Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
That was an interesting nightmare.
Her worst nightmare was her brother getting shanked. Or waking up to find her dad had overdosed in the night. Although sometimes she had the terrible thought that that might be a relief.
But that wasn’t something she’d ever tell anyone.
“Mine is being kidnapped, held in a dark, damp basement where I have to fight giant rats for scraps of food, and having to pee in a bucket while knowing I am going to die at any moment,” she said.
Sondra blinked. “That is terrifying. Why would you think that would happen?”
“I read a lot.” The library was free and it was a way for her to escape. But she should probably stop reading so many murder mysteries and horror stories.
Yep, she might stick to romance for a while. Although her reaction to Mr. Tragic Eyes told her that perhaps romance wasn’t a good idea, either.
Maybe she’d take up reading autobiographies. Or cookbooks.
“Um, right,” Sondra said, giving her a wary look. “We better go, Hayes.”
Hayes?
That was his name? Was that his first or last name?
Hayes grunted. Then, to her shock, his finger once more landed under her chin. He tilted her head back. “Sure you’re not hurt?”
Her hands and knees were thumping in pain, but she forced a smile onto her face. “Yep! I’m all good.”
The expression on his face was difficult to read. It could have been disbelief. It might have been annoyance.
Or boredom.
He nodded and turned, following behind Sondra. She paused at the door to let him go through first.
“Devi!”
Devi jumped at Aaron’s voice. She turned to find him glaring at her. “Get back to fucking work.”
With a grimace, she gave everyone else in the cafe an apologetic look. Aaron didn’t care who heard him swearing or yelling.
Luckily, there were no children in here this morning. One day, he’d actually made one cry.
“I’m coming. Bathroom break.”
She knew he’d probably be spitting mad at her the rest of the day for this, but she just needed a moment to calm down and catch her breath.
Washing her shaking hands, she stared into the mirror. There were dried tears on her red cheeks.
Crap.
She scooped up some water, splashing it onto her face.
Taking a deep breath in, she let it out slowly.
She had this. She was good.
Nothing was going to get her down.
2
Hayes walked into the beauty salon and sighed.
How the fuck was this his life?
He’d lasted forty-three years without ever entering a beauty salon. This was not what he’d expected when he’d started working for Jensen International Security.
Sure, he hadn’t expected it to be high-energy or adventure all of the time. He hadn’t even wanted that. He’d wanted a job which would get him out of bed so he wouldn’t spend the rest of his days in a dark depression.
One where he could live his life in relative peace and just wait until he died.
So he could return to May.
He sucked in a breath. May hadn’t been interested in getting her nails or hair done. She’d loved working in her garden, and she was always tinkering with old machinery, painting something or repairing it. She used to say that there was no use getting her nails done when she’d just wreck them within a day.
God, he missed her.
“Hi Sondra!” The woman behind the desk greeted his charge with a genuine smile.
Sondra wasn’t the worst person he’d ever guarded. She was polite and she listened. She didn’t treat him like he was her slave the way some people he’d worked for did.
Normally, he’d tell them where they could shove their orders to get them coffee or in one person’s case, a tissue to wipe their nose.
He was the bodyguard not the tissue guy.
Sondra could be absent-minded and slightly self-absorbed, but she treated him like a person.
Of course she annoyed him sometimes.
Everyone annoyed him. He was easily pissed off.
Like when she kept getting Devi’s name wrong. He knew Sondra didn’t mean to be rude. She just didn’t think it was an important fact to retain.
He got that.
But for some reason it had still annoyed him and he wasn’t certain why. There was no reason for him to care if she remembered her server’s name. Even though that same girl served them every morning.
There was something about Devi that made him take notice. It was ridiculous. He’d never see her again after this job ended.
God, he was ready for that, to return home.
Well, not home.
To his cabin on Sanctuary Ranch. That was the other reason he’d taken this job. Because it came with accommodation. He liked living in peace and quiet. But he couldn’t go to his own cabin in the woods.
There were too many memories there.
At Sanctuary Ranch he didn’t have to deal with anyone when he wasn’t working. He could just stay in his cabin and . . . wait to die.