Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 156796 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 784(@200wpm)___ 627(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156796 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 784(@200wpm)___ 627(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
It didn’t work.
“Um, yeah. Is that not enough?”
She nodded, then shook her head. “For normal men, maybe. And for normal women. Gage sure as shit isn’t a normal man. Like way off the spectrum.” She leaned forward and patted my hand. “In a good way, of course.”
“Or in a bad way,” Bex interjected.
“Which is, of course, absolutely good,” Amy put in.
“Great,” Mia said with a grin.
Lily just shook her head and smiled, mouthing, “Go with it.”
The hand patting my own moved to squeeze it. “And honey, you’re nowhere near normal,” Gwen continued, her voice warm. “That’s a good thing. The best. Because normal is boring. A construct. And not something men like ours live within. They tend to smash down constructs.”
“Or blow them up just because they’re bored,” Bex cut in.
Amy gave her a look. “But we got to toast marshmallows on the flaming remains. Plus Lucky bought you a kickass cherry-red Jeep to replace. Win-win.”
Bex shrugged.
I gaped.
“So unnormal and fabulous people don’t break up for normal reasons,” Gwen clarified.
“Not that this is a real breakup, honey,” Mia offered, her eyes soft.
My broken heart—which was a constant ache—sent a sharp burst of pain through my nerve endings. “Yes it is.”
She smiled and it was sad. “I know two things, babe. You put Chris Hemsworth in a movie, any movie, I’m watching it. And I know these men. Well, I know my man. And he’s beautiful and unique and a total fucking puzzle twenty-three hours and fifty seconds of the day.” Her smile warmed. “But he’s also of the same breed as all the men of that little club. The thing about these men? Once they find their unnormal and fabulous women, they aren’t going to let them go. Like ever.” Her eyes shimmered. “No matter what demons they’ve got clutching onto them.”
“Or what demons are clutching onto you,” Bex said, her voice scratchy.
My heart bled a lot for these kind women. I knew their histories, their tragedies. Bex’s was worse than most, from what I’d heard. And I knew it wasn’t the full story, but the bit I’d heard had tears stinging the backs of my eyes before I even knew her.
Now I knew her. Knew her connection to Gage that I hadn’t had the chance to learn about.
I knew all these women.
What they’d been through should’ve been enough to take away their ability to smile for life, or at least darken whatever happiness they would ever have. But it didn’t. My living room had never shone so bright, felt so warm, and it had nothing to do with the sun streaming in my windows.
“So,” Gwen said, jerking me out of my pity for them. They didn’t need pity. No way, no how. They’d made it through their darkness to find sunshine. “You and Gage can’t possibly be breaking up because of normal reasons like marriage and children. That just does not jive.”
“Plus,” Amy said, draining her glass and leaning forward to pour another, “like Mia said, these fuckers are all of a same breed. And they’re all about pounding their chests, pissing circles around us and telepathically tattooing their ownership on our foreheads.” She grinned at me. “We mere mortals might not be able to see it, but it’s like some kind of flashing sign to every alpha male in the vicinity.”
“That or the fact that our men can be scary as all hell when anyone with a dick looks at us the wrong way,” Mia interjected. “Zane damn near ripped the arms off a guy in the supermarket who was just asking me my opinion on what peppers he should buy. I mean seriously, peppers.”
Amy grinned at her. “Honey, he was not asking you about peppers.”
Mia furrowed her brow. “How do you know? You weren’t even there. I could have the look of a pepper connoisseur, if you will. The Jamie Oliver of pepper choice.”
A chuckle almost escaped my mouth, taking me by surprise. I didn’t think I’d feel like smiling, let along laughing, for the longest time.
“Have you looked in a mirror lately?” Amy asked. “Because I’m sure the thing you see is not a pepper connoisseur. It’s a stone-cold MILF.”
“I’m not stone cold,” Mia argued. “I’m smokin’ hot, thank you very much. I’m married to stone cold.” Her face brightened. “Oh my God, that’s a wonderful new nickname. I’m getting Zane and I T-shirts and we’ll wear them to the supermarket.”
Amy rolled her eyes.
“Seriously, that would make a great TV show,” Mia continued, eyes dreamy. “Smokin’ Hot and Stone Cold put away another ruthless killer, plus bust a cockfighting syndicate.”
“I don’t think it’s called a cockfighting syndicate,” Lily said, eyes light.
Mia waved in dismissal. “Details. I’ll pay writers to do the boring research. I’ve got the million-dollar idea, plus the pretty face. I’ve got to give them something to do.”