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)
“Speakin’ of that, you can’t tell Kara.”
“Figured.”
“It’s gotta look real,” I said with a sigh, leaning forward to rest my elbows on my knees. “The old ladies know, there’s a chance they say somethin’—”
“Don’t have to explain it to me.”
“And don’t call women gross,” I said, shaking my head. “What are you, twelve?”
“Unattractive, then,” he corrected, waving me off. “You know what I mean. The women talk, and everyone knows your type.”
“Batshit crazy?”
“Pretty,” he replied dryly. “Hair color, body, all of that changes. You’ve always gone for the shit hot ones, though.”
“I haven’t even been back long enough—”
Draco shot me a look. “Name one time you’ve come home and haven’t hooked up with someone.”
“Fair point.”
We were quiet for a few minutes.
“Dylan’s not buyin’ it?” he asked, breaking the silence.
“I think he was confused,” I replied with a huff. “I figure he’ll stew on it for the next few hours, and I’ll get the questions when he calls to check in again.”
“You’re gonna have to make it look real,” Draco said quietly. “He’s not gonna believe it otherwise, and if he doesn’t, no one else will.”
“I know that.”
“Unless you think he can—”
“He’s seventeen,” I said flatly. “I’m not gonna let his ass swing out there knowin’ shit he needs to keep to himself.”
“We knew shit at seventeen.”
“Different kind of seventeen,” I countered. “My boy didn’t grow up in the club the way we did.”
“Good point,” he mumbled.
“He’d do his dad a solid. He’d keep his mouth shut if I asked him to,” I said, staring at the grass. It needed to be mowed. “Don’t want to ask him to.”
“So you’re comin’ home with an old lady, then,” Draco said, slapping me on the back. “Could be worse.”
“Yeah, how’s that?”
“You could be comin’ back from Sacramento with the clap.”
“Don’t even know the woman,” I said, shoving him as I climbed off the table. “For all we know, I’ll be comin’ home with the clap too.”
Draco laughed and shoved me back as he got to his feet.
“Yo, Curt,” Tommy called from across the forecourt. “You wanna check out your new place?”
It turned out the house in Draco’s neighborhood was the one the club had decided would best suit me. I couldn’t complain—the place was nice—but it would’ve been cool if I’d had a say in the matter. Two stories, four bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, brand new kitchen, bonus room over the attached garage.
“How much is the rent?” I asked Tommy after the tour.
“Kara’d kill for this window,” Draco called from the kitchen.
“About that,” Tommy replied, ignoring my brother. He threw out a number that made me wince. “But, since the yard is a fuckin’ mess, I was thinkin’ if you took care of it, we could knock rent down twenty-five percent.”
“You serious?” Twenty-five percent less would bring it a hell of a lot closer to what I’d thought I’d be paying for a much smaller place.
“It’s a big fucking mess,” he replied with a shrug. “Either I take it out of your rent and have you do it, or I pay my guys to do it. Needs to be done.”
“I can do it,” I said, nodding. It would take me a while, but the price was right, and I’d never minded yard work. Blackberry bushes had completely taken over the back fence, and there was something large, yellow, and plastic that was half buried in the overgrown grass. Large branches from an old cedar tree littered the yard, and the cement patio had some kind of moss in places that was an inch thick. The front yard was marginally better, but it wasn’t exactly appealing. It was going to take a while.
“You get it cleaned up, and I’ll owe you,” Tommy replied. “Don’t care what you do with it, as long as it looks good. Yeah?”
“Sure.”
“Guess that’s it, then,” he said, tossing me the keys. “Welcome to your new place.”
“Thanks, Tommy,” I called as he walked away.
“Don’t mention it.” He waved over his shoulder.
As soon as he was gone, I went to find my brother. He was still in the kitchen, and his head popped out from behind a door.
“Walk-in pantry,” he said seriously.
“Christ, brother,” I muttered, leaning against the massive island in the middle of the kitchen. “Does Kara carry your balls around in her purse?”
“Man,” he said, carefully closing the pantry again. “You got no idea how much clutter two kids and a wife can make. You’ll be glad for the storage space.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
“How many kids does the woman have? Just the one?”
“No clue. They mentioned that she’d had a kid with Mike Granger—”
“Bet she regretted that,” he scoffed.
“But they also mentioned kids, plural. So she’s got more than one.”
“Hopefully, she doesn’t have five or something. You’ve only got four bedrooms.”
“Don’t fuckin’ remind me.”
“So here’s what I’m thinkin’,” Draco said, leaning over the counter across from me. “Tomorrow mornin’, I’ll head to your storage unit, grab your shit, and shut down the account so you can stop payin’. I’ll grab some of the boys and get you moved in.”