Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 72154 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72154 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
I nodded.
“Holes.” I pointed to the hole in his shirt, then went ahead and did what I had to do.
I poked it.
Instantly I felt better.
I was such a weirdo.
And his skin was so hot.
Oh god.
“It’s an old shirt,” he said. “I didn’t see a reason to change on the way over here.”
That set off another thought.
“You said you heard me…what do you mean?” I questioned.
His lips twitched.
“Either you’re the loudest person in existence, or these walls are too thin. I hear everything,” he admitted.
I opened my mouth, then closed it.
“You can hear me,” I finally settled on.
My brain was going crazy as I tried to remember everything I’d done over the last week that was considered loud.
He nodded.
“So, you heard me talking to the baby,” I asked.
He nodded once.
“I also hear every single time you yell at your Alexa.” He paused. “Like today, you were making Kraft macaroni and cheese, and you set a timer on her for seven and a half minutes. You told her to turn off forty-seven times, and forty-six of those times she didn’t listen to you because you were playing your Christmas music too loud.”
I moaned in my throat.
“What else do you hear?” I was honestly scared to ask.
“You sing in the shower.”
Yep. That was bad.
“I…”
“You also watch the news when you get up every morning. Not to mention that you can’t stop yourself from singing the stupid song you have as your alarm ring tone,” he continued, making it even worse.
I closed my eyes as embarrassment swept through me.
Abrielle made a noise and using the time to go and pick her up as a stall, I turned back around and said, “I’m so sorry.”
He winked.
“I’m sure you would’ve figured it out on your part when I turned the ball game on this afternoon,” he said. “But maybe not. It’s like you have to have noise to drown out the silence.”
I did have to have that.
Silence was deafening at times.
And I hated sitting there without noise of some sort going on around me.
Which meant that Parker likely heard me a lot.
“Wait…you’re my neighbor?” I asked as I gently moved Abrielle up to my shoulder.
Parker left with a laugh, then I carefully listened.
I could hear him walk down the hall, then I could hear his door shut.
Then, moments later, I heard him whistling.
He didn’t whistle, but I suspected he wanted me to know how easily I could hear him.
Which I could.
Really, really easily.
Dammit.
I’d never be able to masturbate again.
Chapter 6
I hate it when I have to be nice to someone I want to punch in the throat.
-Parker to Rafe
Parker
I saw her pull in as I was walking to my truck.
She was carefully maneuvering her car into the parking lot. She was going very slow due to the sheer amount of trucks—the majority of them being tow trucks twice the size of a normal car.
Today there was a mandatory team meeting that I was supposed to go to since I was technically an employee of theirs.
Since it was during the workday, and it was at the shop, I’d decided to go.
I’d decided against going to yesterday’s party at the club that the Hails owned.
I’d considered going for all of five seconds, but since the majority of the men that I worked with weren’t all that friendly, I hadn’t thought that going would be fun.
And, honestly, I was glad that I’d stayed home.
Despite the positive ending of the encounter, hearing the panic in Kayla’s voice was enough to make being there worth it. It could’ve all gone in a very different direction, and as a medic, I knew that better than most.
Janie started walking to Kayla’s car but was stopped when her phone started to ring.
Ignoring the two women as best as I could, I got to my truck and started it, frowning when it sounded different.
I gave the accelerator a small tap, and then heard something pop, followed by glass breaking.
I frowned and got out, my eyes automatically scanning the area.
That’s when I saw Kayla standing beside her car, staring in horror at something that was sticking out of her windshield.
I walked in that direction and immediately saw the culprit.
“What the hell was that sound?” Janie asked, running up beside me.
“There is one thing I can say about working with a group of men,” I said to Janie, who was looking at me with horror.
“What’s that?” she asked, her hand still covering her mouth.
“It’s that they’re a bunch of assholes,” I explained. “They think they’re funny, but really, they’re just fucking assholes.”
Janie burst out laughing. Kayla, who was busy studying her car’s broken windshield, snorted.
“What exactly did you do to your fellow employees for them to do this to you?”
I shook my head. “Absolutely nothing.”
She made a disbelieving sound in her throat. “I’m not sure that I can believe that. You had to have done something.”