Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 74554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
“Well, I do need to speak to him, yes. But I’m here to see you.”
“Me?” The word rasped out of me.
Had he not heard what happened? That things were weird with me and his friends?
“Yes.”
“About the plants?” I asked, waving toward the shop.
His gaze followed, taking in the shop.
“Well, we will get there,” he said.
I tried not to let hope swell. Because maybe he had no idea that things had turned sour between me and Kylo. Once he heard, I was sure he would back out. I just hoped things were official between him and Traeger, so he didn’t miss out on this opportunity.
That said, if he did know and he still wanted to do business with me, that could be really life-changing. I didn’t need more money, per se. But more was always welcome. Business always came with some ebb and flow. Having more sitting in savings would help me not panic when the lean weeks or months came around.
“Well, no pressure. I mean, I know it was mentioned to you, but I don’t want you to think I’m pinning all my business plans on that.”
“Smart girl,” he said, giving me a nod. “Actually, this isn’t about business at all.”
My stomach clenched hard.
I was regretting that coffee as it tried to inch back up my throat.
I swallowed hard and forced myself to take a deep breath.
“Look, I know he’s your friend—” I started.
“But what he did to you was unconscionable?” Teddy finished for me.
“Well, yeah,” I agreed.
“I’ve been friends with these guys for a long, long time,” Teddy said, steepling his hands in front of his chest, a gold ring flashing on one of his fingers. “And to say that they can be complete and utter dipshits when it comes to certain situations would be an understatement.”
A surprised snort escaped me.
“I’m not trying to make excuses for any of them. At the end of the day, they are grown-ass men with access to any kind of therapy they might need to handle their shit.”
“But?” I prompted, sensing it hanging in the air between us, heavy, unavoidable.
“But,” he agreed, eyes warm, “I think we do have to take their… profession into account in why they don’t.”
“I imagine it’s not comfortable to tell anyone that you’re an—” I glanced around the shop to make sure we were alone before continuing, “arms dealer.”
“Might blur that line for the shrink with their duty to report. I think having Velle there helps now, but only if his club brothers will listen to him. When they don’t, sometimes it’s my job to step in.”
“Why you?”
“Because as an outsider, I tend to see things more clearly. And they like hanging out at my penthouse and on my boats, so they tend to shut the hell up and listen.”
“Fair enough,” I agreed, charmed more than I should have been by a stranger who was clearly here to plead Kylo’s case for him.
“I also want to make it clear that Kylo didn’t send me here. He doesn’t know I’m here, in fact. From what I hear, he would be pissed to know I was.”
“Okay.” I don’t know if I was relieved, or incredibly disappointed, by that. “Who sent you then?”
As pathetic as it was, some part of me had wanted him to reach out, to apologize, to try to explain. Even if, objectively, I knew there was no excuse for how he’d used me.
“No one sent me, per se. But Huck was who I spoke to.” Despite myself, a little growling noise escaped me at the mention of that guy. The sound only made Teddy’s smile stretch far enough to make his eyes crinkle. “Yeah, I understand that reaction. Huck can come off a bit… bristly.”
“That’s a nice way of putting it.”
“Well, he is my oldest friend, so I guess I’m obligated to play down his faults a bit.”
“How did you become friends with guys like that?”
“Honestly? I was on a bender and I passed out in the backseat of my car. They carjacked it, and me. This was back when they stripped cars, before the arms situation fell into their laps.”
“You have a very interesting life.”
“I do, don’t I?” he asked, eyes warm. “Anyway, Huck mentioned that Kylo has been… disconsolate.”
I didn’t even know what that word meant.
I wasn’t convinced Huck did either.
“Huck called him that?”
To that, Teddy chuckled. “Huck may have said he was stewing in a pit of his own filth, actually. Until Velle tried to talk to him, then he fled to his house instead, where, I imagine, he could grieve in peace without someone judging him.”
“Grieve,” I snorted.
“Yes, sweetheart, grieve. Look, I see how hurt you are. And I’m not here to tell you that you don’t have a right to be. I just wanted to make sure you had the whole picture before you decided to hate Kylo forever.”