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)
Addie shook her head and gave Ralen a desperate look.
“Ink seems to think it’ll be all right, as long as the two of us go with her. We can drive. If anyone’s in danger, my guess it would be Monroe. Perhaps Dotty. They were the two asking questions about Monroe’s dickhead husband. And she’s likely to be the target. Probably no one even noticed Addie there.”
Sure. No one ever did.
He didn’t say that to hurt you. You’ve mastered being invisible, remember?
She didn’t know why, but it was kind of depressing to know that she was so invisible that no one would bother to threaten her.
“It still doesn’t mean she’s going to be safe.”
“Bro, she’ll be with us. Of course she’ll be safe.” Ralen winked at Addie. “And we’ll drive straight to wherever she has to go, then straight back.”
Cash turned to her with his hands on his hips. “What is so important that you need to go out and get it right away?”
Great. If he was going to escort her, he needed to know.
“Dotty said it’s period supplies,” Ralen said easily.
“Oh.” Understanding filled Cash’s face. “Well, why didn’t you say so?”
Umm. Well. She hadn’t expected that reaction from him.
“Some girls can be strange about talking about periods,” Ralen said with a shrug. “Don’t know why, just a normal bodily function.”
“More normal than the things your body does,” Cash told him.
“Fucker,” Ralen muttered, turning to walk out.
“Is he all right?” she asked.
“Don’t worry about him.” Cash turned to her. To her shock, he reached up and cupped the side of her face. She froze in shock. What was he doing? Why was he touching her like this? And how could she get him to do it more often?
Chill, Addie. That’s not what you should be thinking.
Yeah, but she just couldn’t help herself, could she?
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked. “You can tell me anything. We’re a team, you and I.”
They were?
“Well, at least for as long as you’re here,” he said. “It’s you and me. I’m going to stick to you like glue until I put you on that plane. Although I’d like to make it clear that I think you’d be safer here.”
He did? Why did he think that? Did he really think they’d be in danger if they returned to Las Vegas?
“It’s just a control thing, like I told you. So many aspects of my life are out of my control. But this is something I need to control.”
Did he mean her?
“Not in a jerk way, just in a, ‘keep you safe and happy and protected,’ way. And that sounded really creepy and weird, didn’t it?” He took a step back, and she could feel him pushing her away, not physically, but mentally, emotionally.
And she told herself that it needed to happen because she was leaving tonight, and also because there was nothing that would ever happen between the two of them.
But being on his team, even temporarily, was too much of a drawcard for her, so she found herself nodding. She wanted that.
“A team,” she said.
He nodded back at her. “Team Cash.”
Oh, no, she didn’t think so. “Team Addie.”
“Not happening,” Cash said. “I’m in charge, therefore the name should be after me.”
Addie just snorted. He was so full of it. It was definitely Team Addie.
18
Cash drove his truck to the nearest pharmacy. He still didn’t like this, even though they weren’t going far.
And he wouldn’t let anything happen to her.
Addie seemed so stressed and pale that he was worried. Perhaps part of it was because she was close to getting her period.
Ralen’s phone started to ring, and he answered it.
“Hey, Bonnie. What’s up?” Ralen said.
Well, shit. They hadn’t thought to check in with Bonnie. Or, at least, he hadn’t.
“Yep, we moved all the boxes in. No, Bonnie, you don’t have to thank us. It was our pleasure helping you.”
They were close to the pharmacy by now.
“Yeah, we had a bit of an interesting evening last night. I’ll tell you about it later.”
Bonnie was Dante’s stepsister, and he was very protective of her. To Cash’s surprise, Dante had agreed to let her move to Billings and open up her own store. It was called LittleLand, and it sold things for Littles.
Dante had sent the two of them along with Titus to keep her safe, not that she seemed to need it. Bonnie led a pretty quiet life. In fact, most of the time, he felt like they were just glorified helpers for the shop. But he would never say that, and it wasn’t like he resented helping Bonnie. She was awesome. He was also grateful to be back in Billings with his brother and sister and their families.
But there were times he wished he could do his own thing. When he felt bored and useless. Dante didn’t want them getting other jobs, just in case they had to do something for him, but so far, nothing had happened. Years ago, when they were younger and desperate, they’d signed their lives over to Dante in order to gain his protection.