Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70516 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70516 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
God, this was going to kill Bossy.
Boston was my ride or die for the first half of her life.
It was only me and her from the very beginning.
Her mom, a woman that I’d met while being on leave in Italy, had died during childbirth.
I’d taken emergency leave from the Navy and had eventually separated completely a few short weeks after her birth.
From the moment that we’d first laid eyes on each other, we were inseparable.
And now, we’d been separated just as long as we’d been together.
It was killing both of us, and it looked like it wasn’t going to get any better ever.
“Sorry, man.” Apollo winced.
“Not your fault,” I admitted. “Thanks.”
Apollo nodded and held back as I walked out to my truck, even more impossibly tired than before.
The first person I called when I got into my truck was Bossy.
“Hey, Daddy!”
I drew in a deep breath, even though it hurt to do.
“Hey, Bossy,” I said. “How’s school?”
She groaned. “Not good. Every year around the anniversary, things start to get difficult. But you know how it is.”
The anniversary of when everything had gone down between Sonny, Pippa, Stanton, and me.
And the rest of the feds.
“Anyone giving you any trouble this year?” I asked.
“Not since you got Grandma and Grandpa to start me in jujitsu. Everyone leaves me alone now since I put Tommy Long on his back in the middle of lunch.”
My lips twitched at that.
I’d gotten to watch it over the school’s cameras after I’d begged Apollo to find the video for me.
I watched it every now and then when I was having a bad day.
Hell, after today, I might watch it a hundred times.
“Anything new with you?” Bossy asked.
I hesitated.
I usually told my girl everything.
It’d been a long time since she was a little kid.
She’d grown up pretty fast during the Sonny situation.
But this time, I would have to tell her about someone that I’d grown to actually like. And I didn’t want Bossy to get upset.
But I should’ve known better. My Bossy was the best girl on the planet with the biggest heart.
“I met a woman a couple of days ago,” I said, sparing her the details of her parents. “I liked her a lot.”
“What happened?” she asked. “Did you sleep with her?”
I snorted. “Not that that’s any of your business but…”
“So that’s a yes.” Bossy snickered. “It’s okay, Dad. I know that it happens. I’m almost sixteen.”
She was.
Which fuckin’ sucked.
That meant she was two years from being an adult.
That’s when I knew she would come here and leave her old life behind.
It would break my parents’ hearts, but they’d understand.
Apollo had already talked to me about getting Bossy a new identity.
And there was no love lost between Pippa and Bossy.
Bossy actually loathed Pippa and made no bones about letting her aunt know how she felt.
But it would raise a red flag if Bossy went missing before she was old enough to be leaving without a trace.
I did not want Pippa digging any further.
She had enough friends who might be willing to help her for the right price, and I couldn’t do that to my girl, let alone my friends who were also here living a secret life.
“Anyway,” I sidestepped. “She was attacked by a bear yesterday afternoon.”
Bossy inhaled swiftly. “Is she okay?”
Was she?
“She’s got several broken bones. They said they put over a thousand stitches in her, and they also had to treat her for rabies.”
“Shit,” Bossy said. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“But she’s alive,” I assured her and myself. “I haven’t gotten to see her yet, but if all goes well today, they’ll be moving her to a step-down unit that she can stay in while she heals.”
“Well, I’ll pray that she gets better quickly.” Bossy hesitated. “But that’s not why you called, is it?”
She knew me so well.
“Your aunt is doing some digging.”
“Fuck,” Bossy said.
“I think we need to halt calls for a while,” I said. “It’s obvious that she thinks she knows something, and I don’t want to do anything that’ll have her investigating further.”
“I hate her,” Bossy said. “I hate her with every fiber of my being.”
I closed my eyes. “I’m so sorry, B.”
“I wish she’d died instead of Stanton.”
I inhaled swiftly.
She’d said it before, but not with this much vehemence.
I’d been able to talk her down before, but it was obvious I wouldn’t be talking her down this time.
“I don’t want to be here anymore, Daddy.”
My stomach sank.
“We don’t have any choice,” I pointed out.
“I wish she’d take those pills she is always threatening to take.”
I closed my eyes, which was dangerous seeing as I was driving down the middle of a switchback.
When I opened them again, I said, “Two more years, Bossy.”
“I’m not waiting two years to talk to you,” she stated emphatically. “I refuse. She’s stolen enough of our lives, Dad. No more.”