Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 132657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
That seemed to flummox Phil, and Jensen knew he had a shot at buying some time. He had to pretend to not be able to talk.
He wasn’t pretending right now, though. He was still shaking, his gut churning. His knees knocked together, and he couldn’t control the way his hands clenched and unclenched.
“Uhm, I thought… He can be dangerous. Didn’t your contact tell you he used to be a soldier or something?” Phil asked.
“Yeah, he was an MP. Now that I think about it I believe she said I killed someone close to him.” Hamilton knelt down. “Is that what I did, you asshole? I took out your girlfriend or something?”
He didn’t even fucking know. All this time he’d made this man the center of his world, and he didn’t even remember Tommy. He likely hadn’t even done it himself. He’d ordered someone to do it. It was all useless. So fucking useless, and now he was going to die here and it was useless, too.
He was useless.
The only thing he’d ever been halfway good at was being Niall’s friend and Tommy’s brother. He could have been good at loving Harlow if he’d been able to see past his guilt and fear.
It was fear. He was afraid of loving her. Of losing her. Of not being worthy of her.
Hamilton reached out and pulled his head up. “You and me are going to have a talk and you’re going to tell me where you put that hard drive. Then I’ll kill you. If you think that’s not a good deal for you, well, let me show you what I can do while you’re alive.”
He stood up, a gleam in his eyes, and then he brought his foot back and kicked Jensen squarely in the stomach.
All the air left his lungs and before he could breathe, Hamilton kicked him again. And again.
Jensen groaned and hoped the end came soon.
Chapter Eighteen
Harlow dropped down on the lawn in the greenest patch she could find since she hadn’t expected the building to have a slanted roof. Jasper had claimed he could get low enough that the drop wouldn’t be too bad. She’d been willing to chance it, but Niall had thrown a Dom hissy fit, and since she really could roll off the fucker, she’d given in.
She looked up and Niall was climbing down. He got to the last rung and carefully jumped.
Jasper immediately took off since he’d already heard some radio chatter about a rogue chopper, and he’d explained he was too pretty to go to jail, so he was heading for his uncle’s office where he would update Big Tag on what was going on.
Niall winced as he straightened up but didn’t complain. Not about pain. “You should have let me go first. I would have caught you.”
She glanced around, her SIG in hand. Everything looked quiet and calm now that the chopper was off. She looked at the numbers. They would have to move to the other side. “I couldn’t be sure they don’t have someone on lookout. I didn’t want you to get shot while you were trying to catch me. I knew you would want to.”
He frowned her way. “Well the next time we have to jump out of a chopper, I’d like the chance to spare your knees.”
He was a beautiful man. Could she trust him? She damn straight couldn’t trust the asshole she’d come to save. “We should move around to the front.”
She started for what seemed to be the parking lot, moving past the laundry room. This wasn’t like her condo. There were no inside amenities. If Jensen wanted to do a load of laundry and it was raining, he would have to wait. She glanced inside but no one was there.
“Tell me again why we’re not calling the cops.” Niall’s voice had gone quiet, and he moved behind her.
“Because it would cause a hell of a tangle, and we can’t be sure they won’t arrest Jensen and put him in a cell alongside whoever is trying to kill him.” She moved slowly, listening for anything that would let her know they weren’t alone. The apartment was set back from the street, and they were in a rundown part of the city. There was a convenience store across the street ahead, but the stores around it were all closed down and abandoned.
All of this could have been avoided if her asshole cousin answered his phone or read his texts.
“Traffic was awful,” a deep voice was saying. “Look, can we tell my boss I got here in plenty of time? You said he just went upstairs, right? Big Tag doesn’t care that there was a three-car wreck on I30. He’ll expect my ass to fly here, and he can be mean. I lost his damn niece. He’s never going to forget that. I’m in the doghouse.”