Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 46197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 231(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 231(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Except she was alone. Standing there, dressed like a runway model and looking like one in her long, shaggy fake fur coat and hot-pink boots, she smiled.
“It is you,” she said. “I’ll be damned.”
It was likely she hadn’t known about my return. Kash had told me once she wasn’t let in on the inner workings. That her dad liked to keep her protected from the dark stuff.
“Hello, Saylor,” I replied, unsure of what to say.
Her dimples appeared, making her all the more stunning. As if she needed any extra help in that department. “He knows you’re in town, doesn’t he?” she said. “His weird, distracted behavior all makes sense now.”
He being Kash.
“I’m not here for him,” I said quickly. “I am keeping my distance. Just working, saving money, so I can move on to somewhere else. I thought he was in Alabama when I came back here,” I stammered out, hoping she would relay this to whoever needed to hear it.
Her eyebrows shot up. “I see. You’re aware I don’t care. If you’ve been spoken to by one of”—she smirked—“them, they don’t tell me shit.” She waved a hand. “Besides, he’s only here for the holidays. Although it’s obvious that he’s seen you. I knew something was wrong with him.”
I wanted to believe that, but with the family, I knew better than to trust anyone.
“Yes, he saw me on Tuesday. I was picking up laundry for my employer.” Stick with the truth they know.
She scrunched her nose. “And earlier, when you were walking into the post office, he saw you then too.”
I hesitated, then nodded.
She laughed softly as her eyes scanned the street, as if looking for someone. “That’s why he left in a hurry,” she murmured.
The man who’d had his arm around her earlier stepped out of the bookstore behind us and started in her direction. I glanced at him, then back at her. Just because I’d never met him did not mean he wasn’t one of them. I doubted she’d be allowed to date outside the family.
“It was good to see you, but I need to go. I’ve got to get back to work,” I told her.
The man slid his hand over her hip, and she tilted her head back to smile up at him. “Jude, this is Cressida Beck, an old friend of mine and Kash’s,” she said to him. “Cressida, this is Jude Rayne, my fiancé.”
Great, she was introducing me. The fact that Rayne was not a last name I recognized was odd. Was he not in the Mafia? It didn’t matter. Not my business. I needed to leave.
Jude held out a hand to me. “It’s nice to meet you, Cressida,” he said politely. No cocky swagger or darkness in his gaze.
I put my hand in his and shook it. “Same,” I replied.
He appeared so … clean-cut and … proper even. Where had she found him? He was nothing like Crosby.
“It was good to see you again, Cressida,” Saylor said.
I forced a smile, wishing I could say the same and mean it. Instead, I lied, “You too.”
Twelve
Cressida
After a day of trying not to worry about it, I felt nauseous when I slowly opened the back door and stepped into the darkness. It was too dark. Where was the security light that was always on out here? I didn’t move once I closed the door behind me. If I was walking out into the dark, I was going to do it once my eyes adjusted. I didn’t know who it was that would be waiting out there, and I wanted to see them.
“Keep walking, Songbird,” Kash’s deep voice said in the blackness in front of me.
Relief came then, and the sick feeling eased. I wasn’t about to be snatched up and shipped off—or worse. Kash might not like me, he might think I’d betrayed him, but he wasn’t going to hurt me. At least not physically. I was certain of it.
I made my way down the stairs as I began to be able to make out more of the backyard with limited moonlight to help me. I didn’t see Kash though. Which bothered me. Was he hiding?
“All the way back to the tree line,” he said from the night, still unseen.
“Why?” I asked, not liking that idea.
“We can’t be seen in the woods,” he replied, sounding amused this time.
I didn’t need to ask why he was worried about being seen.
I continued on and paused just outside the first row of trees and brush. It was too cold for bugs, but there could be other things that I didn’t want to come in contact with. A hand wrapped around my wrist and tugged me, causing me to stumble forward and past the tree I was closest to. It was harder to see now with the moon blocked.
Kash’s hands grabbed my waist and kept me from tripping over a tree root and falling on my face into God knew what. Once I was steady, I moved back, shoving his hands off me.