Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Shoving my phone into my back pocket, I went to the door and jerked it open. When I stepped into the hallway, I heard talking coming from the open door next to me. Glancing down at it, I knew that was either Elsie’s room or Calvin’s. It was one of two guest bedrooms in the house. The other was directly across from it. That door was open too.
“I’d delay my flight until tonight if I could. But you know I can’t.” Calvin’s voice carried from inside the room.
If she was replying, I couldn’t hear it.
Shaking my head, I left to go to the kitchen. Just friends, my ass.
They’d probably slept in the same bed. Not that Gathe would give a shit. The one thing I didn’t have to worry about with him was losing him to a fucking female. He was as likely to get tied up in a relationship as I was.
The smell of breakfast met me when my foot hit the bottom of the staircase. Hawkins came barreling out into the hallway from the kitchen with a waffle on a fork in his hand, waving it around like a flag. I could hear Halo calling after him, and the sight made me grin. Moving quickly, I blocked his escape path and picked him up.
“Gotcha!” I said as he giggled and squirmed to get loose.
“Thank you, Forge,” Halo said, meeting me at the doorway. “He’s wild this morning.”
I handed him over to her. “Is there a time when he isn’t wild?”
She shrugged. “I guess not.”
“Wilma made hashbrown casserole,” I said, walking over to the stove. “I love her.”
“No, no, Hawks,” Halo said, and I heard something hit the floor.
Grabbing a plate, I started to get a large serving of the casserole. Wilma was one of the reasons I hadn’t been in a rush to move. The Bowens’ place may be a bachelor pad, but they didn’t have a cook this good.
“Good morning.”
Calvin’s voice interrupted my thoughts, but I didn’t glance back to greet him. I had priorities, and he wasn’t one of them.
“Good morning,” Halo replied. “We have breakfast if y’all are hungry. Please help yourselves. Oz and Winslet will be here soon. She called and said to let you know they were running a few minutes late.”
Probably because my brother couldn’t keep his hands off his wife. I rolled my eyes and grabbed four slices of bacon. I finally turned around and forced a half smile in my cousin’s direction before walking to the table.
“Wook, Fowge! Wook! I can fwy!” Hawkins called out as he climbed up into the chair and held out his arms, preparing to jump.
“Hawkins! I told you to stop that!” Halo scolded him, then sighed as he sprang off the chair and landed in a squat on the ground, arms still spread open and a big grin on his face.
Damn, that kid looked so much like Crosby that it hit me in the chest at times. Remembering the kid he’d been. Wondering what kind of dad he would have been.
“That’s awesome, bud, but you’d better obey your momma. It’ll keep you on her good side, and you know what that means,” I told him with a wink.
He frowned for a moment, and then his eyes widened. “Ice cweam!”
Chuckling, I pulled out the chair beside him, thinking I could help keep the little guy from any more wild acts to stress out Halo. I’d much rather she talk to my cousin and his friend. I didn’t feel like being hospitable.
“I was thinking you’d get to go ride Jack with Stevie again,” I reminded him.
Stevie was Linc’s daughter, and Hawkins loved going to ride Linc’s quarter horses with her. They were older, smaller, and not as intimidating as Bane’s thoroughbreds.
He nodded his head vigorously. “I wike widing Jack!”
“Then you might want to sit your booty back in this chair and eat your breakfast like a big boy.”
He thought about that, then finally caved to the promise of horseback riding. Little did he know, that was already in the plans for him today. Bane had scheduled me to take Halo and Hawkins over there after lunch. They never left the gates to the property without one of us with them. Bane was going to meet them there, but he had to finish handling some business with Linc.
I stuffed a bit of casserole into my mouth, then glanced over at Halo, who gave me a silent, Thank you.
My focus shifted to the other female in the room before I could stop myself. Yep, just as fucking gray as I remembered, or maybe they would be considered silver. Damn, she had insane eyes. Her long black hair was pulled back in a ponytail at the nape of her neck, showing off completely unblemished skin. The pulse at the base of her neck was beating so hard that I could see it. Why was that? My gaze darted back up to see her eyes watching me. Interesting.