Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 70488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Polly, two years old going on forty, wrapped her arms around my neck and snuggled in deep.
Her not talking had me more worried than ever.
Polly was a chatterbox and always had been.
She may not be understandable, but she never let that stop her.
“Her fever’s down,” Candice said. “Thanks for hosting dinner this week. I’m exhausted.”
“You have the flu, too?”
Candice shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m just exhausted from having to take care of her while Hampton was on shift, or if it’s because I was sick, too. Today was the first day that we both felt somewhat normal in forty-eight hours. That cough, though…”
Speaking of her cough, it was hot and wet against my neck.
I patted Polly’s back.
“Pizza should be here in a minute.”
Just as I said that, the pizza man pulled up.
There were only four restaurants in Sawtooth.
Toot Toot’s—which was more of a bar.
Hopps.
Harvest, which required a reservation to get in.
And then there was Papa’s.
Papa’s was really good, and I was really looking forward to the pizza.
Polly sat with me and picked at the cheese on her pizza while the rest of us devoured our food.
“So your brother tells me that the new girl got put through the wringer today,” Romina said, eyes alight with anger.
Romina and my mother didn’t get along.
Neither did Candice and my mom.
Heidi barely tolerated my mom.
But poor Candice and Romina? They were screwed.
My mother didn’t like women. Especially not women who took her baby boys away from her.
Or, at least, that was the way she saw it.
Anything that took her children’s time away from her was a bad thing.
I was sure that Mom would hate Heidi’s man, too, if Heidi ever shared that she was dating someone seriously.
Bells, who was also one of my club brothers, was a good man.
I liked him a lot and loved him for my sister.
I also knew that he could stick up for himself, but Heidi didn’t want to go through the hassle. She’d seen what my mother put Candice and Romina through on a daily basis.
She didn’t want to have to deal with her shit.
Which was understandable.
My mother was why I kept things casual.
One, I didn’t want to bring a woman into a situation that she’d be miserable in—I’d seen enough of the fights between Candice and Hampton, as well as Harvey and Romina.
Two, my mother clung to me since I was her “baby.”
It would be so much worse for any woman that I dated.
Third, I didn’t like my mom and dad’s relationship.
If I ended up with a life like my dad had, I’d shoot myself.
“She did,” I confirmed. “She was still working hard when I left at three.”
“You should’ve gone over there to help,” Candice admonished. “If you let your mom run her off on the first day—or even the first week—she’s going to just force y’all to work more.”
“Agreed,” Heidi grumbled.
“Even worse that she has asthma,” Harvey interjected.
“She has asthma?” I asked, surprised.
“She does.” Harvey groaned. “She told Mom that she couldn’t do anything super physically demanding, and there Mom is, forcing her to do all kinds of shit. She’s going to sue our mother.”
“Good,” Heidi grumbled. “Maybe they’ll force her to shut the damn place down.”
“One could hope,” I mumbled as I got up and reached for the phone.
The damn new girl was a pain in my ass.
Literally since she’d knocked my bike over today, forcing a screw to tear a hole in my bike seat.
Yet, I wasn’t going to let one of my club brother’s sister get fucked over.
Or die while working at our family’s store.
Overworking her was one thing. Going against her medical needs was another.
Mom picked up on the second ring. “Oh, look who’s calling. My favorite baby boy.”
Since I was on speaker, my entire family heard.
Candice gagged.
Romina flipped my phone off.
Heidi downed half a cup of wine.
My brothers both rolled their eyes.
They knew the pecking order.
“Mom, I heard that the new girl has asthma.”
No point in beating around the bush.
“She said she has it, but I doubt it,” Mom admitted.
“She does,” I said. “She’s one of my club brother’s sister. She has asthma. Bad asthma. If she does something for you that she’s not supposed to be doing, and she gets hurt, she’s going to sue you.”
“She won’t,” my mother immediately disagreed.
“She will,” I said. “And her brother’s important here. Don’t force him to do anything to protect her. He’ll do it, and he won’t apologize for it.”
“He could try.”
“Mother.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “The Dixie Wardens own this town and the two surrounding it. Trust me when I say, if you piss them off, not even I can help you. They’ll boycott your business, and anyone that’s family or friends of the Dixie Wardens won’t come into your store. Trust me when I say, you don’t want this fight.”