Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 121887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
She smiled at him benignly, like she was humoring him, all while he talked.
He obviously had practice with this and acted just like a son would when catching his mom up on his life.
I was me (and it was actually a shock it took as long as it did to happen, but I managed to hold it together), and it wasn’t until Javi closed his door after helping me in, then angling into the truck himself, before I lost it and burst into tears.
Javi pulled me across the console and into his lap to hold me while I did it.
“I-I’m s-sorry!” I blubbered. “This isn’t about m-me.”
“It’s rough, baby,” he murmured. “Especially at first. But you get used to it.”
I didn’t want to get used to it.
I wanted a miracle to happen and for Javi’s mom to be a mom to Javi and a woman in her own right, living her life to its fullest.
But that was a miracle that would never happen.
I nodded, sniffled and pulled myself together.
Once I accomplished this, I said, “She’s really beautiful.”
His smile was soft. “Yeah, she is.”
“And she seems peaceful,” I noted.
“That’s how you learn to get used to it,” he explained.
With all he’d said about their lives on the street, I knew that was all he wanted for her. Therefore, I could rest in the knowledge he finally had that, and so did she, and maybe I wouldn’t be such a crybaby the next time we came to see her (by the by, Javi drove up pretty often, and I vowed right then and there, sitting in his lap, he’d never do it alone again—and he didn’t).
“Wait for me here,” he said. “Just gotta do something real quick.”
I nodded again.
He put me back in my seat, got out and jogged back into the hospital.
He wasn’t gone for long.
He set us on our way, saying, “We’ll hit a drive-thru on the way home for dinner.”
Flagstaff wasn’t a million miles away, only a two-and-a-half-hour drive. But going there and back in one day was a lot.
Even with that, I could see why he wouldn’t want to hang around Flag for a sit-down dinner just to experience the cool vibe of the town, and instead, get out of there and head home. And I was oh-so-totally leaning into that play.
I suggested Freddy’s, which was neck and neck with Culver’s for me—they both had frozen custard, but Freddy’s had better fries (shoestring!), and Culver’s had cheese curds (you could see why it was a tossup).
Then I asked, “What did you go back in for? Did you forget something?”
Javi didn’t immediately answer.
I took this for the sign it was and turned to him, concerned.
“Javi?”
“I asked if Ma had more visitors.”
Oh dear.
“Does she?” I whispered.
“Atherton comes up every two weeks.”
Oh God.
“Let me guess, it’s not to be absolutely certain the bill is paid,” I said hesitantly.
“No,” Javi grunted.
Eek.
“They told me he sits with her, sometimes for hours,” Javi said.
Oh God!
“That isn’t about me,” he stated.
“It isn’t,” I carefully agreed.
It seemed the man did love her, or at the very least cared for her deeply.
Whether it was because she was his son’s mother, or just because she was Ximena, we might never know.
Whatever it was, it was sweet.
I wondered if Julia and Cath knew about this. Though, I wondered, unless they shared they did, we wouldn’t know, since that was definitely Atherton’s to give them if he wished to.
“Fuck me,” Javi muttered.
“Your decision. Your peace of mind,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, baby,” he agreed.
I pushed across the cab to kiss his jaw.
When I sat back, he was looking at me.
“What?” I asked.
“Proudest day of my life, introducing my ma to you.”
Oh em gee!
He was the greatest!
I pushed forward that time to kiss his jaw a lot harder, I added a touch of my tongue and my hand squeezing really high up on his hard thigh.
This commenced Javi pulling over so we could make out.
Sadly, that had to end.
Not sadly, when it did, Javi guided us to Freddy’s.
Javi reported the NI&S boys cut Kev loose a few days after Trev’s case was solved.
He also shared that they’d had a few more words with him in those few days, and I was correct with where my deductive powers led me.
Kevin not only knew what was on that laptop, Kevin knew where Trevor hid the laptop.
Kevin had then hid it. However, he hadn’t expected anyone to find where he did. This was because he intended to go back and get it.
Kevin had lied about saying he thought Trev deleted the videos, he knew he did not.
And Kevin had guarded this intel carefully, even under interrogation by the Hottie Squad, because he was such a lamebrain, his bestest bestie gets dead in all that crazy, he didn’t take this as the cautionary note it was. Instead, he saw his opening for an easy life filled with new Mazdas and his rent paid without actually having to hold down a job or exerting any effort in conning chicks on dating apps so he could filch their wallets or designer bags.