Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
I gritted my teeth.
“No one could’ve seen this coming.” King rolled his eyes at Odin. “What are the odds that he hooks up with the one fuckin’ woman in this town that has a psycho mother that is good with computers?”
He had a point, but still.
“Just a week or so until I can get everything figured out,” Apollo said. “I’m sending some people to board the horses for now, and clean out your place. This goes sideways, I want it to appear like she’s losing her mind, okay?”
“Okay.” I gritted my teeth.
“The woman’s not going to forget about him,” Weaver pointed out the obvious.
“No,” Apollo agreed. “But I think that if she knows that he’s in danger from her stepmother, she’ll fall in line.”
“Without telling her why she’s in danger from the psycho bitch, she might not fall in line like you think she will,” Weaver pointed out.
“She’ll be good,” I promised. “She wouldn’t say a word.”
“What about the friend?” Courtland wondered. “She’s going to be pissed that he just ghosted her.”
“We’ll figure it out as we get to it,” Creed muttered. “If she’s a true friend, she’ll do what her friend wants. And I doubt, after seeing them together in town over the last few weeks, that she’s going to not do what’s best for Mable.”
“Agreed,” Court murmured. “What do we need to do?”
“Nothing,” Apollo said. “We’re going to get Romeo out of dodge for a bit. He’s going to enjoy some family time in the Rockies, allowing me to disentangle him from this web.”
Again, he sounded excited.
I truly thought he liked being tested like this.
I also decided he felt like he had a worthy opponent seeing as Whitney had done all this while not getting figured out or caught by him.
“I’m only giving you ten days, Apollo,” I said. “I won’t leave her without an explanation, either.”
“Actually, you will,” Gentry muttered. “She’s pretty open about what’s going to happen if you don’t leave.”
“What do you mean?”
“If you want your girl to not have her life blown up, you’ll just give her the semblance that you’re out of here,” Apollo said. “What do you think it would do to her if it’s found out she’s been shacking up with a known fugitive? Because that’s what she’s going to portray it as. Whitney’s going to act like Mable knew all, and then it’ll make her lose everything. Just give us the time.”
I gritted my teeth.
“At least you’ll get to come back.” Odin stood up. “Stop being a pussy and get out of here. If she actually likes you like she claims, then she’ll forgive you.”
With that parting comment, he left the room, and I assumed the building.
Apollo nodded his agreement. “It’ll be okay, man. Just spend some time with your sister. Don’t answer any phone calls or texts. We’ll figure this out, and I’ll call my wife if I have any updates.”
“Okay.”
That was all I could do. Because I wanted to come back. I wanted this to be fixed, because I was quickly realizing, leaving Mable wasn’t going to happen.
At least long-term.
If anything else, I’d pack her up and take her with me on the run.
Selfish, yes.
But something I was going to do nonetheless if this all went sideways.
Twenty-Four
Admit it, you and your BFF are not two peas in a pod. You’re ice cubes in a glass. Trying to play it cool, but about due for a meltdown.
—Romeo to Mable
Mable
I was well and truly angry.
Pissed.
Incensed.
And it all had to do with a man who had left without a single backward glance.
It was a solid week after I’d left Romeo’s house, fully expecting to see him the next day after I went to church, only to find him gone.
Gone, gone.
As in, as if he’d never been there to begin with, gone.
His horses were gone.
His house was empty—I would know. I’d broken in to see if I could find him, and had found the entire place cleaned out. There was no food in the cupboard. There were no clothes in the closets. There was nothing there but the empty feeling of a cabin that was rented out to guests.
It was as if no one had lived there in years.
That led me to now, working my ass off to keep from focusing too fully on the fact that the man I’d decided that I loved had up and left without a word.
Unfortunately for me, it was shutting down time for the day, and I had to leave or I’d be forced to leave.
Big John had already informed me that I wasn’t allowed to stay past five anymore, or he’d make me regret it.
Funny enough, I knew that he would, so I was gathering my things despite not wanting to leave.
Another crazy storm was headed our way, and I just knew without a doubt that it would be torture for me. As if I wasn’t plagued with thoughts of Romeo enough, I now had to be stuck inside my house thinking about the last time a storm had rolled in.