Total pages in book: 191
Estimated words: 182070 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182070 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
He blinked, but he shook his head with a smile after that.
In jeans, his usual boots, and a light gray T-shirt I’d seen him wear once or twice by that point, he looked happy and great—not at all like the man who had shown up to my apartment looking so sad the day before. More like the man who had thrown his fart at me… after I’d thrown one at him. And even more like the man who had sang about walking a line, crying in the rain, and then cried laughing with me after yelling at the top of our lungs about carving our names into pickup trucks.
And today, he seemed back to normal when he’d rolled down the window and hollered, “Let’s roll, Bibi. Ticktock.”
Based on the expression he was giving my shoes again, he was definitely in a familiar mood.
“Don’t worry about it, Snack Pack,” I told him. “You’re more likely to trip in your boots than I am. These are super comfortable.”
Yeah, he looked skeptical as hell, and he wasn’t trying to hide it. “You roll an ankle, and I’m leavin’ you behind, kiddo.”
I snickered. “Pssh. I go down, and I’m taking you with me.”
Zac’s hand landed on the back of my neck as he chuckled.
Behind us, Amari—I knew it was him because CJ’s voice was really deep and this one wasn’t on the same level; it was just a normal, nice voice—asked, “How do you two know each other again?”
Zac kept his warm palm on my neck as he answered with, “Bianca’s grandma used to take care of me.”
I looked up at Zac and found those soft blue eyes on me. I smiled. He smiled back.
Sure enough, there were maybe twenty people in line to get into the haunted house. There were a few handfuls of employees dressed as everything from zombies to these really ugly clowns with blood and fake guts stuck to their masks and clothes, creeping around the roped lines set and ready for the crowds that would no doubt start showing up. Maybe not today since it was only the beginning of October but closer to Halloween, for sure.
“Did one of y’all tell him we’re here?” Zac asked over his shoulder.
It was Amari that replied. “I did. He said to hold up and he’d be here in a minute.”
We stopped in a circle, right beside the entrance to the line. I could see around CJ’s shoulder and noticed that the people already there were glancing over in our direction. At them. None of the guys were abnormally tall, but it was something about their postures that said “Look at me.” So I sidestepped to the left so that CJ’s ripped up body could hide me a little better.
If he noticed he was being watched, it didn’t register on his face as he asked, “What’s on the menu this week?”
“Vanilla mug cake and another attempt at those stupid brownies I screwed up.”
“I can do another one whenever you want,” Amari piped up. “It was fun.”
“Yeah, whenever you want.” I didn’t want him to feel obligated. People always offered to do nice things, but only to be polite.
The extremely handsome man pulled his cell out of his pocket. “What’s your number? I’ll text you.”
I didn’t even think twice about it. I rattled the number off to him.
But I felt something weird and glanced up to find Zac staring at Amari. And I mean, staring at him. What the hell was that about?
A very deep voice, almost as nice as CJ’s, called out some way that had us all turning to find a man the size of Zac and Amari combined making his way over with three normal-sized human beings trailing behind him, two of which were dressed in black clothing and held walkie-talkies and had different things clipped to their belts. The huge guy lifted a hand in greeting, and if the people in line hadn’t been paying attention before, they were now.
I stood there as the big man slapped Zac, CJ, and Amari’s back before Zac introduced me. “This is Bianca.”
I held my hand out to him, and he shook it. “Hi, thank you for letting me come too.”
The man made a face, squinted his eyes, and lifted up a finger to point at me afterward. “You’re the baker girl, aren’t you?”
Well, shit. I pressed my lips together and nodded.
“Yeah, yeah. Nice. Thanks for coming.”
I was pretty sure my face went hot and pink. The baker girl. Well, well, well.
Zac’s elbow nudged at mine, and I looked up to see him making a face. “See? You’re famous,” he mouthed, and I rolled my eyes and elbowed him back. But seriously, I was pretty sure my heart started beating faster.
“I’ll get you in line to go through first, take a few pictures, and you can walk through in no time,” the man explained while I daydreamed about him knowing who I was.