Total pages in book: 179
Estimated words: 170878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 170878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
I smiled, big this time. Nora was naturally shy, but she was not afraid. Not when she knew her husband would always have her back.
“What are you smiling about?”
It took me a second to realize he was talking to me, his hideous expression pointed in my direction.
I continued grinning. “I just like it when bullies are shown what cowards they really are.” I looked him up and down. “And I’m thankful that you won’t be able to buy yourself any more of those horrible clothes since it sounds like daddy is going to cut you off. Have fun in the real world. May it grind you up and spit you out, overpriced sneakers first.”
I barely got the words out of my mouth before pain exploded in my nose, and the table smacked into my back.
It took me a second to realize I’d been punched. My eyes watered like crazy, and my nose was a burst of agony.
Warm liquid poured down the front of my face as I instinctively forced my hands upward.
I tried to breathe through the pain, acutely aware that we were now in the vicinity of a man who was not afraid to be violent toward women, and that the pregnant source of his ire was behind me.
I saw his shape moving forward and tried to stumble in between him and Lori.
“Oi!” an accented voice yelled, followed by a grunt. By the time I could see out of my waterlogged eyes, Fiona had, obviously, appeared and was now on Jacob’s back.
He was running around, trying to get her off, smacking into tables as he did so. Fiona held fast. She was pregnant. On the back of a vicious man.
Holding my nose with one hand, I picked up a chair, intending to do what with it, who knew.
But then there were more figures rushing into the bakery. Much bigger and decidedly more masculine than Fiona.
First was Kip, who grabbed his wife without pause. Then Rowan, who promptly punched Jacob square in the face, sending him toppling to the ground, out cold.
I was glad Jacob’s punch wasn’t as strong as Rowan’s. Otherwise, I would have had worse than a bleeding—hopefully not broken—nose.
Rowan was standing over the prone man, hands fisted at his sides, breathing heavily, with an expression that sent chills down my spine.
This was not the gruff family man who was impossibly tender with his girls. This was a truly dangerous person. I knew him, had plenty of evidence to show he was a responsible, good man. But I was afraid to be in the room with him.
He physically jolted when Nora placed her hand on his bicep.
He quickly turned to her, the two of them having a hushed conversation as he gripped the sides of her face.
The other married couple was not having a quiet conversation.
“Fiona!” Kip yelled. “You’re pregnant. What in the fresh fuck did you think you were doing getting involved?”
I’d never seen the usually jovial man so pissed off, unhinged. I hadn’t noticed the shadows beneath his cheery exterior until he was staring at his wife.
“I don’t know, Kip!” Fiona threw her hands up. “How about my best friend being bullied, my newly indoctrinated Jupiter wife being punched in the face, and only a pregnant Lori left to go against the asshole?” She was shouting too, and it made me realize she was talking about me in the “wife” term.
Lori handed me some tissues, looking extremely pale. Tears were still running down my face as I pressed them to my nose, reaching out to squeeze her hand in comfort.
“I’m not a wife.” Crazily, I interrupted their tense conversation, one I wasn’t meant to be a part of.
Fiona smiled at me with a brilliance that should not have existed after all that ruckus, and especially not with her husband glowering at her.
“Oh, don’t worry, honey, you will be. Just a matter of time.” She waved her hand at my nose. “That’ll speed things along.”
I didn’t have a chance to ask her what the heck she meant by that because, apparently, Kip was done listening.
“We’re going to the hospital. Now.” He pointed to the door. “And as soon as they tell me our baby is okay and they clear you for sex, you’ll be getting a long, naked talking to about how you’ll never pull that shit on me again.”
He grabbed her arm then dragged her—gently—out of the bakery. Fiona finger-waved at everyone, still smiling.
Kip was not a danger to her. That much was clear. He loved her so much that his worry was unearthing a side of him he’d obviously tried to keep buried.
Just like the side of Rowan I hadn’t known existed until I saw him heaving over Jacob’s body like he wanted to kill him.
My body stiffened as Rowan came forward, in my direction. I was only now beginning to process what had happened to me.