Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
I shut my mouth. Except for that night when she showed me a hint of her true colors.
But she made me take those damned shrooms, so I wasn’t sure what was real and what wasn’t.
It was a test. To see if I would freak out when she handed me the glass of blood. Maybe she was hoping to make me one of her Kings.
The King of Diamonds.
It’s all connected. Shit.
She made me take the shrooms because if I did freak out, she could easily explain it away as a hallucination.
Which is exactly what happened.
Fuck.
And I kept returning for years.
“Except for what, Maddox?” Alissa’s eyes are wide.
“Not here, not now.” I grab her hand. “To the garage.”
We quickly make it across the street and up a few flights of concrete stairs to where I parked the Rolls. A few raindrops start to plink across my windshield as I pull out of the garage. In the distance, lightning flashes.
I take my phone out of my pocket, pull up the weather app. “Of course, it’s supposed to storm for the next couple of days.” I rub at my forehead. “How fucking fitting.”
“Where are we going?” Alissa asks. “Where’s a safe place for us to lie low?”
I dig my fingernails into the steering wheel as I think.
My place is out. Alissa’s is out.
She doesn’t have any family here. I have my mother in Skokie, but we can hardly stay there after our unpleasant visit yesterday.
I could call Harrison. But he could be working late tonight. He usually ends up taking a lot of shifts on the weekends. It was always a pain in the ass to tear him away from the hospital whenever I took him as my guest to the club.
But he’s a good place to start. I call his cell. It rings… once, twice, three times.
“This is Dr. Harrison O’Rourke. If this is an emergency, please dial 911. If not, either call my office at St. Charles General during business hours or leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”
I hang up and call again. Again, his voicemail.
“Damn it, Harrison.” I end the call.
He’s a good doctor. He likely doesn’t have his phone on him while he’s working a shift.
I don’t want to stay with him anyway.
Besides Alissa, he’s the only person I’ve brought as a guest to Aces. Which means that they have his address on file, and they know he’s connected to me.
I run my hands through my hair. Who else? Who else?
It has to be someone distant. A place Rouge and her goons wouldn’t think of if they come after us.
My mother comes to mind again, but again, hell no.
Who would open their home to me in the dead of night, not ask too many questions?
And then I realize.
There’s one woman who might be willing to help.
A woman I haven’t spoken to in over ten years, but who, if she knew my life were in danger, would help me out.
I dial in the number. It rings. Once. Twice.
“Maddox Hathaway?”
I let out a sigh of relief, almost dropping the phone.
I bring it back to my ear. “Laurie. I’m so glad you answered.”
Laurie Caulkins. My ex. The first woman I truly loved.
The woman who dumped me at my father’s funeral.
But that was years ago. If she can save my ass right now, I’ll let bygones be bygones.
“Maddox, it’s late. Are you drunk?”
“Sober as a judge. Listen, Laurie. I can’t go into too many details, but my girlfriend and I need a place to stay tonight. Our places aren’t safe.”
“My God, what happened?”
“I… I…”
Fuck. I need to come up with something believable, but I can’t tell her the truth. Something just serious enough to get her to open her doors, but not so terrifying that she hangs up and blocks my number.
“It’s… There’s this stalker. An ex-employee of my father’s. Got really screwed over by the HOUSE Act. I’ve already reported him to the police, but I’ve received all sorts of threatening messages from him. The cops suggested I find a place to spend the night where he wouldn’t think to look for me, and I thought… You know, given our history…”
“You figured no one would ever ask their ex for a place to stay.” She chuckles humorlessly. “I suppose that makes sense.”
“So can we crash with you? I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
“Maddox, of course you can stay here. But probably best to limit it to one night, all right?”
“Yeah, that’s fine. Thank you so much. You’re really helping us out here.”
“Yes. You mentioned a girlfriend?”
“Yeah… I hope that’s not a problem?”
She chuckles. “Of course not. I just need to know if you’ll need separate beds. It sounds like I can put you both up in my guest room. It’s a queen that you can share.”