Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 71015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
After watching the entire first and second season of Orange Is The New Black, I knew I’d never be able to hack it in jail. I was too much of a loner, and in prison, you’d need friends who’d watch your back.
Plus, I was fairly positive Grayson wouldn’t be too happy with me if I decided to pursue that line of thinking.
“Let’s get this over with. I swear to God, if this hurts, you’re going to owe me for a very long time,” Rue growled.
I followed her as she nursed her snit.
I was getting myself waxed and coiffed for the awards banquet tonight, honoring Grayson for his heroism in saving the little baby during the fire that almost took his life.
***
Six hours later.
Rue
“Get her away from him before I beat her ass,” I murmured darkly to Cleo.
If I had to see Grayson flinch one more time from her touch, I very well might explode.
What he was thinking bringing her, I didn’t know. It was more than obvious to both of us that it was all just an act. One we’d acknowledged only three hours before, while we were both at the diner.
He also didn’t know I was here, which was bad for him, because I was about to blindside him.
This was ending tonight. I couldn’t handle this anymore. He looked horrible, and seeing him earlier in the day had only set my decision in stone. The man needed a keeper.
Cleo’s dark, ominous eyes came to me, studying me like a bug before he got up and walked across the room.
“You know,” Rue said with annoyance. “I don’t like her very much, and now there’s nowhere else to take her except for right fucking here. Thanks.”
I smiled at my friend, one that’d been with me a lot lately, keeping me company much to her husband’s annoyance. We’d had many nights in their big bed, Cleo on one side of Rue and me on the other. He’d reluctantly been a part of our friendship, and in the interim, I understood the big, dark, brooding man a lot better.
“I know. But at least I won’t be here exacerbating her whininess. Wish me luck,” I said as I stood and made my way over to the table where my man was at.
I smoothed my hands down the dress. It was a slim fitting black halter dress with shimmering crystals lining an infinity pattern that started in the middle of my chest and crisscrossed down the entire length of my side. In between each infinity symbol was a hole giving just a hint of skin.
There was also a slit up the front, showing off my newly waxed legs.
Cleo was already there, taking his sister by the arm and gently pulled her up, not letting go of her hand until she was seated next to Rue.
She glared at me as I passed, and I gave her a little wave as I went, satisfied when she nearly tripped over herself.
I could tell that he hadn’t wanted to do it, but since he cherished his sister’s well-being, he did it anyway.
I sat in the chair beside Grayson just as the city’s new mayor, Tony Leo, walked up on stage with a genuine smile on his face.
He was sitting so stiffly, that it was more than obvious he was incredibly uncomfortable being the center of attention.
The board above the mayor’s head was playing a slideshow of pictures from the time Grayson joined the department until now. I smiled at one in particular of Kettle, Grayson, and Sebastian all sitting on the bumper of the fire truck.
Each of their heads were hung, elbows resting on their knees, covered in dirt and soot.
Scooting closer to Grayson, I smiled at my father, who sat across the table beside my mother, then leaned my head against Grayson’s shoulder before tangling my hand with his.
He grasped onto it as if it were a lifeline.
He didn’t look at me, and I didn’t look at him. But we were aware of the other on some primal level.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d like you all to take your seats so we can begin,” the mayor ordered.
As the people milling about the room sat down, I caught my first good look at Colby, not surprised in the least that he had his eyes on us.
I ignored him, however. Instead turning my attention to the mayor as he introduced the Fire Chief.
I listened rapturously as he spoke about the character of the man at my side.
“Many years ago, this young man entered the fire department all piss and vinegar,” the Fire Chief rumbled. “He came right out of the rig the first fire he responded to and saved two young children, and a dog, from a fire that they’d lit to keep themselves warm. In fact, I can still remember the day clearly. I’d been standing next to the former Fire Chief, and he shook his head and said, ‘Just what we need, another damn truckie.’ And he was right. Grayson Trammel risked his life countless times, and he needs the recognition for it. He’s one hell of a man, and there’s no other man I’d want at my back.”
The waterworks truly began when a beautiful man was introduced as none other than the father of the infant Grayson had saved.
He was a tall man with pure white hair. He wasn’t old, per say, but he gave off an air of intelligence…experience… something one didn’t get by old age, but by a hard life.
He had a strong, angular jaw, and a slightly crooked nose that only added to his appeal.
Before he started talking, his eyes lit on the woman I’d seen in the restroom earlier, changing her son’s diaper.
“My wife and I tried forever, to have a child. And not for the reason your thinking. After three rounds of in-vitro, we’d just about given up hope, deciding to give other options a try, when my Lillie got a positive pregnancy test,” he cleared his throat. “Our dream came true six months ago when our son, Zachary, was born. It almost disappeared in the blink of an eye, three weeks ago, when a fire started while my wife and son were at home asleep.”