Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
“Just let me know. You know I get that you’re both busy.”
“I know you’re more than capable of taking care of yourself and Duncan”—he thumped my shoulder—“but someone has to check on you.”
“Yeah, we have to check on our Nina,” Sienna piped in from a few feet away as she approached us from the direction of the clubhouse.
But it was the man following her that surprised me, and I knew I wasn’t the only one when Matti’s head jerked.
“I sent you a text. We’re leaving,” my best friend said to his cousin.
Henri, who I hadn’t seen yesterday at all, stopped to the side of us, a beaten-up stainless steel water bottle hanging from his index finger. In jeans and another long-sleeved T-shirt, he looked like a different man from the one I’d seen running around the forest after a long shift with LOBO COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT stitched onto the breast of his shirt. “I got it.” His gaze caught mine, holding it steady in a way that made me feel he was trying to figure out if I was still the same person I’d been the last time we’d seen each other. “I’ll come with you, if you don’t mind, Cricket.”
I forced myself not to peek at Matti because I had to put all my effort into not seeming shocked in Henri’s face. “It’s fine by me…?”
He blinked. “Why are you asking it like it’s a question?”
Play it cool, Nina. “Because I figured you’re busy, and I’m surprised you’re coming?” I tried again. I’d learned from Franklin at dinner that Henri had been working a ton of overtime lately—it wasn’t just an excuse he gave Matti. I had also learned at the same time that the elder had made plans to leave later today. He had something he needed to “look into” had been the only explanation he’d given the night before, still acting sketchy, even though I wasn’t sure if I was imagining it or if he was just a suspicious person by nature.
I really wasn’t sure what to think about that bracelet he had on and what it might mean. I wasn’t in a position to ask about Franklin though, and I knew it. It might just always have to be a mystery I lived with, unless he decided to share his backstory with me.
I wasn’t going to hold my breath in that case… unless I could weasel it out of Shiloh once he was done with his prison sentence. He’d already proved to have trouble keeping a secret, and I wasn’t above getting innocent information out that way. We’d see.
Henri raised that left eyebrow a millimeter. “You still answered it like it’s a question.”
I scratched my neck. “Okay?”
It was Matti who laughed, his head ducking down to give me a peck on the temple. “You’re a pain in the fucking ass, Nina, but we should get going. I want to check my bag.”
I said, “I’m not a pain in the ass.”
And Henri agreed, “She’s not a pain in the ass.”
I smiled, pleased at him defending me again, even if it was unexpected.
Then he ruined it. “She’s just a brat.”
I looked at him, and he looked at me.
But there was that sparkle I’d seen in his eyes the other times he’d tapped into his unexpected funny bone.
Why he went back and forth between acting like we were familiar with each other—old friend-ish— and then acting like he could barely tolerate me was beyond my mental capacity. There was also the chance that I might have been overthinking it since I did that with everything else around here. Maybe it had nothing to do with me and it just depended on his mood. But people were complicated, and there was a chance, if I spent enough time pondering when he acted the way he did and who was around when he did it, it might bring those actions to light in a different way. He wasn’t a mean man. I really didn’t think he was trying to hurt my feelings.
And honestly, I wanted one single person here in my corner. Other than the kids I’d met at the nursery, and Maggie the teacher, who I really needed to have an awkward conversation with sooner rather than later, Henri seemed to be my only other “friend” at the moment. If this was how he wanted things to be, then that was fine. We were going to be a mullet, I guess. Business in the front and a party in the back when no one was looking.
All right, maybe it was going to hurt my feelings, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t recover from.
“All right, in that case, let’s go,” I said, discreetly eyeing Henri standing there as I moved around them and headed to the driver’s side.
“Shotgun,” Sienna called out before hip checking her husband out of the way to get into the front seat.