Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 62923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
How long would it take to die? Her skin was already slippery from the blood drenching every inch of her flesh. Surely not too long? Even peaceful, perhaps? She could just close her eyes, picture Gary’s face and go to sleep.
An odd noise floated down to tickle her ears…to send a warning, perhaps?
Don’t look up. Don’t look up. Don’t look up. A voice chanted inside her head, warning her.
The noise grew louder. Squeaks. Strange squeaks.
Ignoring the voice of wisdom that had tried to warn her, she looked up toward the moonlit opening of her grave. Instead of seeing his smug face, though, there was something else. The wooden crate she’d seen earlier had been pushed to the edge of the opening. Suddenly, as she watched, the crate tipped over, emptying the contents. She tried to scream but no sound came. It was as if time froze. Horror seized her entire body.
And then time was no longer frozen. The rats, hundreds of them, squeaking and squealing, were launched into her makeshift grave. The one thing that scared her most. Rats. Crawling all over her. Biting. Gnawing. Chewing.
The metal plate slid over the opening, locking her and the rats into their tomb.
Darkness accompanied the pain.
She screamed for what felt like hours…and then no more sounds other than the gnawing noises the rats made as they made her disappear forever.
Chapter One
Ryder crossed his arms over his chest and tried not to intervene on Remi’s behalf. What was supposed to be a quick visit with the medical examiner regarding the murder victim brought into the morgue a couple hours ago was quickly turning into a shit show. After Dr. Rawlings had turned him away due to her backlog of recent deaths, he’d cut through the emergency room area because it was the quickest way to his car, but then got sidetracked when he’d heard a familiar voice coming from behind one of the curtained cubicles.
The voice sounded different, yet the same. It was the voice that had haunted him for years. The voice of what he wanted but could never have. Ryder often referred to Remi as his greatest mistake. The only question was whether the mistake was fucking him all those years ago, or the whole walking away from him part.
Remi Newsome was one of his niece’s roommates. Before he’d even known what his intentions were, his feet walked him straight into Remi’s cubicle. What he found shocked him. From all his encounters with Cassie’s roommate, apart from the one-time years ago when he hadn’t known Remi’s connection to the only member left of his family, the young man was clean-cut, extremely intelligent, and a bit shy. The man strapped to the hospital gurney by cuffs around his wrists and ankles, was nothing like the Remi Newsome he knew.
This man looked…terrified, ragged, and nothing short of a hot mess. His normally bronzed skin was replaced with a sickly white pallor. Beads of sweat coated his upper lip and forehead, but he huddled in a blanket like he was freezing to death. His eyes, a pale blue, looked wild and feverish and his gaze kept sweeping around the room. Well, Ryder thought Remi was looking around the room, but his gaze would pass over him like he wasn’t visible. The hands clutching the blanket trembled. Ryder frowned; hell, the entire hospital bed was moving because of how badly Remi shook.
“Can you tell me what drugs you took last night, Mr. Newsome?” the doctor asked Remi.
Drugs? Ryder had no idea Remi or any of Cassie’s other friends used drugs. His niece assured him all her roommates were top shelf. Furious that Remi might be guilty of bringing a dangerous lifestyle around his niece, or doing anything to endanger his own health, Ryder crossed the short distance between him and the side of Remi’s hospital bed and growled, “Answer the question, Remi! What fucking drugs are you on?”
Remi blinked and looked at him. Yes, they were slow, lazy blinks, but at least the younger man finally acknowledged his presence. Remi shook his head slightly as he gazed up at Ryder. He looked confused and scared.
Ryder didn’t need this shit in Cassie’s life…no matter how much he liked Remi. Drugs had killed Cassie’s parents; he wouldn’t allow them to destroy his niece, as well. Hell, it was so damn more than that where Remi was concerned, and Ryder knew it. Yes, his niece was his top priority, but nobody had ever managed to touch a part of him the way Remi had. Ryder fought his feelings for the man in the hospital bed daily, refusing to allow there to be anything between the two of them…for so many damn reasons, none that made sense to anyone except him.
“Excuse me, sir,” the doctor said. “Unless you’re a member of the family, you aren’t allowed back here. If I need help with my patients, I’ll be sure and let you know.” Sarcasm dripped off the doctor’s words.