Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 69242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
“Didn’t know you were comin’ by today.” Her gaze flashed down at Maisie and then Bonnie, a million questions in her prying eyes.
“Damn, you guys must eat here a lot.” Bonnie said much too innocently.
“Of course they do,” Mo enthused with enough grit for a woman twice her twenty-one years. She’d only been working at Midnight Mass for the past year and no one knew why, only that she was another of Sadie’s strays. That meant she’d been through the shitter and needed a fresh start. “We’ve got the best shepherd’s pie in the city,” she winked at Cal.
“And the best damn lamb stew on the whole west coast,” I echoed words I’d said to the cook, Darnell, often.
“That’s right, Virgil. Good to see you.” It was subtle but there was the flare of jealousy in her face as she took in Maisie’s curiosity and her proximity to me. The way my thumb brushed absently against her shoulder.
“You too, Mo. Think you can add a plate of boxty for the table?” I didn’t want her thinking she had any claims on me. It was a couple of fucks over a year ago, and that was before I learned about her connection to Sadie.
“Sure thing. Coming right up,” Mo said and walked away.
Maisie’s eyes lit with amusement but she wisely said nothing about what she’d just seen. “Boxty?”
Cal groaned. “Fried potato pancakes. They’re delicious. Make it two plates, Mo!” His voice carried across the place but no one batted an eye, the people inside Midnight Mass were used to it from the Ashby family.
“Sounds good. Bonnie also said this place has the best shepherd’s pie. Maybe I’ll get some to go.”
“Maybe,” I began with a grin and leaned in close to whisper in her ear just as her flowery perfume invaded my nose. I stumbled over my words for a moment and when I recovered, my phone vibrated on the table. “Dammit. Hold that thought.”
“Nice and tight,” she whispered softly and I growled at Jasper’s serious face staring back at me on the screen.
“What’s up, Jas?” Those words got Cal’s attention and he leaned forward, straining to hear.
“Crusaders latest shipment came in a day early. They’re unloading now.”
Shit. Playtime was over. “I’m on my way.” The call ended and I turned an apologetic look Maisie’s way, ignoring her friend’s snort of disbelief.
“Something’s come up. Business. I need to handle it.”
I stared into her blue eyes, waiting to see if she was a whiner or anything else. I fucking hated a woman who whined like a child.
Disappointment flashed but she nodded and slid backward from the booth. “Business comes first, at least that’s what all the business books say.”
I committed her wry grin to memory before she slid out of the booth to let me get by.
“Y’all should probably go, then,” she said.
“Right.” I needed to go. It would take a couple of hours for The Crusaders to unload whatever they tried to bring in this time, but between traffic and finding them, I needed every extra second I could get.
“You have my number,” she said as I squeezed out of the booth and stood next to her. “Maybe you’ll use it?”
She flashed a sweet smile and lifted on her toes to press a kiss to my cheek. “Hope to see you around, Virgil.”
She slid back into the booth, her gaze on me another moment before she turned to Bonnie.
“You will,” I told her. “Remember, your lunch is on the house. No worries.” I turned on my heels with my kid brother at my side and left Midnight Mass behind.
“Fuck,” I said, “I’m starving and I only got a few bites.”
Cal let out a loud, booming laugh. “More flirting and less eating,” he said unhelpfully. “I didn’t get much either. Fucking Jasper, the king of terrible timing.”
“I need to head over to Industrial Station. The Crusaders’ shipment came in early. You good to get home on your own?”
“Fuck you, I’m comin’ with.” He glared at me but he wasn’t asking for permission. “I have the equipment we need for proper surveillance, so we can argue here or we can argue on the way to my lab and get the intel we need.”
“Let’s go.” Calvin was a grown ass man, no matter what Sadie thought. If he wanted to help, his tech gadgets could see better than me.
“That was easy. I expected more shit from you.”
I drove the fifteen minutes to one of Cal’s many labs filled with gadgets and devices to surveil and record without being detected. Some days I thought my plaid-wearing baby bro was secretly an evil genius.
“I don’t have a problem with you helping when and where you can, Cal. I’m not Ma.”
“That’s for damn sure.” We spent less than five minutes in his lab, leaving with a black bag and a silver case that I soon learned were filled with the kind of high-tech shit you’d expect in those big budget spy thrillers, not an industrial park in the desert.