Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 92668 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92668 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Only for a few seconds, but it was progress. I planned to start walking through it every single day until it didn’t bother me anymore.
I expected it to take a while—just like my healing from the, uh, incident.
That’s what I was calling it inside my head. The Time I Was Kidnapped And Stuffed In A Car Boot By A Crazy Drunk Murderer was a bit long, so ‘incident’ would do.
Sure, my black eye was gone, and my sprained ankle had healed aside from a twinge here and there, and my wrists no longer bore the scratches and bruising left behind by the ropes Shane had tied me up with, but the memories would haunt me for a long time.
I dipped the mop into the water and squeezed it out.
Ah, well.
I couldn’t change what happened, but I could and would control what happened going forwards.
Hence my near-obsessive cleaning of this place over the past couple of weeks.
I put the mop back in the water as there was another knock at the door. Mother of Christ—what was going on today? Two unannounced visitors? What was with this shit? Why was everyone just showing up?
I could have been in my knickers for all they knew.
I wasn’t, and thank God, because it wasn’t someone I wanted to see me in my knickers right now.
In fact, it wasn’t someone I was sure I wanted to see at all.
“Noah,” I swallowed. “What do you want?”
Regret dulled Noah’s eyes. “I know I said I’d wait, but if I keep waiting for you to reach out to me to talk, it’ll never happen.”
I hated how well he still knew me.
“I don’t think I’m able to talk to you right now,” I replied. “I’m still not over, well, everything, so it’s probably best if you leave.”
“I’m sorry, Lottie—Charlotte,” he corrected himself, putting his foot in the door so I couldn’t close it on him.
I stared at his foot. “I’m not afraid to break your toes.”
“I should have listened to you when you came to my house.”
Fine.
We were doing this.
Whatever.
“Yes, you should have,” I snapped, jerking my gaze to meet his. “I was right. If you’d listened to me instead of causing a fight and letting your girlfriend talk down at me, then…”
“Then this might not have happened to you,” he finished for me. “Believe me, I know.”
I sighed, looking away from him. “No, I’m sorry. That’s not a fair thing to blame you for. You aren’t the one who stuffed me in the boot of a car to kill me.”
“If I’d listened to you and at least made you feel like you were helping, then you probably wouldn’t have felt the need to go rushing off over there.”
“To be fair, I probably would have. I don’t have the best impulse control,” I replied, shrugging a shoulder. “That’s why I’m going to be sharing this building with probably two hundred rats instead of living with my parents.”
He barely cracked a smile. “I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry.”
I sighed. I knew he was. It was written all over his face, and honestly, none of it was his fault. He didn’t make me go over there, nor did he hurt me like Shane had.
I pouted. “I thought you were going to tell me not to get involved with your investigations in the future.”
“That, too, but the apology seemed more fitting right now. I was saving the warning for later.”
“Right, well, apology accepted, talk done, you can leave now.” I nudged the door against his foot to make my point. “Thanks for stopping by, but I have things to do, and you have a girlfriend to see, and I doubt she’d be happy to find out that you’re here, so—”
“I don’t.”
“What?”
“I broke up with Kayla.”
I pressed my lips together. Did Gwen know that when she visited me in hospital? Is that what her whole spiel was about?
Damn it. I knew she was concocting a scheme when she’d given me his number.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
His mouth tugged to one side. “No, you’re not.”
With a sigh, I released the door and walked inside. “No, you’re right. I’m not. She’s not exactly ever given me a reason to feel otherwise, so whatever.”
Noah closed the door behind him. “She was threatened by you.”
“No shit,” I deadpanned. “That sounds like a her problem, not a me problem, like I said before. Your grandmother reminded me of that, too. I am not responsible for how she feels about me. I haven’t done anything to her, so I’m sorry if she was bothered by my presence, but I never did a single thing for her to feel that way.” I looked at him pointedly. “I’d offer you something to drink, but I don’t have, well… anything.” I motioned around the empty annexe. “Unless you’d like some tap water that may or may not be safe to consume.”