Total pages in book: 181
Estimated words: 171979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 573(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 573(@300wpm)
Valerie’s shock was apparent when he first started to speak of his own father, but that shock was replaced with a different kind of shock from this new knowledge.
“Lucifer is still alive?”
“Yes,” Sal said, knowing it was impossible for Maria to have told her everything. He could sugarcoat things for her, but his life and profession were impossible to sweeten. “He’s waiting for his executioner to wake up.”
“And who is that?” she asked, her mouth going dry.
“The son he managed to kill the most inside,” Sal revealed, and little did she know it was the one she had just briefly met. “Matthias.”
TWENTY
STICKY SITUATION
“Are you sure you’ll be okay by yourself for thirty minutes?”
“It’s not like I’m going to run away.” Valerie stopped her packing to see that he wasn’t fully convinced, even after last night.
They hadn’t spent the night bickering or having sex. They had spent it talking about not only their past but their hopes and dreams, too. Sal opening up about Lucifer had only been the beginning, and while she hadn’t learned everything there was to know about Sal yet, in time, she would.
“Listen, I promise you’re stuck with me until either I go to prison or your dick gets sick of me, okay?”
The smirk that played on Sal’s lip lasted only for a moment. “Okay, I’ll be next door, picking up a few things. I’ll be right back.”
She shooed him to go on as she continued her packing.
Having only just started, Sal was convinced he easily had thirty minutes to get next door and to get in and out.
It wasn’t that Sal was afraid of her being a flight risk anymore. He was afraid about how unpredictable she was. He was unable to convince her not to take her bat with them, because she thought riding with a made man meant she needed to be “strapped” at all times, and there was no telling her that was what his gun was for. In this sticky situation, he decided on waiting to tell her that he was the one who actually had her computer all along until he could get her weaponless and preferably in a padded safe room.
After unlocking his front door and entering his house, he made sure the blinds were firmly shut from Valerie’s prying eyes and sat down at her computer, wanting to give it a deeper look now that he knew she was capable of incognito’ing her shit. Sal wasn’t doing it for his usual prying reasons, certain Valerie was the girl for him; he was doing it in case he had missed something to help her case. Then, if he was really lucky and quick, he might be able to play a couple of rounds of Bubblegum Blitz.
It had taken longer for Valerie to pack her drinks, snacks, and candy than her clothes. Finishing in record time, she loaded her things into Sal’s car, convinced that there was no way she could talk him into taking her car again. When he had still yet to come out of his place, she went up to his front door, contemplating going in. Thinking she might never get the chance again to see inside his house, she barged in … only to find a sight she thought she’d never see.
With her jaw dropping to the ground and anger seething in part of her every being, it was worse than witnessing Sal sleeping with another woman.
Much …
Much …
Worse.
“What the fuckity fuck do you think you’re doing?”
Only catching the end of her screams when the headphones were snatched off his head, Sal whipped around in his chair to see Valerie standing right behind him.
“I—” Making sure she wasn’t holding her bat, Sal regretted not having a wireless headset and could only hope that she wouldn’t use the wire to strangle him to death. “Valerie, I can explai—”
“Oh, you can, can you?” She threw down his headset in a brazen fury, breaking it.
Welp, at least she didn’t plan on strangling him, so that’s a plus.
“Please fucking explain to me why it is you’re playing my game, on my computer that you have conveniently let me believe the police have been holding hostage this whole time!”
With each word being shrieked out louder than the last, Sal held out his hands, officially fearing for his life. “Listen, maybe when you calm down, I can—”
“Calm down?”
Her voice shrilled to an auditory level that Sal never thought was possible, causing his eyes to slam shut. Anticipating more of her wrath, he squinted his eyes open to find that she had spun on her heels and was walking right back out his front door.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
“Come on, Valerie. Please, you know Lucca will kill me if I let you leave. We can talk about this.” Following behind her at a safe distance had been his second mistake, thinking she had just planned on leaving when she actually went to slide her bat from out of her car. “Holy shit, Valerie!”