Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
When can you come back to work? Have you heard any news about when you can arrange a funeral?
I eye the text from my boss. I've already gone over what I’m allowed to take off without some sort of documentation, and I don’t know what to tell her. I brought up commuting from here instead, but the guys shut that down real quick. Until we've dealt with Jay or Dillard or whatever his name is, they want me and Logan to stay put. And they're right. I know they are, but right now I'm feeling trapped between my old life, and a new place that I can’t quite see yet.
“Come on, Paige, just a little jog. You can do this!” A woman with brown hair and glasses who looks to be in her early twenties is jogging circles around a very pregnant woman of about the same age. She’s dishing out orders like a drill sergeant, even if it's one on the verge of cracking up with laughter. “All the advice says to keep moving.”
“With all the love in the world, Jess, fuck you.” Paige is shorter and instead of mousy brown, her hair is lighter with blonde highlights. “I can barely walk, never mind jog anywhere. I don't care what you read. I'm just going to keep waddling and hope something happens. The creation of a new life is a miracle, blah blah blah, but I’m so ready for the miracle to be somewhere outside of my body.”
“That's quitter talk! Drop and give me 50!” Jess loses it and starts laughing.
“Seriously, Jess, I will kill you, and when I explain everything, I don’t think your guys will blame me.”
“Look!” Logan is completely unaware of our newly arrived company, and actually manages to make it almost the whole way around the cartwheel before gravity pulls him back down.
Both women snap their attention our way, and I suddenly realize why Jess seemed familiar. She wasn't wearing glasses when I saw her last, but she was the one I saw at the bar that I asked Bonnie about.
“Oh crap,” Paige says. “I'm sorry. Didn't realize there were little ears here.” She looks past me at Logan, who's getting annoyed that I haven't answered yet.
“Mommy, look!”
“I'm sorry, honey. Let me see.” He does another attempt. “Good job, Lo! You'll get it soon.”
When I turn back, Jess and Paige have come over to me. Jess is holding out her hand. “Hi. I'm Jessica. You must be Dakota.” Guess word spreads.
“And I'm Paige and a half.” She rests her hand on her swollen belly. “And seriously looking forward to ejecting the half. Well, maybe not that specific part of it, but at least looking forward to lying down on my stomach again. Jess has no idea what it’s like to feel like a stranger in your own body. But I bet you know all about that.” She nods towards Logan.
“I actually got to skip straight to the six-month-old. He was my sister's.” I shrug. “Long story.”
“I bet. We hear bits and pieces, but the guys tend to gossip more about each other than us. Right now everyone is waiting for Hellfire and Grimm to either kill each other or kiss.” Jess nudges her glasses up.
“Only you are waiting for them to kiss, Jess.” Paige says with a groan.
“Willow and Grace agree it would make a great enemies to lovers story.” Jessica laughs. “If only they weren’t both so depressingly straight. Let a girl have her dreams, okay?”
Logan finally gets too tired to keep going. He collects Mr. Larson and the helmet and flops onto the grass on his back, waving the toys over his head in some sort of elaborate story.
Paige smiles. “I hope if I have a boy, he’s as cute as yours. What’s his name?”
“Logan.”
“How does he feel being cooped up in here?” Jess asks.
“Honestly? He’s handling it better than I am. He’s totally obsessed with the bikers and doesn’t really understand everything that’s going on.”
“Man, I know that feeling,” Paige says with a laugh. “That’s how we all ended up here. By the time you’ve figured out what’s going on, it’s too late. And now look at me!”
“When’s your due date?” I ask.
“Two days ago. It’s fine, but I'm so sick of waiting. Moving around is supposed to help.”
“You know what else is supposed to help?” asks a gravelly male voice. A big biker with a shaved head and a thick beard comes around the corner. He's followed by Poe, who nods a quick hi to me, and a third biker with a short reddish beard and a pair of startlingly green eyes.
Paige turns to them and puts her hands on her hips. It makes her look a little bit like a teapot with that belly, but if I were the guys, I wouldn't mess with her, because her look is pure steel and you could skate on her voice. “And what, pray tell, might that be, Crank?”