Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 101872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
She sniffled. “Shit. Don’t make me go all teary.”
“No tears,” he warned.
“Then stop being so sweet.”
“Gem, I ain’t never been sweet.”
Uh-huh. Sure he hadn’t.
Her giant marshmallow.
“My nightmares are quieter with you near too,” she said.
“Good, baby.”
She knew he still felt like he’d failed to keep her safe.
And that was because he was an Alpha. A caveman.
A good, decent man.
Who wanted to protect his woman from the world. Even though that wasn’t really possible.
“I still want to go to the house. Not to stay the night,” she added quickly. “I want to get some things, and I just want to go there. Please.”
He eyed her. “I could get your things.”
“Please,” she begged. “I want to check on Mrs. G, too.”
“Fuck. Fine. We’re gonna go there. You have twenty minutes to get the shit you need, then we’ll go see the Grackle. And we tell Alec to sell it.”
“All right,” she said. “Twenty minutes.”
She figured she could get him to stretch that out.
Okay.
Maybe it wasn’t as easy to be here as she thought it might.
It was getting late in the afternoon and she wondered if she shouldn’t have waited until tomorrow.
Just as Renard had thought. She had no problems with her house, but when she turned to look at the house across the street.
Yeah.
She didn’t like looking there.
Fuck.
What was she thinking? She could have left this a bit longer. Lilac or Ryleigh would have come around to get some of her stuff for her. Renard was right. This didn’t need to be done right now.
Yet she was here.
She might as well keep moving forward.
So she stepped into her house with Renard hovering close to her as though he thought she might collapse at any moment. Everything felt the same, yet different at the same time.
Do something.
Keep your mind off what happened.
Right. She headed to the fridge. “I just need to clean this out.”
Opening the fridge door, she gaped to see it was mostly empty when Renard had a habit of filling it.
“Lilac,” he said.
“Oh. That was nice. I need to check the laundry.” She thought she’d left a load of laundry going when she’d been taken. When she checked, though, the washer was empty.
“Probably Ryleigh,” he said. “But could have been Mia or Lara or Clem. Actually, likely not Clem. Maybe we better check your booze.”
“I don’t care if Clem drank my booze,” she told him. “Although it does explain the chicken feathers.”
“That damn killer chicken,” Renard muttered.
She giggled. All right. She hadn’t expected to be giggling right now. But it was hard not to smile at Clem’s antics.
When she reached the door to her bedroom, she paused.
Right.
She might have reached her limit. On her bed was the missing laundry, folded neatly.
“Baby? Gem?”
“I still can’t believe he watched me. He came into the house, Renard. Why didn’t I see the broken latch on the window? I thought I was smarter than that. He would come into my room and stand there while I slept. How did I not know?”
It was a wonder she could sleep at all now.
“Fucking creep.” He carefully turned her to face him. “He had everyone fooled. Not just you. His own aunt had no idea what he was up to.”
“Poor Mrs. G,” she said. “Can we go see her after?”
“Yeah. I guess,” he grumbled.
“I might as well get my clothes and—”
A knock on the door interrupted her and made her jump, then wince.
Shit.
Who the hell would that be?
“Stay here,” Renard said before he whirled around and headed to the front door.
Opal could have stayed where she was.
But she’d never been good at following orders.
And what was he going to do? Spank her?
That wasn’t happening.
Yeah, right.
Although he might make her write lines which she did not want to do. However, she was willing to take that chance.
“What the hell are you all doing here?” Renard demanded. “What do you want?”
“John Renard? I’m FBI Agent Eli Jones and this is my partner FBI Agent Kellan Jones.”
What the heck?
Why were FBI Agents on her doorstep? Wait. Jones. Duncan’s brothers were FBI agents.
But why would they be here?
“Right. What do you want?” Renard asked.
“We’d like to speak to Opal. Is she here with you? We went to your apartment first, then tracked you both down here.”
“Why would you track me down?” Opal asked, moving up behind Renard.
He scowled down at her. “Told you to stay in the bedroom, Gem.”
“They’re here for me. Aren’t you?” she asked them.
Eli nodded, looking firm. But Kellan’s gaze seemed to soften as he took her in. The bruises on her face actually looked worse, even though the swelling had gone down.
“Could we come inside?” Eli asked.
“No.” Renard crossed his arms over his chest. “This isn’t a good time. Opal needs to rest.”
“Is it about Barney?” she asked. “Why would FBI agents be here? Unless . . . did he do this to someone else?”