Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 35875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 179(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 179(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
"I didn't hear my phone. I was busy."
Judging from the silence ringing down the line, the sheriff is cranky tonight. Typical. For a man as blissed out in love as he is, he's one crabby bastard.
"Who was in your pool house?"
"What?"
He growls like a rabid dog as I peek through the blinds at said pool house, hoping to catch a glimpse of Madison. I tried to convince her to come stay in the house with me, but I think I may have freaked her out a little with the having-my-baby talk. She decided to stay out there tonight.
I couldn't think of a single valid excuse to stay with her. I'm not happy about it. I'd much rather her be in my bed. You know, where I can keep an eye on her.
"Your pool house," Dillon growls. "Who was in it?"
Fate. Destiny. An angel straight from the past.
"Rats," I lie.
"What the fuck?"
"Apparently I have an infestation. They're probably attracted to the humidity from the heat pump under the pool house." If lying to an officer of the law is a crime…actually, it is a crime in certain situations. Whatever. I'm going to hell, sue me.
But I'm not ratting Madison out to the fucking sheriff. If she wants to hide out here and haunt her father until the bastard cracks, I'm down. Dillon probably won't see it that way. He has a legal obligation to do all the legal shit. Better not to involve him yet.
"Jesus Christ." His heavy sigh speaks volumes. "I thought you were dead. I'm going to fucking bed until Monday. Do not call me until then, Jack. I'm serious."
"For the record, I texted you. You called me. I told you it was probably a ghost. It's not my fault you got all bent out of shape," I remind him. He did that all by himself.
"When I drop dead, I'm haunting your new pool," he mutters. "I'm going to leave ectoplasm all over the goddamn thing."
"If that's a fancy way of saying you're going to beat off in my pool when you're dead, I will hire an exorcist and fill it with holy water, motherfucker."
Dillon laughs. "I'm not a demon, you asshole."
"Huh. Could have fooled me." I peek through the blinds again, scowling when I still don't see Madison. Would it be morally wrong to cut the power to the pool house so she has to move into the mansion? Asking for a friend. Obviously.
Dillon laughs again and then hangs up on me.
I drop my phone on my desk before peeking through the blinds again. Third time is not the charm. She's still out of sight.
"Dammit." I drop down into my chair, adjusting my dick. The bastard has been standing at attention since I pulled Madison onto my lap. Staring at her? Christ, it felt like staring down fate and looking into the past at the same damn time.
Of course I remember her. I've never fucking forgot her.
The night of the party, she was a pretty little angel dressed in pink, outshining everyone else by miles. Why the fuck Gerald dragged her out that night, I don't know. It was obvious she was still grieving her mom and didn't want to be there. But he dragged her all around the room like she was a showpiece, bragging about how she was the youngest millionaire in the room, and he was running her company for her.
He acted like her mother dying and leaving her a fortune and the company was some big accomplishment for her. It was obvious she hated every minute of it. And it was obvious that he didn't have a clue how goddamn heartless he sounded.
When some client's daughter insulted her dress, she looked like she wanted to cry. The way her chin wobbled broke my heart. Her prick of a father just chuckled instead of standing up for her, so I stepped in and told her that she looked beautiful. It was nothing but the truth. Even back then, she was radiant.
I still remember the way she looked at me like I was her fucking hero that night. It made me want to be her hero. I barely even heard the rest of the conversation because I was too busy staring at her. I…Christ, I intended to ask her out until her father mentioned her age. The way he'd been trying to get her to drink champagne all night to celebrate, I thought she was older than she was. Realizing she was still just a kid felt like a punch to the gut. And I felt like an asshole.
After she went missing, the way she looked at me that night haunted me for days. I donated fifty thousand to the reward fund, hoping that'd make me sleep better at night. It didn't. I even quietly looked into her disappearance myself, found out that she emptied Gerald's safe before she left.