Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 151384 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151384 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Not to mention that she still hadn’t taken her damn pills. He had them in his pocket.
To his surprise, she opened the door dressed in a tight top, black jacket and ripped jeans.
This wasn’t an Immy look.
She favored flowy skirts and dresses. Pastel colors. Not black and white. Had he even seen her in jeans?
“Immy?”
“I’m going out. I need a drink.”
“You’re going out? You need a drink?”
Yes, he knew he sounded like an idiot, repeating what she said. But he couldn’t stop himself.
“Yes.”
“Not without me, you aren’t,” he told her firmly.
“Good. You can drive.” She held out her key to him. “Let’s go.”
“We can’t just go.”
“Why not?” she asked. “Who is going to stop us?”
“I’m going to stop you,” he told her firmly, crossing his arms over his chest.
Her lower lip started to tremble.
Uh-uh. Nope. He was not falling for that.
They were not going out and that was that.
Tobias parked in front of a nondescript building and stared out the windshield at it. “You wanna go here?”
“Yep. Here.” She undid her belt and reached for her door handle.
He shot out his arm and placed it over her chest. “Wait there. You know the rules.”
Immy sighed and he shot her a firm look. He wasn’t putting up with any sass. Somehow, she’d gotten him to agree to bring her to this bar for a drink. But that did not mean that she got to be in charge.
“Before we go in, there are a few rules.”
Immy groaned and banged her head against the headrest. “For a badass, you sure do like rules. Aren’t badassess badasses because they don’t play by the rules?”
“Not sure that made sense. And badasses can have rules, for the sassy girls they’re charged with protecting.”
“I am not sassy. I’m sweet! Sweet, darn it.”
He had to hide his grin. She was glaring at him like he’d told her that she couldn’t have Twizzlers for a week. Something, he’d learned, she did not take well.
“You’re very sweet,” he told her in a quiet voice.
She grunted. “Darn right I’m sweet. Like sugar. I’d give you cavities if you had too much of me.”
He’d risk it.
“There’re still rules.”
She groaned. “All right. Hit me with them.”
“You stay next to me at all times.”
“Are any of these rules going to be different from the normal rules? Because I remember them.”
“What are they?”
“Don’t move more than an arm’s length away from you. If I have to go to the toilet, you need to check it first. No taking anything from anyone but you. No opening my own door. No getting out of the car until you tell me. And, basically, I have to do whatever you say.”
“Good. Can see we’re on the same page.”
He got out and glanced around. This was not the safest looking neighborhood.
It was also a place he could feel right at home. However, it wasn’t somewhere he thought that Immy should be.
How had she even found this place? The only signage was a board on the door that said Fred’s Bar.
What a name.
But he didn’t sense any issues, so he walked around and opened her door, holding out his hand. “Let’s go, Immy. Still can’t believe I agreed to this.”
Tobias shut the door to her vehicle and led her to the door. “Are you sure this place is safe?”
“Of course it is. Stop being such a worrywart.” She actually patted his arm.
As they walked in, everyone stopped what they were doing to turn and stare at them. This place was even more of a dive on the inside that it had been on the outside.
And he hadn’t thought that was possible.
Where did all these people come from? Had they stopped in here on their way home from work?
“Immy,” he said in a low voice. “We need to leave.” He was confident of his ability to defend her, but there were at least half a dozen guys in here who were armed.
“What? No. I don’t want to leave. Hey, guys. How are you all?” She waved at everyone, then moved toward the bar. Before he realized it, she was at least five feet away from him.
Oh no.
That wasn’t happening. He quickly moved toward her, wrapping a hand around her wrist to bring her to a stop. “What do you think you’re doing? What was the rule?”
“Oh. Oops.” She shot him a look over her shoulder. “My bad.”
Her bad?
Nope. That wasn’t going to fly. But before he could scold her and decide on an appropriate punishment, the guy at the table in front of them stood up. He had to be six-foot-eight and well over two hundred pounds. His hair was shaved close to his scalp and he had a facial tattoo on his right cheek.
And he was scowling right at Tobias.
Tobias straightened. Fuck. He should never have allowed Immy to talk him into this. What was he thinking?