Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 88736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
She held my gaze for a long moment. Then her shoulders sagged, and she toppled against my chest with a sigh, pressing her forehead against my collarbone.
“You may come to regret that,” she mumbled against my shirt.
“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” I wrapped my arms around her shoulders.
“We don’t even know what’s on the voicemails yet.”
“Eh. Fuck that guy,” I muttered, making her chuckle.
“I can’t believe you threw down for me.”
“Believe it.”
“We started having sex two days ago. Let me guess. You’re a serial monogamist.”
“Not even close.” I laughed. “I’ve never lived with a woman.”
“What?” she exclaimed, jerking back to look at me. “Never?”
I shook my head. “Nope. Came close with Dylan’s mother, but that was casual to begin with, and even though Dyl was on the way, neither of us thought it was a good idea to start shacking up when we knew it wouldn’t work.”
“Well, that was mature of you. And, by the way, I’m just giving you shit,” she said, pulling out of my arms. “I’ve never lived with anyone either.”
“Not even Granger?”
“Oh, god no.” She shook her head. “I’m pretty sure he was screwing other people when we were seeing each other. Thankfully, he bailed as soon as the little plus sign popped up on the pee stick.”
“Motherfucker,” I muttered.
“You have no idea.” She took a deep breath and shook out her arms. “The kids were still in the bonus room?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I need to listen to these,” she said, gesturing with the phone.
“Put it on speaker.”
She nodded and pushed a few buttons. Seconds later, a man’s voice came through the phone.
“Teddy. I hear you moved out of your townhouse. Let me know your new address so I can send Finn a little gift for his new room.”
“That was the first one,” Teddy informed me. “Not so bad.”
“Play the next one,” I replied, sitting back down on the bed. I pulled her onto my knee.
“Teddy, David again. I haven’t heard from you, so I’ll assume you didn’t get my last message. Call me back and let me know where you’ve moved.”
“That one was three hours after the first,” she said, frowning.
“Teddy, it sounds like you moved out of your townhouse without giving notice.” He made a chastising sound. “Barry was very disappointed. He didn’t even have the time to advertise it, and now it’s sitting empty. Call me back.”
Teddy inhaled sharply.
“Who’s Barry?” I asked, sliding my hand under her T-shirt so I could press my palm to her skin.
“He’s the property manager,” Teddy replied. “That’s against privacy laws, isn’t it? He can’t just give out information like that?”
“Don’t think so, no.”
She nodded.
“Teddy, if you don’t call me back, I’ll be forced to look for you, which will not make me happy. Reach out today, or I’ll find other means of tracking you down.”
The civility from his previous messages was completely absent. The man was pissed.
“That was on Wednesday,” Teddy said. She paused with her finger over the phone.
“It’s just a voicemail,” I reminded her. She pressed play.
“You stupid cunt,” he hissed. “You took my grandson to Oregon to play house with some white trash dick in a motorcycle club? Bring him back to Sacramento, or I’ll be forced to come get him, and you won’t enjoy the outcome. This ends now.”
Teddy let out a shuddery breath and tossed her phone onto the bed. “Can I turn that thing back off?”
“We’ll get you a new number,” I promised, kissing her hair. She was taut as a bowstring as she messed with the silver cuff around her wrist, sliding it up and then back down toward her hand over and over. “Erase those messages. David Granger gets within two hundred miles, we’ll know about it. He’s pissed because he knows he can’t fuck with the club without stepping into knee-deep shit.”
“He’s sneaky,” she replied, turning to rest her chin on my shoulder and wrap her arm around my neck. “Slime. Even when you think you’ve locked all the doors, he finds a way to slither in.”
“Not this time.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“We need to talk to the kids,” I told her, smoothing a hand down her braid. “The door was unlocked when I got home today.”
“That was probably me,” she confessed. “I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Start,” I ordered. “When we’re in the house, the doors are locked, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“The kids need to know it too. They’re goin’ to the car, their hands are empty, and their eyes are watching their surroundings. If they’re in the truck, the doors are locked. Finn doesn’t walk to Draco’s alone again. One of us will walk him, or I’ll have my brother come get him.”
She nodded and pressed her mouth to my shoulder.
“When he realizes that he doesn’t have a play, he’ll give up, baby. We just gotta stay vigilant for a while.”
Teddy was quiet for a long time as I held her. When she finally pulled away, she gave me a halfhearted smile and rose to her feet.