Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 68576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
He was also the officer in charge of Sage.
Sage Solomon was also the woman I’d saved from a serial killer two years ago.
My involvement in her life saving had inspired her to ‘make a difference in this hard life.’ She’d applied to become an officer at DPD the moment she was better from the kidnapping and brutality that she’d suffered at the hands of two mad men.
“What’s up?” I asked warily.
“She’s not doing well,” he said. “I just don’t think she’s cut out to be a cop, bro.”
I blinked. “What do you mean? She passed the academy with flying colors. Isn’t that something that helps weed them out if they’re not fit?”
“You would think,” he scratched his head. “But I have a theory about that, too.”
“What theory?” I wondered.
“Well,” he looked hesitant to share it with me. “So here’s the thing, Atlas. I know that you like the girl and all, but she seems quite manipulative. And she lies, for no fuckin’ reason. I’ve caught her in a few. In fact, she was supposed to be in a certain neighborhood yesterday during her shift, and I don’t know if she just didn’t pay attention to the department shit she had to agree to when she signed on here, but she didn’t seem to remember that I have a LoJack on all the patrol cars. I know exactly where she was or wasn’t yesterday. And, just sayin’, but this is something I can’t let go. If it were anyone else, she’d already be fired. She’s done this no less than five times in the short period she’s been here and been caught lying about it. I’ve talked to her about it. Dad’s talked to her about it. And if it happens again, I’m not going to be able to stop the inevitable.”
I scratched my head.
I had noticed that Sage was… scatterbrained.
I’d also noticed that she lied about stupid stuff. Though usually it was harmless and didn’t affect me any, so I didn’t see any reason to confront her with it.
But this…
“I’m not going to be mad at you for protecting DPD,” I said. “If you feel she’s not the right fit, I’m not going to argue with you.”
Quaid let out a relieved breath, then slapped me on the shoulder. “Thanks, bro. I’m sorry, for what it’s worth.”
Then he was gone, jogging across the parking lot where employees parked their cars behind gated fences to his truck.
Sage—and inevitably her sister—stayed in my head the entire shift.
By the time I finished off the last schedule for the week, I had this itch that needed scratched.
I glanced at my watch.
Ever since I’d taken over the SWAT team from Scott, I’d started to make my own hours.
And since I made my own hours, that meant I could go home and make it back to the bakery in time before it closed…
The drive took me twice as long as it usually did thanks to a wreck on I-635.
I wanted to scream by the time I got there and realized that they’d closed early due to no inventory.
I banged my fist onto the steering wheel, then spun the wheel for home.
I was in my door for all of ten minutes when it creaked open quietly, causing me to frown and come out of the kitchen.
My brows shot up to my hairline when the only thing I spotted in the living room was one very cute, very naked little girl.
“Well, hello there, Dalia,” I said to the toddler from hell. “Did you escape jail?”
Dalia made a mad dash for me, and I picked her up, cuddling her close.
She was wet and covered in grass.
My guess? She was outside playing in the sprinkler like she liked to do at this point in the evening since it was way cooler than any other part of the day.
Dalia slapped her hands on my cheeks and smushed them together. “Candy?”
I grinned underneath her hands. “Actually, I’m fresh out. I have broccoli, though.”
She scrunched up her nose to think. “Ranch?”
“What do you take me as?” I asked. “Let me grab you a shirt, then we can eat some broccoli and ranch.”
Dalia and I were the only ones who enjoyed vegetables and ranch.
Quincy and Hollis had me to thank for that.
Hell, all of the family owed me a debt of gratitude for teaching their kids to love vegetables and fruit.
I’m not saying that my brothers wouldn’t eat it, but they definitely didn’t eat it with the zeal that I did.
Overall, I ate fairly healthy.
But I did have weak spot for those scones…
“Ew,” Dalia said. “No, nekkid.”
Geez, these kids and their thick Texas drawls.
“Shirts are required to dine at my table, short stuff,” I said as I caught her a shirt off my dresser. It would be huge on her, but it’d cover all her vital bits.