Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 47107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
“Either way, I’m still happy. You guys are trying.”
They were hugging after that. The drinks got forgotten about, but I’d been pulled out of my own head enough where I could function.
I went back behind the bar and made up the drinks. Taz noticed what I was doing, and after thanking me, she began squirreling them to the back. By the time Derek showed up, I had everything restocked, but slipped enough cash into the till to pay for the drinks.
Heather and Bren had gone to the back. Taz grabbed the last drink and hurried behind them.
Derek stepped around me, frowning. “You okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Just life stuff. Thanks for filling in for me.”
“No problem, but you’re sure that you’re okay?”
My phone began ringing at that moment. Zeke calling.
I told Derek the truth, taking the call as I did, “Honestly? I’ve never been better.” And phone to my ear, I asked in a rush, “Are you okay?”
19
ZEKE
I wheeled into Manny’s parking lot and headed for the bar’s back door. Ava told me to pick her up there, and as soon as I parked, she was coming outside, looking all sexy and cute at the same time. Her face was flushed as she climbed in, shutting the door. “Are you okay?”
She was all breathy, asking me, but she’d asked me on the phone earlier.
I leaned over, beckoning for her. “Come here.”
She frowned but leaned in. I touched my mouth to hers, and goddamn. Pure sunlight. That’s what she was. She hesitated, but after I coaxed her a little, she relaxed into the kiss, and she began tasting me back. I cupped the back of her head, holding her anchored as I took my sweet time saying hello to my girl. I was in love, and the taste was different.
She was like sunlight and rainbows right after a heavy but needed rainstorm. I could breathe her in for the rest of my life. Happiness. She was mine.
She pulled back and fanned herself. “What was that for?”
“Just happy to see you.”
She softened, her smile spreading a bit more. “Oh.”
I grinned. “Oh.” She was hella cute.
Her eyes got serious. “You were arrested?”
My gut tightened up, but I nodded, shifting back and reversing the Jeep. We had an errand to run before heading back to the house. “I was.”
“What happened?”
“The guy was saying some shit he shouldn’t have been saying.”
“What was he saying?”
I was pulling out of the parking lot, turning right, and slid my gaze toward Ava’s. “Some shit no man should be saying.”
“What’s going to happen?”
I was replaying in my head what Logan Kade told me.
“He has an open and shut case. They have witnesses. There was no provocation for what you did, no way you could claim self-defense, so at this point, you either need to get him to change his mind or you find something to bring to offer them instead.” He leveled me with a serious look. “You hearing me?”
“Can I scare him?”
“I would highly suggest against that, with this case, this guy.”
“If he changes his mind, would they drop the charges?”
“I can’t guarantee that, but I can tell you that they are motivated to work with you.”
“I’m supposed to narc or something?”
Logan inclined his head, checking his phone. “I wouldn’t use that word, but you have connections that their normal confidential informants aren’t able to access. You can think on that, otherwise buckle up. If you get a judge who hates privileged wealthy pricks, you could get screwed in the end.”
“What would you do? If it were you? If the guy had been saying shit about your woman?”
The phone went down, and Logan Kade set some scary eyes on me. “Then I would already be making calls to find anything on this piece of shit I could, and when I had whatever I needed to bury him, I’d pay him a visit. I’d make sure he’d be pissing his pants before I left. Course that’s contingent on if the DA would drop the charges if the guy wanted them dropped. My advice here? Find something on him to trade for you. And whatever you find, make sure it’s something they would salivate for.”
I relayed to Ava the gist of what Kade said.
She sat back, frowning. “What are you going to do? Who is this guy?”
“Roger Mitchell.”
“Roger Mitchell from my old bank?” She shoved forward, her nostrils flaring.
“I’m taking that you don’t like him?”
“He’s a piece of shit. You’re right when you said that. I stopped using their bank last year because of him. Every time I went in, I just felt dirty.”
“What’d he do?”
“Every time I’d go in for anything, they’d have to verify through him. He’d come out and handle whatever I needed himself. I hated it. Hated it. The dirty looks. The dirty compliments. I even tried doing the drive-thru, but he stopped that and made it where I’d have to come into the bank every time to either deposit a check or do a cash withdrawal. That’s not right. I love my new bank. I’m like a normal customer.”