Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 122550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
She was pretty certain that he didn’t do this at his house. Nope, he definitely had people to do that sort of thing.
Which made her feel all warm and fuzzy about him doing this for her.
He sees you as a sibling. Someone to take care of.
Not as someone sexy. Someone interesting. Someone whose bones he wants to jump.
“I have this. Go get ready for bed. You look done in.”
Great.
Just great.
15
Jilly looked down at her ramen noodles.
Damn. Noodles were so dull. It didn’t help that she was tired. And that Margaret was getting worse at work, not better.
Jilly knew she should concentrate a bit more, but she always got her jobs done. She simply became distracted by all the pretty books.
With a sigh, she studied her finances. Her water bill was due. So was the electricity. And she still had to pay off the rest of the debt that Lowell had racked up.
That was going to take her a few more months.
It won’t if you do some private dances.
But no. She couldn’t. Not even to fast-track her way to being in a better financial position.
Fucking Lowell. She should have let Dan and Scott track him down and teach him a lesson.
Well, Scott would have.
But Dan would have been there to cheer him on.
Rubbing her forehead tiredly, she knew she had to get ready for work at the club. It was Friday night, and she’d worked a full day at the library. Finished at five, then gotten home by six.
And she had to be at the club by nine-thirty.
Normally, her energy levels weren’t this bad, but she was just exhausted.
Probably due to a week of ramen noodles.
Or is it because you haven’t heard from Regent this week?
Well, that wasn’t exactly true. She’d gotten several texts from him to inform her when workmen would be there to fix the house.
So far, he’d had someone fix the dripping faucet in the main bathroom, install several more smoke alarms that she was sure she didn’t need, and someone had even quoted what it would cost to replace all the fixtures in both bathrooms.
She’d thought about telling him that she didn’t need any of that stuff. But it seemed a bit rude. However, she was confused.
She guessed this was proof that this was his house and Jilly and her mother were just tenants who didn’t pay.
Thank God. Because she’d be screwed if she had to pay rent.
Face it, you’re just sad that you haven’t seen him. You were hoping that your friendship would become something more. Because you’re delusional.
That was the sad truth.
“What the fuck is going on this week?” Victor grumbled as he sat across from Regent in his study.
Regent agreed. He had no idea, but it felt like he’d been putting out fire after fire.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say that someone was deliberately creating trouble to wear us down.” He tapped his fingers against his desk.
Victor leaned forward. “You don’t think . . . Patrick isn’t back, is he?”
“I don’t know. But I have a bad feeling.” Someone had called the cops about one of their drug shipments. Luckily, most of the police force was on his payroll. Still, there were a few that might have taken it seriously.
Then, several guys had jumped one of the street dealers. Not something that would normally reach further up the chain to him . . . however, it had happened to three of their guys around the city on the same night. All of their drugs and money gone.
Next, one of their trucks had disappeared before reaching the border. With rather a large inventory of guns.
He’d sent Basilien down to investigate. Usually, he might send Victor, but he didn’t want to worry Gracen. Things had changed now that all of his brothers had women.
Which was something to be cautious about. His life was never safe. That was part of the reason he’d never had a long-term relationship. Because any woman of his would have to be under lock and key. Obsessively guarded, or they would be used to hurt or manipulate him.
Is that your excuse for keeping away from Jilly?
She was just a friend.
Uh-huh. That’s why you changed all the batteries in her smoke alarms and cleaned her kitchen last week.
Things you don’t do in your own house.
But they couldn’t be more than friends.
You can’t play on that. You need to keep a barrier up. Especially since she still seems to have a crush on you.
He had to admit to being a bit flattered, even if it had been unexpected. Seeing that hero worship in her eyes when he’d ‘relocated’ Clive that he used to see when he was younger . . . yeah, he guessed it had gone to his head.
“Regent? Regent, you listening?”
“Sorry. What was that?” he asked.
“Have you heard from our inside guy in the club? Has he been keeping an eye on Kimmy?”