Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 155775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
This was her chance. They had their back to her. She could run . . .
Or she could hide.
Addie decided to take option two after she heard yelling coming from the bar. She didn’t think she could get past the guy and around the building without him seeing her. Plus, the yelling should cover any noise she made moving. So, putting her foot on the bumper, she climbed over the back of the pickup truck closest to her. Realizing there was a tarp in the open back, which she hastily drew it over her.
Please don’t let him have heard her.
Please.
Addie kept herself as still as possible, her mind racing.
Could he hear her breathing? He was going to find her at any moment, weren’t they?
Oh no. Oh no.
Tears ran down her face as she wished she could grab Snaggles out of her backpack. But she was too scared to move. Too scared that he might find her.
Please. Please.
4
Adrenaline pumped inside Cash as he raced toward his truck with Ralen.
“Fuck. I didn’t realize how much I needed that,” Ralen said as he got into the passenger seat.
Cash headed out of the parking area and onto the street. Sirens wailed, getting closer.
“Those assholes really kicked off, didn’t they?”
“Yep. You okay?” Cash asked.
“Yeah, I’ll probably have a few bruises tomorrow, but I’m good.” Ralen glanced over at him curiously. “What’s up with you? I thought you’d feel better after getting rid of some tension.”
“I thought so too, but I just keep thinking about those women. Did you see them after the fight broke out?”
“No. Surely they took cover and got out of there?”
Cash hoped so. There was just one problem.
“I saw one of them. The smallest one, the one who was wearing a backpack. She was just standing there, staring at the brawl with a look of shock on her face. I told her to get out of there.”
“I’m sure she did then,” Ralen said. “Where were her friends, though?”
Cash shook his head. “Didn’t see them. But I did see some fucking asshole run after her.”
“You took care of him though, right?” Ralen asked.
“Of course I did. I’m just worried about what happened to her afterward. And where her friends went.”
“Hmm. If we go back we’re just going to get into trouble with the cops.”
“Yeah, can’t do that.” Dante wouldn’t be happy and neither would Aidan.
And of the two of them, it was his brother he didn’t want to disappoint.
Cash tightened his hands around the steering wheel. He hated that he hadn’t been there for Aidan and Greer after Aidan went to prison.
They were good now, though. Aidan had a small family. A girl he was going to marry soon and her three nephews that they were in the process of adopting. It wasn’t where Cash saw him ending up, living the domestic life. But after all the hell he’d been through, Aidan deserved happiness.
And Greer? She deserved it most of all. That bastard ex of hers had been abusive, to put it mildly. But now she had Hack.
They were all happy. Settled. And Cash was . . . lost. He felt like his life wasn’t his own. It was whatever Dante told him it would be. Which meant that right now, he and Ralen were here in Billings watching over Bonnie, Dante’s stepsister.
It was a fucking boring assignment. Bonnie already had a hulking, overprotective bodyguard.
Were they even needed? He wasn’t so sure. However, the alternative was probably returning to Mexico, to Dante’s compound.
That wasn’t something he wanted.
It wasn’t that Dante was a bad guy to work for. And he’d helped them when he didn’t have to. Well, he probably felt some obligation to help Ralen, since they were cousins.
But Cash wasn’t anyone. So he owed Dante. He just hoped he didn’t have to pay him back for the rest of his fucking life.
He pulled up in front of the townhouse where he and Ralen lived while they were on assignment in Billings. Bonnie and Titus lived in an apartment attached to LittleLand; however, Dante had bought this townhouse about two blocks away.
Close enough to be there in seconds if Bonnie needed them, but far enough away that she didn’t complain too much about being smothered.
Even if she was completely smothered in protection.
The townhouse next to them was empty and had been the entire time they were here. Dante had bought both townhouses, but Ralen and Cash were happy living in one and leaving the other empty.
Walking to the back of his truck, he drew the tarp back so he could reach the box of beer he’d stashed back here.
Then he froze.
“What the hell are you doing in here?”
5
Addie was so scared she was close to peeing herself.
She might have if she hadn’t just been to the bathroom.
A squeak of fear left her as someone drew back the tarp covering her. She’d spent the entire ride in the back of the pickup, trying to convince herself to jump out and run.