Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 90607 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90607 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
“I’m not toying with her. Ava and I, we’re just ... hanging out,” he said. “That’s all.”
“I’m the mother of two children. I was happily married for a long time, Pat. Do not take me for a fool. It starts with hanging out, and then it develops. Ava is not a woman who can be passed around. Think about that when you have your fun.”
With that, she spun away from him, and he watched as she walked right out of the gate.
“Okay, I don’t think that chick even knew I was here,” Rusty said, popping out from under the hood of a different car, complete with what looked like part of the engine in his hand.
“I don’t think she would be partial to being called a chick,” Pat said.
“Tell me. She made me fucking hard, though. Do you think she’d be into me?” Rusty asked, getting to his feet.
“No.”
“Come on, man, look at me. A lot of women want to go for me.”
Pat wiped his greasy hands on the cloth he held, and looked up at Rusty. “She’s a widowed woman, and I don’t think she goes for the kind of guys who get sexually transmitted diseases for fun.”
“I don’t get them for fucking fun. I’m just unlucky is all. That’s not cool, man.”
Pat ignored him, and went back to looking over the car. It was all good. There were no major faults. The cost of the service wasn’t too high, and with no parts needing replacing, it was a pretty easy job. Grabbing the clipboard, he went through all the major checks, signed off on it, and then made his way into the main reception.
Maddie was behind the counter, typing away at the computer. The moment the door closed, she looked up and smiled at him.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey. I’ve got one done,” he said, handing it to her.
She glanced down, nodded. “I’ll call them.”
Lindsey, her and Bull’s baby girl, was secured to her chest as she worked. The little girl was sound asleep.
“Are you sure you should be here?” Pat asked.
“Yeah, Bull’s back in his office. It’s all good.”
He knew Bull wasn’t happy with Maddie being a potential target. The problem was, they couldn’t hide their women away forever. Maddie and Aria had to return to work.
Pat looked down at the sleeping child. He never thought of having kids himself. Children and wives, families, were not in his future. At least, for the longest time they hadn’t been. Now as he watched Bull and even temperamental Grant, it seemed possible.
He couldn’t help but think about Ava. She would make an amazing mother. He just knew it.
“Is Mrs. Beckett here to get her car fixed?” Maddie asked.
“No, she came for a word.”
“A word, is everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything is fine.” He stepped out into the cold air. Fall was turning into a cold one.
Halloween was just around the corner. He knew the guys were looking forward to the Halloween party they threw every year. This time, he didn’t know if he was even tempted to go.
Rusty was wiping his hands on a cloth as he stepped out.
“Do you think she even realized there were more of us around?” Rusty asked.
“No. I don’t think that is ever on her mind.”
“She’s hot,” Rusty said.
“Don’t fucking touch Mrs. Beckett,” Pat said.
He rarely got into it with the guys on who they could and could not fuck. Hazel was strictly hands off.
Rusty held his hands up. “Hey, it would be doing you a favor.”
“And how do you figure that would be doing me a favor?” Pat asked.
“While I got her screaming my name, you could have all the fun you wanted with her daughter.”
Pat shook his head. “Don’t touch her.”
He knew from his digging that Hazel had been through enough. Her husband did leave her the means to be able to take care of herself, but that wasn’t the kind of shit he’d been talking about. On paper, and through the town gossip, he knew Ava’s parents had been the real deal. Not just two people coming together for sex. They had been in love. Married when they were eighteen, two years later they had Violet.
For twenty-one years they were together, until a horrible act of fate took him from her. Ava had been fourteen, Violet nineteen, and Hazel thirty-nine years old. Their lives were changed forever.
“Whoa, dude, seriously, consider me hands off. You don’t need to tell me twice.”
He continued to glare at Rusty and he wrinkled his nose. “Whatever.”
Pat watched as Rusty turned toward the front gate, and then suddenly made himself scarce.
This now had his attention, and it was none other than Lidia, stepping through the gate. She had her hair pinned back, and was covered from head to toe in a thick jacket.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey. Aria is not here,” he said.
“I know she’s not. I called her and asked where you were.”