Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 151097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 504(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 504(@300wpm)
“Hey!” one of the guards shouted when they spotted me. “Stop right there!”
Nope. I immediately ran in the opposite direction toward the stairs. There was no reason for me to linger now that I had a name.
Ocean Kilpatrick.
I wish I could say I’d never heard of him, but as I flew down the stairwell in an attempt to avoid capture, my bravado slipped until I was having a full-blown panic attack.
What would the mafia want with Coby?
I made it to the parking garage and through an unguarded exit, but as soon as I stepped through the door, a heavy weight slammed into me, and I hit the nearest parked car with a yelp, setting off the car alarm.
I only had time to pull my gun before my assailant—with a speed I begrudgingly envied—grabbed my wrist and slammed my gun hand repeatedly into the car behind me to get me to release my only protection. Fuck. That. I drove my head into his face and immediately saw a thousand bright lights while my attacker stumbled back.
Some days, it paid to have a hard head.
Taking advantage of his disorientation, I pressed my gun into his stomach before he could recover, and he dropped his hand to scowl at me.
Kellan.
“Why the fuck are you following me?” His lips parted. “Never mind. Dumb question,” I said before he could speak. “Get your hands up.”
Kellan attempted to eviscerate me with a look, but he didn’t know I was empty inside. Coby had taken it all with her, so I waved my gun at Kellan to signal him to hurry the hell up. His jaw twitched as he slowly raised his arms.
I wasted no time quickly searching his pockets. His jeans were empty, but I struck gold when I searched his jacket.
“I promise you don’t want to do that,” Kellan warned when I relieved him of his burner phone. He no longer sounded amused, which meant he was finally waking up to the fact that I wasn’t easy to scare.
“Shut up.”
I brought the gun down hard on his head, and Kellan crumpled to the ground. With great effort (he was heavier than he looked), I dragged his unconscious body into the stairwell and then jogged to Deborah before speeding all the way back to the apartment I shared with Coby.
I’d already forgotten about the phone by the time I was turning into the complex when I startled at hearing it ring. Truth be told, I didn’t know why I’d taken it. Maybe I hoped it would lead me to his boss, or maybe I just wanted to be a bitch and piss off my annoying stalker.
Whatever the reason, I wrestled with whether to answer or ignore it before remembering I had nothing left other than lose. I blindly grabbed it from the passenger seat where I’d tossed it, and glanced at the screen. The number calling hadn’t been saved, but it didn’t matter.
I answered.
“Hi,” I greeted cheerily. “Kellan can’t come to the phone right now. He’s currently nursing his head and his ego, but I can take a message.” Nothing but silence greeted me as I let paranoia steer my car around back instead of my usual space. “Look, pervert,” I said as I hopped out, “if you’re not going to talk, I’m hanging up. I got shit to do.”
“Who is this?” the caller demanded in a voice so deep I actually stumbled a step.
He’d only spoken three words so far, but each was measured as if he spent too much time wondering how they might be used against him later. Another puzzle piece slid into place, but I was still far from seeing the whole picture.
“Me?” I teased as I entered my apartment. My heart twisted painfully when I didn’t find Coby waiting for me like usual. She preferred staying home and reading her porn, while I liked to run the streets. The only problem was Coby couldn’t stay away from me any more than I could from her, so we often wandered them together or stayed in and pigged out in front of the TV. “I’m the new owner of this phone. Who are you?”
“The former owner of this phone,” he barked back.
I entered my bedroom and put the burner on speaker before setting it down on the small desk I had wedged in the corner. “Well, that’s impossible since you sound nothing like the handsy bastard I lifted it from.”
The other end of the line grew quiet again. “Kellan touched you?”
Was it me, or had the temperature dropped a thousand degrees?
“Yup,” I said, not caring what that meant for Kellan as I toed off my sneakers. “You should really try teaching your goons some manners. I had to squeeze his balls, literally and then figuratively, but I think he’s getting the message. You’re welcome.”