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)
“What if he didn’t know where you were?” Brooke seemed to get into the mystery.
He was annoyed by his brother and the fact that he would bring this up in front of Brooke. “I wouldn’t make that shit up.”
Bay sighed. “I didn’t say you made it up. I said you blew a small thing out of proportion. Don’t make the same mistake now. I’m not calling you a liar. Brooke, baby, this is a random thing. Probably done by kids who were looking for money or something to sell, and when they realized they tried to rob the shittiest truck in the county, they got upset and slashed the tires.”
“Which kids would that be?” Brooke asked. “Because my niece is all about shins. She is not into tires. The only young people who could do it wouldn’t.” Her head tilted. “Unless they saw it as a way to force us to Fuber.”
“Fuber?” Shane asked.
“Yeah, I’ve decided it’s what I’m calling their business, and I’ve got a design logo in mind. Not that it’ll go anywhere. The Farley brothers are headed to college soon. So see, there’s not even a financial reason for them to fuck with the truck.” She checked her watch. “Also, it’s almost ten, so they are probably off the clock and safe from the devil. Which begs the question of how we’re getting home. Because it’s not going to be in that truck.”
The only truck they had. Damn. They probably had the money to replace the tires, but it was going to be tight. He still had to buy Bay a suit for the gallery show and shoes that had never stepped in cow shit.
“I guess I can call Trev,” Bay offered. “He can send one of the other hands out to pick us up. I hate waking everyone up. The main houses are both lights out by nine o’clock.”
Because they had young families, and at least Trev and Bo and Beth would be up and down with the babies all night. Hope needed more sleep and peace now that she was getting close to her own due date.
There weren’t a bunch of crazy teens running around. Oh, they could come in from other places, but that seemed like a stretch to Shane. “Maybe Elisa can give us a ride. I would hate to wake up the house, and the hands are mostly in bed since we start work early.”
“We are three whole-ass adults, and now we don’t have a single car between us.” Brooke resettled her bag over her shoulder. “Well, I know I should call my brothers but I…”
“Brooke? Brooke? Are you okay?” Max rounded the corner at the fastest speed his well-worn boots would take him. “Hal walked out and announced there was a slasher and you were dead in the parking lot.”
Shane was confused. Why the hell was Max here?
“How does Hal know?” Bay asked, seemingly as confused as Shane was.
Brooke took that one. “Oh, he listens to the police radio like most people do podcasts. He gets bored late at night, and I’m afraid he can do the telephone thing all on his own.”
“Telephone?” Shane asked. He didn’t like any of this. Moments before he’d been feeling so good about the world, and now he was a mess of anxiety and Brooke’s brother was here.
Max was looking her over as though trying to assess her injuries. Which she had none.
“You know the game. You start with one story and then the person who heard it first has to tell the next, and so on and so on, and that’s how we end up with aliens invading,” Brooke replied. “Hal doesn’t need a bunch of people to filter through to get to an outrageous story. He’s good to go right off the bat. Max, someone slashed the tires on Shane and Bay’s truck. I was working late at the theater, and they came to pick me up.”
Max’s eyes narrowed. “That better be all you were doing.”
Brooke’s eyes narrowed right back, and her hands made fists on her hips. She reminded him of her niece in that moment. “In fact, it wasn’t. They also brought me dinner.”
“Well, you wouldn’t need dinner if you were at home where you belong,” another voice said. Rye rounded the corner, and he wasn’t alone.
Rachel rushed over to Brooke. “Are you okay?”
The fam was all here. Well, except for the kids, and that was a blessing because Paige would probably try to defend her beloved aunt. He could only imagine what the Harper twins were saying about him and Bay.
Brooke waved off her worry. “It was tires. No one threatened me except my own brothers.”
Rachel looked back at her husbands. “You threatened her? You know I’ve been quiet in this thing, but I would like some explanations as to why my sister-in-law is now living with Beth McNamara-O’Malley.”