Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32845 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32845 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
I sat in the truck for a good fifteen minutes before finally manning up and sending Willa the text I’d promised. The last thing I wanted to do was scare her any worse than she probably already was. What I had to figure out was what had spooked her. Obviously, staying away from her had been a mistake, but how did I get her to tell me why she’d run? More importantly, how did I fix it?
One thing at a time. First, I’d go to her room and check on her. Make sure she was OK. Then I’d get her something to eat if she was hungry. After that, I’d shower and get some rest. Tomorrow, we’d talk. I’d get her to tell me what was going on, then I’d help her fix it. Once she felt better about her situation, we’d head home.
Simple.
The suite Zora had secured for Willa was on the top floor. Though I’d texted Willa, I still knocked on the door before using my phone to unlock the door and step inside.
“Willa?” She didn’t answer, but her small form moved from the bedroom to the doorway of the living area. She’d piled a metric crap-ton of junk food on the counter by the tiny refrigerator. And I mean she was fucking serious about the junk food.
She was dressed in an oversized sleep shirt and black leggings. Thick fuzzy socks were on her feet. She leaned against the door, looking anywhere but at me, standing on one foot while the other one rubbed at the back of the opposite ankle.
“Hey.” I set my bag on the floor before turning my full attention to her.
“Hey.” Her voice was small, and she wrapped her arms around herself.
For long moments we stood there. I had no idea what to say, and she looked like she didn’t want me anywhere near her.
The bathroom was in the bedroom part of the suite, which meant I’d have to invade her territory. I took a deep breath and pointed through the open doorway to the bathroom. “Do you mind if I clean up?”
Without a word, she turned and crossed to a chair on the other side of the room, putting the bed between us. Well. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
I snagged a change of clothes from my bag before heading to the bathroom. I took my time in the shower, enjoying the heat on my muscles after the ride in that fucking cage. Maybe I’d have been just as sore and stiff if I’d ridden my bike, but I didn’t think so. I was used to long rides. Enjoyed them. As I dried and dressed, I scowled. I’d come four hours to get Willa and she hadn’t said a fucking word to me when I’d gotten here. My ire built further when I opened the door to find her nowhere in sight.
“Willa?” I called out to her, but she didn’t answer. If she’d left the suite, I was going to spank her ass no matter how much trouble it got me in when we got back to Kentucky. “Willa!”
I stormed into the next room and came up short. She sat in a chair with her knees to her chest looking out the window. She didn’t turn her head or acknowledge me in any way. There was no way she hadn’t heard me, so this was deliberate. I ground my teeth in frustration.
“Willa, I can’t help you if you won’t talk to me.”
When she spoke, her voice was soft. Small. Lost. Fuck. “What do you plan on doing with your life, Cyclone?”
OK, that came out of nowhere. I took a careful step toward her, even though she was facing away from me. I didn’t want to startle her, though she could probably see my reflection in the glass. “I’ll continue to work at ExFil and help Cain all I can while helping my brother lead Bones. It worked for Cain. It will work for me and Ice too.”
“What about besides that? What about a family?”
I shrugged, not sure where she was going with this. “Hadn’t really planned on having a family other than Bones. I mean, I have my parents and brothers and sisters, but I hadn’t really thought about anything else.
She turned to look at me then, her wide, brown eyes glistening with unshed tears, but her face was an expressionless mask. “I’m pregnant, Cyclone.”
The silence stretched on while I processed what she was saying. Pregnant. Willa. I shook my head once, not truly understanding her words. “OK.” The statement didn’t compute, like, at all. “You’re pregnant. I’m sure Trucker and Helen will be overjoyed. I mean, unless you were going someplace to have an abortion?” Everything inside me rebelled at… something. The idea that she was pregnant? The fact she had a choice to terminate the pregnancy? I was a believer that a woman needed to be able to make her own choices, but I didn’t want Willa to get an abortion. And I couldn’t figure out why.