Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“The Contreras brothers, Omar and Manuel.”
“That’s a cool last name, but it’s hard to possessive pluralize.”
He did a slow pan to me.
“The Contrerases are going to be apprehended,” I said, giving him an example.
“Really?”
“What?”
“I love you very much,” he told me.
I sighed, and then I thought about it. “Hey.”
His chuckle made me laugh anyway.
We made it downtown and I got a kiss after I walked around the monster car to the driver’s side when he double-parked a half a block from his building. It would have been hard to get any closer with the many vehicles there. Clearly a manhunt was already underway.
“You’ll be careful, of course,” I said because I had to.
“Of course,” he promised, and I saw his men, Chris Becker, Ian Doyle, Wes Ching, and others waiting on him.
When he turned to walk away, my stomach flipped over, but somehow the waves from his people were comforting. If they could, they wouldn’t let anything happen to him, and I knew that. Still scary, though. It always was.
In the car, when my phone rang, I answered.
“Hey, I’m showing you downtown,” Hannah said hopefully. “Is that right?”
“Yeah, your dad has a fugitive task force to lead, so I had to drop him off.”
“Oh.” Her voice fell, and I heard the worry. “I see.”
“What’s going on?”
“Well, the fundraiser is basically over, and since your phone pinged just a few blocks away from me, I was hoping you could come by and pick me up. It would be nice for George to not have to drive me home first.”
“Of course. Tell him I’m on my way. Where are you exactly?”
“I’m at the Shedd Aquarium,” she told me. “I’ll tell you where to meet me.”
Once I picked Hannah up, George touching base with me, looking the car over because he was crazy protective and careful where Hannah was concerned, he made sure I locked the doors, and then we were off.
“Why was the fundraiser not as long as usual?”
“The speeches were all really short, and normally the dancing goes late, but it’s the middle of the week, so I think people just wanted to go home. I told the event coordinator to wait for the weekend, but I’m only seventeen, what do I know?”
I laughed along with her. When we were almost home, Sam called.
“Hey,” I greeted him. “Everything okay?”
“Hi, Daddy,” Hannah announced loudly. “I’m letting you know I’m in the car so you don’t say anything you’ll regret.”
Sam chuckled, and it was filthy.
“I never want to hear”––and we were both treated to the opening notes of the Marvin Gaye classic “Let’s Get It On”––“you talk to Pa like that again. You scarred me for life.”
More evil chuckling followed.
“So what’s goin’ on?” I asked.
“Oh! Another Marvin Gaye classic,” she crowed.
“Knock it off,” he ordered her. “I called to say I’m coming home. I don’t need to be here. We have the Contreras brothers in custody already.”
“You have apprehended the Contrerases,” Hannah said, and I could tell she was thinking about it. “The Contrerases are walking their dog. Names that end in an S are hard to pluralize, aren’t they?”
“Christ, is she your kid or what?” Sam grumbled at me.
“Are you coming home now or in a couple of hours?”
“I’m coming now. I’m taking a cab. I’ll be there shortly.”
“We can turn around and come get you,” I offered as I made the right onto our street.
“No, no, I’m right behind you.”
“Well, good, because Hannah has something she wants to tell us.”
She gasped as she turned to me. “Brujo! How did you know?”
I laughed at her. “I know you. Now speak.”
“It can wait until we’re all home,” she replied.
“No, do it now,” Sam prodded her.
She took a breath. “As you know, I was accepted to the University of Chicago, and I’ve decided to go there.”
“Really?” I asked her, my heart squeezing in my chest. “I thought you wanted to go far away from Chicago. You wanted to fly, you said.”
“And I do. Or half of me wants to. But I also feel like that’s more pressure than I want to put on myself in my freshman year. I mean, this is college, and yes, I want to be my own person, but I also want the safety net of being close to you guys.”
I nodded because my voice was gone.
“And just the thought of me going across the country was giving George hives.”
“Nice of you to consider George,” Sam murmured knowingly.
“I mean, I definitely want to live in the dorms, but I want to be able to come home too.”
I was so happy it was hard to breathe.
“I want to be fearless, and you know I’m all about testing myself and facing whatever is the worst thing because being comfortable shouldn’t be what we aspire to. We should challenge ourselves every day, so I know this choice is a little weenie, and I don’t want you guys to think less of me but––”