Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56278 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 281(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56278 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 281(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
My heart was suddenly pounding.
I caught a flash of someone sprinting by slightly behind me, and I spun once more. Fucking hell, it was both Chris and Wade—they were chasing the third guy! I hurriedly got out of the way so a random car could pass me, and then I looked back toward the chaos. The target was shouting, and people were gonna notice soon. But Wade grabbed the guy and slammed his head down on the hood of Yaya’s car, after which Chris took over and kicked the guy into the back seat of the Camry.
I sucked in a breath.
The Camry peeled out and went the same way as the other two.
Was it over? Just like that?
I swallowed dryly and heard that beep for the third time.
“What do you want on your pancakes?”
I choked on a laugh and exhaled shakily. Fuck me, I had to lean back against the nearest wall and catch my breath. Nothing had happened, and yet everything had gone down. The amount of planning to pull this off quickly and seamlessly—my God, I wanted to be involved in this. I felt so damn alive.
Had Chris been a few feet closer and not keeping his voice down, I would’ve heard him without having to use the comms, but he stayed back near Yaya’s car. It looked like he was talking to others in his earpiece. Wade, meanwhile, strode over to me and caught me in a tight hug.
“That was so badass,” I croaked. “Is it over?”
“It’s over, thank God.” He inched back and cupped my face in his hands. I managed a wobbly smile. “It’s not a great sign to see such excitement in your eyes at this, little one.”
That made me smile wider. “I have so many butterflies in my stomach right now, Daddy. What a freaking rush.”
He chuckled quietly and hugged me to him again. “Definitely not a good sign. But I’ll deal. You’re a Winters, after all.”
You’re a Winters, after all.
Those words echoed in my mind, and they flooded me with the same kind of fulfillment I’d felt earlier.
Damn right, I was a Winters.
“Kayden?”
Oh crap, that was Dad. Wade and I put some distance between us and gave each other a quick look of amusement, before I turned around and saw Dad rounding the corner and hurrying toward me.
“Oh, thank fuck, there you are.”
The moment he reached me, he had his arms around me, and it felt so good too. I hadn’t seen him in months. Like the other men in the family, he was tall and solid, objectively handsome, and I didn’t know why he’d struck out with the dudes. He should be drowning in offers, but he kept saying he was done dating.
Bullshit if you asked me.
“If I could ground you, I would,” he said gruffly.
I laughed softly. “I missed you too, Dad.”
“It better be over,” he said, presumably to Wade. “I waited inside until I heard from Vince that he was outta here.”
“It’s over,” Wade confirmed. “Everything went well.”
“Aside from the fact that I wanna ground you and Coach too,” Dad huffed. He clapped me on the back and eased off.
That was funny, picturing my Daddy grounded and moping.
“Don’t even try,” Wade replied dryly. “You raised a Winters. What did you expect?”
Oooh, shots fired!
“You’re puttin’ this on me?” Dad turned to disbelief. “We agreed to protect him from the family business, and then you tell him all about it.”
It was the perfect time for Chris to walk toward us. “Fellas, fellas—calm down. Kayden’s where he’s supposed to be. Can we eat pancakes now?”
“Yeah, I’m hungry,” I chimed in.
We got lucky in the lunch rush and were shown to the last booth in the iconic diner, and I slid in next to Wade.
Dad and Chris took the other side, and neither of us required a lot of time with the novel-length menu. We all wanted pancakes with sides of bacon and some other toppings, and I ordered a large Coke too.
That one earned me a wry smirk from Wade, but he said nothing.
Booyah.
It was a good time to take out the earpiece and hand it back to Chris, with the wristband.
Chris and Dad covered the small talk, which in this case revolved around the case they’d worked. Everyone was relieved it was finally over. I was safe again, and, as Chris said, he had fewer targets on his back.
I quirked a brow. “That sounds ominous.”
“It also sounds worse than it is,” he assured.
Their coffees and my soda arrived quickly, and I pinched the paper tip off the straw.
“Can we talk about your future now, son?” Dad asked. “You want to become a logistics officer at Hillcroft?”
“Yessir, I know I’d be good at it with the right training.” I sucked from the straw. Ahhh, deliciousness.
Chris sat back and smirked. “Don’t you two have an announcement first?”