Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 160684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
Yeah. Uh oh.
“Grady. Steele.”
Grady turned and glanced over. “Fuck.” Then he turned to the policeman. “My statement is that we were driving along and this bitch backed into us going full speed. Now, my girl here is injured and we need the paramedics. So how about you go arrange that?”
“That’s not how this works.”
“Grady,” she murmured as she saw Steele striding toward them. He looked like a bull with a target. She just wasn’t sure who the target was at that moment. But at least the woman who had crashed into them stopped screeching as she saw the thunderous look on his face.
“Fuck. Who the hell is that?” the cop asked, his hand moving toward his gun.
“That is someone you don’t want getting involved,” Grady told him. “So I suggest you start interviewing these bystanders, see who witnessed the crash so you know I wasn’t in the wrong, and then fucking leave.”
“You can’t talk to me like that.”
What the young cop didn’t realize was that Steele was standing right behind him. How he didn’t realize that, she had no idea. It was like having a huge grizzly stalking you.
“He can talk to you however the fuck he likes,” Steele snapped. “Now get out of my way and go and do your job.”
The cop jumped and turned, looking up at Steele. She couldn’t see the police officer’s face, but she was kind of betting that he was shitting himself right now.
“You . . . you can’t talk to me like that, either.”
The driver started screeching again and before she could stop it, a whimper escaped her. Both Grady and Steele zeroed in on her and she closed her eyes against the intensity.
“You,” Steele growled.
She opened her eyes to see he was staring at the woman. “Shut the fuck up. And you,” he turned to the cop, “go do your job before I make it my job to ensure you don’t have one anymore.”
The cop fumbled at his belt. “I could arrest you for threatening an officer of the law.”
“Steele,” Grady warned.
Steele moved his gaze back to them and stepped forward, ignoring the cop and the other driver. “Are you both all right?” His gaze went to her, then Grady. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine. But Effie isn’t. We need to find out where the fucking ambulance is.”
“What’s wrong? What hurts?” Steele’s face filled with fear.
For her?
“Effie can’t feel her legs. We need to get her to the hospital and checked over.” An ambulance drove up and she let out a small sob. She didn’t want to go to the hospital. She didn’t want to know that her back was messed up.
She already knew that. Her breathing came in fast pants as the paramedics rushed toward her.
She couldn’t do this. It wasn’t happening. She couldn’t.
“Effie. Baby girl. Look at me.” Steele was suddenly in front of her. His gaze had almost turned gray and she focused in on him. “That’s it. Listen to me. Everything is going to be all right. You are going to be all right.”
“How do you know?” she whispered.
“Because I won’t allow you to be anything else.”
47
Steele paced up and down the waiting room. “What the fuck is taking so long?”
Grady glanced up at him from where he’d been typing something on his phone. How he could concentrate on work when their girl was back there being examined, Steele had no idea.
She couldn’t feel her legs.
Worry flooded him.
He could have lost her. Lost both of them.
Just like Jacqui.
No . . . they were alive. Which meant he had another chance to take care of them properly.
He just needed to protect them better.
He stopped in front of Grady, studying him closely.
“I’m fine,” Grady told him calmly. “The doctor cleared me. I barely have a scratch on me. It wasn’t a bad crash.”
It wasn’t a bad crash.
No one had died.
They were still both here. Both his.
“No more driving,” he stated. “Raul drives you everywhere from now on.”
Grady raised an eyebrow. “I’m not your sub. And I wasn’t at fault. The accident would have happened even if Raul was driving.”
Because of that bitch.
“I want that other driver dealt with.”
“Already onto it,” Grady told him, raising his phone.
He should have known he would be.
Steele slumped on the seat next to him. “Why can’t she feel her legs?”
Grady frowned. “I don’t know.”
“How are you handling this so well?”
Grady ran a hand over his face. “I’m trying not to freak out because you’re doing enough for the both of us.”
“I’m not freaking out.”
Grady shot him a look. Okay, he was totally freaking out.
“This morning, Effie was upset when I arrived. She’d gotten a letter from a lawyer. It appears that Brooks’ uncle wants custody of him.”
Steele reeled back. “What the fuck?”
“Yes. I know. So I’m going to take care of it so she doesn’t have to worry.”