Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 88736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
I didn’t like the idea of a woman being so desperate to escape that she’d willingly hitch her star to a man she’d never met. The next few months were going to be a huge pain in the ass, and it was frustrating that I’d been the one chosen to fake a relationship with the woman, but I figured I’d better suck it the fuck up. Theodora was the one who was moving her kids to a place she didn’t know with a man she’d never met before. The situation was pretty low risk for me, but she was taking a huge gamble.
Markers were a big deal. If the club handed one out, it was because the person or organization had done them a solid that deserved payback in whatever form that took. To renege on one was unheard of. But while it was important to do my best to make sure that we got her free and clear like her father asked us to, it was even more important for Theodora. It was her life.
No matter how I felt about the situation, I’d been given the responsibility of keeping their little family safe until things got to a point where they no longer had to worry about Granger. If that meant that I had to play a role, that’s what I’d do, and I’d do it well.
By the time I climbed off the bus in Sacramento, I was sweaty, exhausted, and grateful as hell that the ride was over. I stopped in the bathroom to take a piss and check my pits to make sure I didn’t stink and then moved through the small station and out into the sunlight. After a quick scan of the parking lot, I found her.
She was turned to me, looking out the window of an older Ford truck, the bed filled with boxes and a large toolbox.
The photo I’d seen didn’t do her justice. The woman was far more beautiful in person.
I walked toward the truck like I had all the time in the world, but the entire time, my mind was racing. I’d seen at least three men that I figured could either be staring at her because she was so beautiful or because it was their job to watch her. Without more time, there was no way for me to know which was which, and we needed to get on the road and out of town.
She rolled the window down as I approached the truck, and I glanced in the back seat to see two kids. One of them was watching me, but the other was engrossed in something on his lap.
“Theodora?” I asked, even though I knew.
“Curtis?” she replied, taking a deep breath.
I glanced in the back seat again, and with the reminder of the kids who were counting on me to get this right, I grinned huge. Reaching in through the window, I wrapped my hand around the side of Theodora’s delicate neck and tugged her toward me.
“Grease sent me,” I murmured against her mouth.
Then I kissed her like I hadn’t seen her in months. Like I couldn’t hold back. Like I couldn’t get enough.
The lines between reality and fiction were blurred in an instant.
Chapter 3
Teddy
“What the fuck?” Jesse cried from the back seat, jolting me from the haze I’d fallen into.
I wrenched my mouth away from the kiss, but the man—Curtis—held me steady just inches from his face.
“You got eyes on you,” he said, the thinnest thread of apology in his voice. “You pick up your man at the bus station, you kiss him hello.”
“My man?” I asked dumbly, only long experience keeping me from looking past him to try to find who he thought was watching us.
“Scoot over, baby,” he ordered, letting go of me so he could reach for the door handle.
I stared in disbelief as he threw the door open and reached down for his bag. Then, because if I hadn’t moved, it seemed like he would’ve climbed into my lap, I scooted across the bench seat. He set his bag on the floorboard at my feet and the flannel between us as he closed us into the truck together.
“Who are you?” Finn asked in confusion, finally lifting his head.
“Curtis,” the man replied, rolling up the window. He started the truck as he looked at Finn in the rearview mirror. “Who are you?”
“I’m Finn.”
“Hey, Finn.”
“Hey, Curtis.”
“Hello?” Jesse called, leaning up to poke their head over the seat. “This is your friend?”
“Jesse,” I said, lowering my voice in warning. The last thing we needed was Finn soaking up every word of our conversation in order to bring it up later.
“Hey, Jesse,” Curtis greeted as he backed out of the parking spot. “Buckle up, yeah?”
Jesse threw themselves backward and buckled in, but I could feel their eyes on the back of my head.