Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
We’ve known each other for a week.
And what a week.
He gave his sister a bone marrow donation.
I lost a friend.
Not a great friend, but still a friend.
And another friend is dating a man I almost killed.
“I’ve got to go, Dad.”
“Okay, sweetie. I’m going to get some security for you.”
“I told you, I don’t want—”
“Yeah. I know you’ve told me. And I let my love for you cloud my judgment. If you’d had security, today wouldn’t have happened, Savannah. So yeah, there’s going to be security. The detail will be unintrusive. You won’t even know they’re there. But I’ll know, and it will ease my mind.”
I sigh. “Fine, Daddy.’
Because he’s ultimately right. If I hadn’t been so hardheaded about accepting security in the first place, today probably wouldn’t have happened.
I wouldn’t have come close to killing a man.
A bad man, but still a person, and I don’t know how I could live with that.
“Goodbye, sweetheart.”
“Bye.” I end the call and pull up Jordan’s information.
Here goes.
“Sav?” Jordan says, sounding breathless.
“Yeah, it’s me. You okay?”
“I’m getting ready to go to bed. I’ve got an early meeting. What’s up?”
I have no idea what time it is, but Falcon and I were supposed to eat dinner. It’s dark now. I should wait until morning.
But no.
This has to be done, and it has to be done now.
“Sorry, I need to talk to you now.”
“Yeah, sure,” she says through the squeak of a yawn.
“How are you holding up?” I ask.
“Not great. I miss her.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Life goes on. What do you need?”
Jordan just lost her best friend, and now I’m about to tell her that her new boyfriend is lying in the hospital somewhere possibly fighting for his life. Oh…and he held Falcon and me at gunpoint, demanded I go with him to God knows where.
Somehow I’ve managed to keep the family business from Gert and Jordan. They still think I’m part of the Gallo wine empire.
If only…
“I just… Are you still seeing Giancarlo?”
“Yeah. I just talked to him last night. He’s supposed to call tonight.”
Yeah. That’s not going to happen.
“I think…you should stop seeing him.”
There. I said it.
“Why? Do you want him?”
“God, no.”
Not only no, but hell no.
“Then why do you care?”
I pause. What to say? What not to say? I finally settle on an amorphous answer. “He’s bad news.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Jordan, I’m going to ask you to trust me on this one. I can’t tell you why.”
“Oh…” She sighs through the phone. “It’s your job, isn’t it? Is he an ex-con or something?”
Good. This is fortuitous. I didn’t see it coming but I should have. Easy out.
“Like I said, I can’t tell you anything more.”
“What did he do?”
“Jordy…”
“Right, right. I respect your ethics, Sav. But I wish you could tell me. He’s been a perfect gentleman.”
“He has?”
“Well…we slept together. But he didn’t do anything I didn’t want him to do.”
That’s a gentleman in Jordan’s book. In mine as well, I guess. I just know a lot more about Giancarlo that she does, and he’s definitely not a gentleman.
“I see. It’s best if you nip this in the bud, Jordy.”
“Shoot. I really liked him. But I’m sure you have a good reason that you can’t tell me.”
“I do. You know what I do for a living. I’m bound by ethics.”
Which I’ve thrown out the window for Falcon Bellamy, but Jordan doesn’t know that.
“Yeah, I know. I guess I’ll tell him tonight when he calls.”
Except Giancarlo won’t be calling anyone tonight. “I think it’s for the best. I know this comes at a rotten time, but I felt I had to say something.”
“No. I appreciate it. You mean well. I know you’re just looking out for me.”
“Right. You’d do the same for me.”
“Except I’d be able to tell you why,” she says, her tone a bit pissy.
I suppose I can’t blame her. “Maybe. Or maybe not. It would depend on the circumstances.”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” She sighs. Now I have two things I need to try to get off my mind.”
“Sorry, Jordy.”
“It’s okay. It’s better that I know. Talk soon, Sav.”
“Bye.
Now I can only hope Giancarlo makes it. I’m hanging on by a thread, and if I find out I accidentally killed someone?
I’m liable to leap into nothingness.
11
FALCON
My eyes are closed, and I’m rinsing the soap from my hair when the shower door slides open and Savannah’s soft body melts against mine.
I open my eyes. “Hey, baby.”
“I called Jordan. Told her that her new boyfriend is a criminal.”
“You what?”
“I didn’t tell her anything. Just told her I had information that I couldn’t divulge. She assumed it had something to do with my job, so I let her think that.”
“Good call.”
“It was a good excuse. Then she waxed poetic about how she admired my ethics. What a farce.”
“You are ethical, Savannah.”
“Says the parolee who’s in the shower with me.”