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)
Harlow sniffled. “I didn’t mean to cause them problems.”
“Mom said you would tell us what happened when you were ready, and if you never were we would love you and help you where we could. You did tell someone, right? Ruby knows.” It wasn’t really a question. “I want to make sure you tell someone if you can’t tell me.”
Yep, her sister was making her cry.
“This bacon is excellent,” Ruby said as she walked in and then stopped. “Sorry. Is this a sister thing?”
Greer looked up and nodded, but then held out a hand. “It is, so you should join us. You have been the best thing to happen to my sister in a long time, and I’m happy you’re part of our family.”
“I don’t know how to deal with that. I’m feeling things, Harlow,” Ruby admitted, a frown on her face.
“Greer does that. It’s the artist thing.” Harlow leaned over and shouted toward the kitchen. “Gigi, we’re about to talk shit about the two men I slept with last night.”
There was a gasp and then Gigi was in the room, plate in hand. “I’m here. Did we start? Should I make mimosas?”
Of course Gigi brought champagne to her safe house. Harlow nodded. “We’re going to need them.”
She turned to her sister and told her the whole story.
* * * *
“You do not want to go in there.” Niall sat in the afternoon light and slowly sipped his coffee. He looked his best friend over. Jensen was dressed in the sweats and T-shirt Niall had bought him at the only store within twenty minutes of this place. He did not miss Bonnet, TX. Sometimes he didn’t even recognize the place. His tiny apartment in Dallas over his gym felt far more like home. Especially now that Harlow had a toothbrush there.
Jensen stared at the swinging door that separated the kitchen from the living room. No open floor plans here. This puppy was built in the forties when women’s work needed to be hidden away so it looked like no work at all.
“We need to have a long talk with the ladies about what it means to be in a safe house,” Jensen said. “They are pretending like this is some fun sleepover.”
“I think that would be a huge mistake, man.”
Jensen turned his way, frowning. “And them potentially leading Hamilton’s men right here isn’t?”
He knew there was some kind of lecture coming, but he’d kind of already gotten the answers from Ruby. “She made sure no one was following them, and she checked her SUV for trackers.”
“Which apparently Harlow has,” Jensen replied with a hint of outrage. “They tagged her like she’s a dog who might go missing.”
“Or like a young woman who works in a dangerous business and wants to be found even if the assholes who might take her steal her phone.” Niall was kind of all in on Harlow having a tracker. He wished Jensen had one. He could get an app for his phone and then always know where the people he was in a relationship with were about to die. “Ruby says only she and Taggart know how to turn it on, and Taggart signed an NDA when Harlow agreed. He would only turn it on if she was in real danger. Ruby informed him what she did and where Harlow is, and he feels no need to let her dad in on her location.”
“But she told Harlow’s sister and cousin, and now we have a family reunion.” Jensen started for the living room.
“They’re talking about you,” Niall explained.
Jensen stopped, his hand on the door. He seemed to listen for a moment and then turned and grabbed a coffee mug. “Tell me they aren’t drinking champagne. That sounded like someone popped a bottle of champagne.”
“I believe they are calling them mimosas, though they didn’t use a lot of juice. There is some. I got orange juice for breakfast.” Niall pointed to the fridge. “It was on sale.”
“Maybe they’re not the only ones looking at this like it’s some kind of vacation.” Jensen stared at him. “How are you so fucking calm?”
“I assure you being back here is not a vacation.” It was unsettling being here. Tommy was in every room of this house. Damn but he missed that kid. “What should I be feeling, Jensen? How should I react?”
Jensen huffed and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “I don’t know, man. Freaked out. I got us in the shittiest situation we could be in.”
His friend was not thinking big enough. “Oh, I can think of shittier. You must have lost your powers of imagination, brother. We could be in custody. We could be arrested and blamed for a ton of stuff. We could be dead because the fed didn’t want to blow his cover. We were lucky, you know.”