Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94624 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94624 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“Finn started a fight?” I was confused.
“No. Some drunk-ass guy accused him of hitting on his girlfriend, and––”
“At the party?” Hannah asked him.
“No, this was after, when me and Finn went to get tacos, and this guy––”
“When did you go to get tacos?” Jake asked him. “Why didn’t you take me with you to get tacos?”
“You and Hannah were still dancing and drinking.” He emphasized the last word.
Jake heaved for a second. “Dude, that was douchey.”
“Daddy, why is Kola trying to make me hurl?”
“I have no idea, love,” he said, shooting his son a look.
“And Harper and Wick were holding hands and drinking.” He did it again, cackling. Amusing the hell out of himself.
“I second the douchey comment,” Harper muttered.
“Anyway, we left and––”
“What about the girl he brought?” Hannah asked him.
“She left with that guy, Diego, you invited.”
“Really?” Hannah said, looking at me. “Did Diego ever strike you as a guy who could pick up women?”
“I think first, you can’t make those kinds of judgements about anyone,” I told her. “And second, he has a very big brain, and women, as well as men, are attracted to intelligence.”
“Well, that’s very true,” she granted, snuggling back down beside her father. “Dad, why is everyone talking with an English accent on this show you’re watching?”
“Let’s hear more about your brother and Finn at the hospital,” he said, glancing back at his son.
“So Finn was telling how he was glad that Brittany had left with Diego because he didn’t really see that going anywhere because he’s not smart enough to keep up with her.”
“And you said?” I prodded.
“Well, of course I said he’s plenty smart and he shouldn’t blame his disinterest in her on him being stupid or her thinking he was. I said to call it what it was, there just wasn’t a spark.”
“And?” It was Hannah’s turn to ask.
“He agreed that she was nice but he just wasn’t that into her.”
“So you guys went for tacos,” I concluded.
“Yeah. And when we were leaving, this guy bumped into us on the way out and Finn apologized, even though it wasn’t his fault, and then some girl said wow, like, you know, oh wow, looking at Finn, and he gets that a lot, so he smiled, and the guy goes off about Finn hitting on his girl,” Kola explained. “I mean, I’ve never seen anything spiral that quickly.”
“Sounds like the other guy was spoiling for a fight,” Sam surmised. “Let me see under those sunglasses, and move that hood back for me, Rocky.”
Kola groaned, took off his glasses and pushed the hood back, revealing enough damage that my heart nearly stopped.
“Okay,” Sam said, moving from his sprawled position beside Hannah to sitting up and inspecting his son’s face, turning his head left and right, both gentle and careful with him. The bruises that were high on his cheeks, under his eyes, were dark red, and his right eye had blood in it. “You said you went to the ER?”
“We did,” Kola assured him. “And nothing’s broken.”
“Yeah, but did they take a picture of your skull? Do you have a concussion?”
“No concussion. I only got hit, like, three times, but that guy was huge. I mean, I would love to say that I won that fight, but there was no way. I’m not even sure you could have gotten that guy off you, B, but it’s possible.”
“I didn’t mean to call you bad,” she whispered, looking at him.
He chuckled. “Yeah, you did. But it’s fine. I kept the guy from punching Finn in the back of the head, and that was the point.”
“How many guys was Finn fighting?” Harper asked.
“Like, seriously, four, and they were not small. I have no idea how he kicked the shit out of all of them, but he missed the one who would have really hurt him. He had a knife too.”
I coughed. “Did this man threaten you with the knife?”
Kola nodded. “He did, which is why I backed off. I mean, I initially defended myself, and he got these hits in, but I didn’t do horrible. It did remind me that I need to get back to the dojo and work on my Tae Kwon Do,” he said to his sister. “I am rusty as hell.”
“Anytime you want, we can go together.”
“Okay, good, but anyway, the knife tripped me up, but at that point, Finn had taken care of the other guys and could concentrate on the one who could have crippled him.”
“What happened?”
“He broke his jaw.”
“The guy broke Finn’s jaw?” Jake asked.
“No. The other way around.”
“Holy shit. From a punch?”
Kola nodded.
“Sounds like Finn was pretty mad,” Hannah commented.
“Well, you would have been too. Like I said, if I wasn’t there, he could have been really hurt.”
“Wait for it,” Harper announced.
“Though, technically, if I hadn’t wanted tacos, and Finn hadn’t gone with me, he wouldn’t have been at the restaurant for that guy to want to murder.”