. “I’m ready for anything. I want a shot with her. I haven’t been able to get that girl out of my head for years. It’s always been the wrong time.”
“Let’s hope it’s the right time now,” Shane said.
Bay nodded and stood, putting his hat on his head and turning toward the exit with a resolute expression on his face. “Then I should probably start being polite to her family.”