Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 71843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
“Oh, bunny,” I soothed her as I turned to look at my son, who had just walked into the kitchen and was now leaning on the counter.
He had changed into a T-shirt and sweats that he kept outside. He was more the fresh-extra-set-of-clothes guy, so he was ready to sit down once he took off whatever he’d worn out. Sam had adopted this practice as well, so done with the yellow rain parka.
“Somebody talk to me now,” Sam demanded.
“B?” Kola asked his sister.
Easing back so I let go of her, she sat up, shook her head, and sprang up, dashed for the stairs, and was up them in seconds.
Sam rose to go after her.
“Don’t go,” Kola told his father. “She’s embarrassed.”
“About what?” I asked, getting up to join them at the dining room table.
He sighed deeply. “Where they had the gala tonight, next door, in one of the smaller rooms, was that wedding reception that Kay and his family went to, that Hannah wasn’t invited to with them.”
“Nope,” Sam snapped, getting up and crossing the room to the stairs, following after his daughter. If he knew she was in pain, he could not stand to wait; he had to try and immediately fix the situation. I needed more information first, so I’d know if she needed more hugging or talking, or if I needed to get the shovel out of the tool shed.
“Start from the beginning,” I ordered my son.
Apparently, Hannah had to leave the main ballroom, where she was helping Aaron host a silent auction to benefit the homeless, to use the bathroom. Her bodyguard, George, who was also her driver, the same one who had picked her up the night she had an issue when she had planned to stay over at Kay’s house, had gone with her. Not that Hannah wasn’t more than capable of defending herself, but Aaron insisted, and when she attended any events, George was her shadow. It made me happy.
“All I know is, like, fifteen minutes later Hannah comes back to our table at the gala,” Kola told us, taking things out of the refrigerator to make himself a burrito, “and she’s smiling and all, but I can tell she’s upset.”
She was his sister after all.
“And?” I prodded my son.
“She tells me that there was some kind of miscommunication, and Kay’s mom thinks Hannah’s crashing the wedding reception to check on Kay because Hannah’s jealous that he went with another girl, and she yelled at her.”
“You’re saying Kay’s mother accused Hannah of crashing the reception?” Harper asked.
“Yeah. But what made it worse was that Kay was drinking, and he and his date, who was his cousin’s new husband’s little sister, were fooling around.”
“Who?” Jake looked confused.
“Define fooling around.” Harper needed clarification, and frankly, so did I.
He shrugged. “Hannah wouldn’t say.”
“Then what?” I prodded him.
He turned and leaned back on the counter as Jake walked into the kitchen to start making a burrito for Kola, taking over so he could talk to me. “As far as I can tell, the timeline goes like, Hannah was on her way out of the wedding reception when Kay’s mother caught up to her, and that was when she laid into her about crashing, and she ran, and when the security that was at the door tried to stop her, because somebody—might have even been the bride—wanted to talk to her, that was when George put those guys on the ground.”
Aaron told me that he let Hannah choose who would protect her, from the men who reported to Miguel Romero, Aaron’s head of security. He had been surprised at her choice. After meeting George Hunt, I was not. He was so much like her father it was scary.
George scowled constantly, was gruff and growly, shook his head at her, rolled his eyes, and listened more intently than most people. He was there if she stepped wrong in her stilettos, always had something to hand her to eat to get her through until dinner, had taken to carrying bobby pins in his suit pocket, and made sure her feet never got wet in the rain. The man was six feet two inches of carved muscle, had deep dimples and a square jaw, jet-black hair and dark blue-black eyes. I liked him because he was kind to my daughter, but even more so, I knew if it came down to it, he’d take a bullet for her.
I was about to ask Kola more questions when the doorbell rang. Kayden’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Holmes, as well as their daughter Mira, were there.
It was chilly outside, but not arctic, so when I answered the door, I stepped out onto the porch with them. None of them were wearing masks, so I made sure I stayed more than six feet away from them.