Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 92559 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92559 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
As the cord got wrapped around those wrists fast, Hemmy shifted his position and brought the man underneath him up to a standing position.
“Cord me,” he said as he held out a hand.
The cop tossed the other extension pack over, and within moments, Hemmy had wound things up and tied the ends together.
“He saved us,” the pharmacist said as she pointed at Hemmy. “He made sure we were safe!”
“It’s true,” the checkout lady said. “He told me to call nine-one-one.”
The off-duty cop nodded. “Fast thinking. Good job—”
Off in the distance, the sounds of sirens grew louder and louder. And then a pair of women in uniform jogged in.
As the humans all started talking at once—the two who were detained each protesting that it was the other guy’s fault, the cops telling everybody to take a deep breath, the supermarket workers explaining everything—Hemmy looked over, and Mahrci’s first thought was to run to him. Instead, she held herself in place and lifted her hand in a stupid “hi.”
“Happy to hand this guy over,” he said to the cop who stepped in to take his place. “And we’ll go wait over there to get our statements taken, if that’s okay?”
“Thank you,” the female cop replied. “That’d be great.”
Mahrci couldn’t help but run her eyes up and down as Hemmy approached her. Except there had been no shots fired, he wasn’t bleeding, and he probably didn’t have anything more than a bruise on an elbow or a knee from the takedown.
“Are you okay?” she whispered.
“Yup. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
Everyone else in the store, from the deli manager and a pair of stock boys to a couple more shoppers, headed over to the drama. Meanwhile, the only two vampires in the place bucked that trend.
And one of them was on a stroll. Like there hadn’t just been a couple of AWOL humans with guns prepared to hold up the place, and he hadn’t just saved a bunch of people from an active shooter situation.
“I-I don’t know how you did that,” she stuttered.
Another couple of cops steamed by them, hands on the guns at their hips, eyes trained on the pharmacy department.
“I wish you’d stayed outside.” He shook his head. “You could have gotten hurt.”
“The same’s true for you.”
Hemmy made a dismissive sound. “I’m fine. I’m always fine.”
As they came up to their cart of groceries, he held his finger up. “One sec.”
Before she could respond, he got his own credit card out and quickly finished the transaction. Then he locked a pair of grips on the cart.
With a shrug, he started pushing. “We still need the food, right?”
Mahrci opened her mouth. Shut it. “Ah, yes. Yes, I suppose we do.”
Outside, there were all kinds of blue flashes from the Plattsburgh Police Department cars that had been parked nose-in at the entrance. Hemmy’s strides were long and quick as he shoved the cart through the slush, and over at the Suburban, she helped him with the bags. Within a minute or two, they were driving off, just as another pair of patrol vehicles shot into the parking lot.
In the SUV, everything suddenly seemed very silent to her. Which was what happened when there were things you wanted to say, but you weren’t sure how to phrase them.
“That was an incredible kindness you did,” she murmured. “But how did you know? That those men were trouble?”
He shrugged and kept his eyes on the road ahead as he followed signs to the Northway. “Let’s just say I’m good at picking out felons.”
“I didn’t even notice them.”
“Well, it all worked out. That’s all that matters, right?” Hemmy glanced over. “And besides, we got groceries. Mission accomplished.”
When he refocused on what was ahead of them, she glanced in the back at the bags. All she could think about was . . . what if things hadn’t gone well. What if he’d been shot. Killed.
The violence terrified her. But the idea he might be gone? Well, that did something to her soul. And yet . . . he was just a stranger, right?
Once they were on the highway, she stared out the window at the drifts of snow, the pine trees, the hills in the distance that loomed in the clear night sky . . .
If he had died, there in front of the human pharmacy, in a wrong place, wrong time kind of thing, what would she have missed?
The pain in the center of her chest was a shock, and she did her best to rub it away.
Now was not the time to meet the love of her life.
It really wasn’t.
CHAPTER TWENTY–THREE
It’s funny what you’ll do when you’re avoiding something else.
As Callum wiped his mouth with the napkin he’d been provided, he sat back from the table. “This was good.”
The symphath across from him laughed in the low way he did. “You sound so surprised.”