Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 56576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
21
I know something is wrong before I even open my eyes. It’s just a feeling lingering in the air. A feeling that something bad is going to happen. Moving my hands to Zane’s side of the mattress, I find the spot empty and cold. Zane isn’t next to me. My heart clenches a little, and I blink my eyes open and sit up, looking around the room.
The room is dark, the only light source coming from the bathroom. The door to it is only cracked, not letting a whole lot of light in. I almost don’t see him. Zane is sitting on the edge of the bed, his elbows resting on his knees, his head in his hands like he’s defeated. I know instantly that something is wrong.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, my voice still wrapped up in sleep. I throw the blanket off my body and crawl over to him. As he promised, I feel an ache between my legs with every move I make, a reminder of what we did last night.
Placing my hand on his shoulder, I ask again, this time a little more urgently. “Zane, what’s wrong?”
He raises his hand and places it on top of mine before he starts talking. I look down at it. The gesture so gentle and kind it’s a stark reminder that he can be both kind and possessive.
“I’m sorry, Dove. I have some bad news for you.” The way he’s looking at me almost shatters me. He takes a deep breath like he’s afraid to tell me. The guy who kills people for a living, who stalked and kidnapped me is afraid? Whatever he has to say is going to be bad, but I have to know. I have to.
“Please, tell me!” My voice comes out more demanding than I wanted it to, but I can’t help it. I need to know what’s wrong.
Zane sighs, his eyes filling with panic. “It’s Donna… she’s had a stroke, Dove.”
I hear the words right away, but it’s almost like they don’t make it further than my ear. Somehow, my brain doesn’t understand them. What happened? The information sinks in slowly, and seconds pass before my brain can comprehend what he is telling me, but once it does, dread consumes me.
“Donna? Donna had a stroke?” I ask as if I didn’t hear him the first time. He nods, and I try to ask my next question. “Is she…”
“She is alive, but she’s not doing well. The nursing home said she’s in critical condition—”
“I need to see her!” I cut him off mid-sentence. “Zane, you need to let me go.” I tug on his arm.
“I know… but I need to make preparations. I need to make sure it’s safe for you.”
“Safe for me? I don’t give a shit about my safety. The only parent I ever had is in the hospital dying, and I need to be there! Right now!” Please let him see how important this is to me because if he doesn’t… if he doesn’t take me to her. “Zane, if she dies and I’m not there, I will never forgive you.”
He suddenly jumps up from the bed, his large body looming over me. “You think I don’t know that! You might hate me forever, but at least you’ll be alive! At least I won’t have to worry that someone took you from me!”
“I don’t care about me,” I yell back at him, my face flush. I don’t care what happens to me, so long as I get to see Donna before she dies.
“I know that too, but I care. I care. Do you still not get it? You’re everything to me. If something happened to you, I’d kill myself. You are the only person that matters to me, and if you die, I die with you.”
Tears fill my eyes, and my lungs burn. “Zane, I have to see her. I know that I’m the most important person to you, but Donna is important to me, and she’s dying right now. I need to be there with her. I need to say goodbye.”
His jaw turns to steel, and he lets out a growl that’s more animal than human. “Fuck, Dove, if something happens to you. They’re looking for you. For both of us. I can’t protect you out there. I can’t make sure nothing happens to you out there.” For the first time ever, I see panic fill his eyes. I see fear, real fear, and it sinks in just how much I mean to him.
I thought it was just an obsession, but it’s clear it’s more, deeper.
“You have to let me do this. I know you’re scared. I am too, and I don’t even know who it is that’s trying to hurt me, but I’d rather die than not be there when she takes her last breath. Please, Zane. Please do this for me. I won’t fight you anymore. I won’t try to escape, just, please… Please, give me this last moment with her.”