Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 121887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Javi got us both out.
Javi had also taken a shine to my smoothies.
And that morning, there might have been a bouncier bounce to my step when I made them.
But I didn’t think anyone would blame me.
TWENTY-TWO
“INDEPENDENT WOMEN, PART 1”
(DESTINY’S CHILD)
It was Friday and I was rushing out the door to jump into Javi’s truck so he could take me to work.
Let me catch you up on the last few days.
Sadly, Javi wasn’t able to hang with me in the mornings for forever because he had a job, and he couldn’t start that job at 11:30 until the end of time.
Therefore, our new fun morning ritual had to change.
I again reconfigured mine to add sex (still fun) and making a to-go smoothie for Javi (also fun, just not nearly as much). But even though Javi wanted me to hang at his until he could come pick me up and take me to work (so I couldn’t go to any of my classes), I was able to get back to my yoga mat and spend some time journaling about how awesome my new boyfriend was (among other things).
Dad was still calling (a lot) and had left three voicemails.
Since I hadn’t figured out what I was going to do about him, I hadn’t listened to the voicemails yet.
Not a word from Mom.
I had no idea if Javi had found the time to have a chat with my dad, and I didn’t ask. He said he would do it. I didn’t figure he’d waste time. But, call me chicken, I didn’t want to know how it went.
Though, my guess was, he did not or Dad wouldn’t be calling me.
I’d interrogated Raye and Jessie about this, and they yet again shared my instincts were correct and to “just let him do what he has to do.”
“With them, the protective instincts are strong, they are. At your peril, stop them, you will,” Jessie Yoda’ed me.
Truth told, way down deep inside (not to mention on the pages of my journal), I admitted that I liked the idea of Javi inserting himself between me and the toxicity of my family. It gave him something, it shielded me from something bigger, and it felt good, for the first time in my life I had someone on my side.
And I loved the idea of Dad seeing big, strong, handsome, together, protective, loving Javi taking my back.
Onward from all of that, our investigation was at a standstill.
Luna, Shanti and Tex had not found anything that would indicate Trev had a video setup in his bedroom, even if we knew from what Javi told me, at some point he did. So either the killer, the cops or the Nightingale team had taken it, or prior to his demise, Trev had dismantled it.
No word on Trev’s cell or laptop.
Arthur had not been able to crack the Sun Dial LLC web o’ shell company lies.
This gave us something to think about since it seemed Arthur could do just about anything, and for him not to be able to crack that was a little troubling.
Javi gave me further intel that they were holding Kev at a “safe house,” because they were concerned if they let him loose, he’d be as dead as Trev.
What he didn’t share was double-fold: what happened to the dudes they picked up outside Titus’s and if they’d learned anything more than we had.
Though, considering the bodyguard situation was continuing, we didn’t think so.
Last, Persia and Lotus, two of our ladies-of-the-evening crew, had cop clients, and they did their best. However, from their best we learned the extent of how far our reputation had reached in the Phoenix Police since both the gals only started to do some digging, and the cops shut them down immediately. They were more worried about what would happen if an Angels’ informant got info from them to pass on than they were about being officers of the law and paying for sex from a sex worker.
Though, it was super nice Persia and Lotus gave it a go.
It was appearing more and more like the guys could stop their bodyguarding duties because no one’d had their house tossed or been chased by a BMW in days.
Actually, it was appearing like this was going to be the first case we couldn’t crack.
I was upset about this.
I mean, first, I’d only met Trev briefly, and even if all evidence was suggesting he was a massive douche canoe, no murder should go unsolved.
And second, although I didn’t want the Hottie Squad to have to adjust their lives around keeping us safe for months on end, if everything went back to normal, then I didn’t get to ride to and from work with Javi. And I wouldn’t “have to” stay in his house anymore.
Make no mistake, I loved my apartment at the Oasis. I missed it. I’d had a blast making it just as I wanted it.