Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 147545 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147545 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
“I don’t think so,” I tell her honestly. I don’t know much about Tor’s shady friend, but I know he didn’t seem to question sneaking into my house and retrieving evidence on the same night a murder was committed, so I don’t think Shaley’s lame boyfriend will scare him off.
Obviously, I can’t tell her that.
“It’s fine,” I assure her. “You’ve been amazing and just the best hostess, but it’s time for me to go home.”
“I don’t want you to go,” she says with a sad pout, grabbing my hand.
I give it a squeeze. “I know. I don’t want to go either. But Tor will be gone soon, and then we won’t have to worry about any of this anymore.”
It doesn’t look like she believes me, but she doesn’t want to stick a pin in my bubble of hope, so she doesn’t say so.
The vibes aren’t as high as they were before by any stretch, but our pizza order arrives, and we eat. Then I head to Shaley’s sister’s room so I can get ready for work.
I hug Shaley before I leave, and since Tor clearly knows where Shaley lives if he’s stationing someone outside her house, I don’t wait to turn my phone on. I do it sitting in her driveway.
“Call off your dog,” I text him. “I’m leaving for work, and I’m not coming back here tonight.”
I turn the phone back off once I see the message has been delivered. I back out of the driveway and pull away from the house, but I want to make sure the guy leaves, so instead of heading straight to work, I drive around the block.
When I circle back by Shaley’s house, the car is gone.
I breathe a sigh of relief, but the feeling doesn’t last for long.
The apartment may have been empty the other night when I returned to it, but I have a feeling it won’t be tonight. He didn’t like me going to Shaley’s, or he wouldn’t have sent his friend. He knew I would feel pressured to leave once I noticed him. It was his way of delivering the message that he wanted me to leave without unnecessarily involving Shaley.
I guess I should take it as a good sign that he’s still being that considerate, but I don’t know how long that consideration would last if I didn’t give in and let him have his way.
I don’t really want to find out.
It makes me mad that he always has a cheat code, but I guess that’s the game of life when you don’t worry about playing by the rules.
___
The rain persists but the thunder stops.
It’s a drizzly day to work drive-thru, and I’m already in a bad mood when Nina comes walking through the door.
“You have got to be kidding me,” I mutter, leaning on the counter and watching Josh walk up to take her order.
She glances my way, but without the hostility I’m accustomed to.
It turns out she isn’t here for food. She says something to Josh, and then he walks over to me.
I frown as he holds out his hand expectantly. “Let me take the headset for a minute. She needs to talk to you.”
“Oh sure. You’ll protect me from Tor, but the asshole with boobs…”
He rolls his eyes. “Just give me the damn headset.”
“Traitor,” I say, pulling it off my head anyway and unclipping the box from my pants.
I don’t want to talk to Nina, and I don’t understand why she’s asking to talk to me, but I walk up to the counter and meet her gaze, inviting her to speak if she wants to.
“Can you come over here?” she says, indicating the little hallway outside the door where employees go to have quick, personal conversations with their visitors. “We need some privacy for this.” Then she glances pointedly at Josh, who’s lingering close enough to eavesdrop. “Hi, Josh,” she says with her flirty little wave.
I roll my eyes as his cheeks turn pink. Men are so predictable, always falling for her charms.
I exit the employee-only area and join her in the hall, mostly so I don’t have to watch Josh drool over her.
“He loves me,” she says, in the affable way she used to talk to me before everything went down with Tim.
I cross my arms, not wanting to spend any more time out here with her than I have to. “What do you want, Nina?”
Her smile fades, and her dark eyes meet mine. “I want to apologize.”
I’m so floored, I would fall over if she blew at me. “What?”
“I made a mistake. A few mistakes, actually.” She looks down, then back up at me, and she almost looks… sincere? “Big ones.”
“What are you talking about?”
“When you left the party the other night, I sat down with Tor to watch the fireworks.”
Despite everything, my shoulders tense at her words. I swear to god, if she tells me she hooked up with him after I left, I’m leaving right now, and the only heir Carson Walters will have left by the time this night ends will be Tessa.