Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
I probably should’ve stayed away from her, but there was just something about her that I couldn’t quite let myself do that.
Eight
Once I get an attitude, it takes 3-5 business days to fix my face.
—Birdee to Charleigh
Birdee
Interview done, I waited patiently in front of the now-closed business for Creed to get back.
I was super excited about how it’d gone. Plus, as an added bonus, the job didn’t know anything about me because it was twenty minutes away from my hometown.
Just as I went to shift my weight from one foot to the other, a familiar vehicle rounded the bend of Great Dane’s.
I moved toward the truck and got in before he could even put it in Park.
He scowled at me.
I hid my smile, loving how grumpy he got when he didn’t get to open my door.
What a good man he was.
Well, he was when he was with me, anyway.
At the back of my mind, I still wondered if he was like Romeo. An escaped convict.
Though, I tried really hard not to think about Romeo and Mable, because if I did, it inevitably led into me thinking about my mother, and how I’d killed…
That scowl fell off his face when his phone rang.
My eyes went to the screen to see the name “Apollo” on it before Creed hit answer.
“Hey, Apollo,” Creed said in greeting. “Whatcha need?”
“Got an update on your sister,” Apollo said. “I thought about not telling you but…”
Creed tensed. “What is it?”
“She’s pregnant.”
There was a stunned moment of silence before I smiled wide and said, “Congratulations, Creed! You’re going to be a wonderful uncle.”
He would, too.
He was protective and attentive. He took care of me, and I wasn’t even his anything. I couldn’t imagine how protective he’d be of his own blood.
Creed turned to me, and I saw the utter devastation in his eyes.
“Sorry, didn’t know you had anyone in the truck with you,” Apollo murmured.
“It’s okay,” Creed croaked.
“I’ll, uh, call you back later,” Apollo said.
I hated that he’d hung up because of me.
“You can drop me off here, and I’ll stand outside while you talk to him,” I offered Creed.
He shook his head. “No. I’ll call him back later.”
I tried really hard.
I did.
But after about ten minutes of brooding silence, I said, “Is her being pregnant a bad thing?”
His fists clenched on the steering wheel so hard that I heard the leather creak.
“No,” he answered quietly. “It’s a good thing.”
But was it? Because he wasn’t acting like it was.
“Did y’all have a falling out or something?” I wondered.
He shook his head.
“Do you want to talk to her?” I pushed.
He swallowed hard. “More than my next breath.”
“Then call her, Creed. If you’re feeling like this, what makes you think that she’s not worse? I mean, she just found out that she’s pregnant. I’d bet my last dollar that she wishes you’d call.”
He rubbed at the back of his neck with his left hand, then leaned his head against it while propping his elbow up on the window. “It’s not that simple.”
It was then that I realized that it might not be that simple because he was in hiding. Like Romeo.
I mean, that was the only logical thing that made sense here.
Did the man “die” like Romeo had?
Was that why he couldn’t contact his sister? Because if he did, she’d know that he hadn’t perished?
I mean, from what Mable had let slip, Romeo got to talk to his sister. Why couldn’t Creed talk to his?
And because I was a rash person who made decisions without thinking about them first, I vowed that I would find this sister and bring her here.
Maybe Creed didn’t want to involve her because it was literally life or death for him. If he had broken out of prison, then it was possible he wanted as few people to know as possible. Maybe his sister had a job that required her to live there. But maybe if given the chance, she’d leave her old life behind and come here.
Then they’d both be happy.
Though, if she was pregnant, that would mean that she had a man in the picture.
Maybe instead of telling her straight out, I could do a little internet sleuthing…
Or, more accurately, Charleigh could.
She was a freakin’ wizard when it came to finding out information about people.
She was as good as any FBI background check.
She could find stuff faster on people than the professionals could using Google, dating websites, and geotagging.
If I asked her to look into her, she didn’t have to know that she was related to Creed. Or, if she did figure it out, she didn’t need to know why I was having her looked into.
I mean, I could just be an insanely curious person who had the hots for a man and wanted to find out more about him.
Technically, that was true…
He was silent as we finished the rest of the drive, and I had a feeling that I put my foot in it.