Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 54091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
Anson and Andrei go out in search of a warming lamp and dog food. I sit next to the bathtub and watch the puppies nursing. The mama dog sleeps, probably exhausted.
“I sent the girls a picture,” Carter says from the doorway. “It’s been made very clear to me that I better not come home without one of those puppies.”
“Darling will love that.”
His pet pig, who was supposed to be a micro, is over four hundred pounds now. He’s a happy, hungry guy who snorts loudly and rubs his nose against people’s faces to show affection.
“So much for debauchery,” I quip.
“Suki, Lainey, and Mara are taking a knitting class. So they’re not getting too wild, either.”
“Maybe Mara will accidentally stab herself to death with a knitting needle.”
Suki’s best friend hates me, and the feeling is mutual. Mara is an overly opinionated, high-strung shrew. I get along with pretty much everyone but her.
“Suki said Mara wants to knit herself a bikini top.”
My mental image of Mara with a knitting needle buried in her chest is replaced by one of her in the shower, water trailing over her perfectly round tits. I only saw them for a split second when I accidentally walked in on her taking a shower and cemented her hatred of me, but it was long enough to know they’re flawless.
Carter laughs, and I look up at him from my seat on the floor by the tub.
“What’s funny?”
“Should I leave you alone with your thoughts about the woman you supposedly hate in a skimpy bikini top?”
I scowl at him. “I was imagining her bleeding to death.”
“Sure you were.”
I scowl at him. “I admit she’s hot, but I’d rather fuck ... absolutely anyone else.”
Carter considers. “George Washington?”
“Like alive and in his prime, or his corpse?”
He barks out a laugh. “You saying you’d rather cornhole him in his prime than Mara?”
No. “Maybe.”
“You two have been at each other’s throats long enough. Make a peace offering.”
I scoff. “Yeah, right. I know she’s smart about lots of things, but she’s just not that deep, man. She’s all about her looks and being snarky and materialistic. Classic mean girl. I don’t want her to like me.”
He shrugs. “Suit yourself. You need help with the dogs?”
“No, I’m good. Close the door when you go. I don’t want Anson taking pictures of me.”
Once I’m alone in the bathroom, I stand up to stretch my legs. There’s a little cry from inside the tub and I check on the puppies. All of them are curled up around each other for warmth, most of them asleep.
I once did body shots of tequila off the navels of every woman on a college cheerleading squad. I was twenty-two, and it was a contest between me and a teammate to see who could do more shots. I won and then passed out on the bar floor. But I was up and at ’em again the next day.
I’ve never been the fastest player on the ice or the best shooter. But whatever team I’m on, I’m always the hardest worker. Up earlier than everyone else to get in an extra workout. Staying late at practice to keep running drills. It’s how I keep my place on the team.
My motto when I was younger was “work hard, play harder.” Now that I’m approaching thirty, though, I like my downtime. I read books and drink a lot less alcohol. And apparently, I hang out with puppies in bathrooms at bachelor parties while others are partying.
Works for me.
Chapter Two
Mara
* * *
“I know your workloads are heavy, but I can’t get the board to even consider lifting the hiring freeze,” my boss Gayle says. “We’re going to have to stay selective about which cases we can move forward with.”
I exchange a quick look with Jayden, the attorney I work alongside every day in the Cuyahoga County state’s attorney’s office. The two of us handle nearly all of the criminal cases in the lowly traffic division, but we’re both too stubborn to do what our boss is suggesting.
The cases that take the most time and resources for us—things like driving under the influence and hit-and-run—are also the hardest to get convictions for. With our department down several attorneys and staffers, we could lighten our workloads by not charging as many of those cases.
But fuck that. I didn’t take this job so I could bust the balls of people who were driving ten over the speed limit. I’m here to get drunk drivers off the streets.
“Mara, can you stay?” Gayle asks me when the meeting ends.
I sit up straighter, running a hand down my light-blue button-down shirt. It hasn’t even been a year since I made the switch from working at a soul-sucking corporate law firm to this job, and even though I know I’m doing good work here, it’s still nerve-racking to be singled out by my boss.