Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 62710 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62710 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
I pause, looking back at him.
“Those police officers are just as much in on this as Bill. I have no doubt they are behind this attack. I wasn’t going to let them take him anywhere.”
Colt’s face softens, just a touch. That’s hard going, considering he always looks terrifying.
“Appreciate it.”
Warmth floods me, but I simply nod and turn, walking off into the darkness to give Bill his false information.
I can’t help but wonder, though ...
Where does this information lead?
How is the club involved?
And am I willing to find out?
THE TIGHTENING AROUND my throat has the air from my lungs unable to escape. Fighting, I attempt to push away the heavy hands around my neck, stopping the life from being drawn into my body. Desperately clawing, darkness threatens to take over as I croakily scream out, wanting him to stop, to let me go. My screams break off into garbled gasps as little by little, the word disappears from me.
I’m screaming.
I don’t realize it until I come to and reality slowly trickles back in. What I thought was a nightmare, isn’t. I’m lying in bed, a bed I came back to and fell asleep on last night, and there are hands around my throat, squeezing so hard that my vision blurs and patches of dark and light dance before me.
He’s strangling me.
“Western!” I scream, my voice garbled and broken.
I kick and squirm, clawing at his hands, trying to pull them off me, but he’s too strong, too big.
“Western!” I wail again gasping as the air begins to rapidly run out.
I’m going to die if he doesn’t stop.
Second by second, my life is fading from me. Soon, I’ll black out and I might not wake up. Desperate and frantic, I do the only thing I can think of. I bring my knee up and slam him in the groin. He jerks, bellows, and then suddenly the pressure from around my neck releases and he topples off me. I turn, scrambling off the bed, tears rolling down my cheeks as my feet hit the floor. My vision blurs and, before I know it, I’m on the ground, my head spinning. The air isn’t coming back into my body fast enough.
Gasping, I bring my hands to my neck and sob as the situation sinks in.
He nearly killed me.
The light flicks on, and my eyes meet his. He’s kneeling on the bed, the look on his face something I could never explain even if I tried. It’s a mix of pure horror, fear, and shock. He wasn’t awake. It’s only in this moment that I realize that. He was strangling me, but he wasn’t awake.
Moving like lightning, he launches off the bed toward me.
Automatically, I scramble backward, my eyes flaring with fear.
My neck throbs, my lungs burn, and my heart is pounding against my chest.
Pausing, he stands before me, not daring to take another step.
“Bonnie,” he grinds out.
I bring a hand to my mouth to stop the agonized sob, but it’s no use, it comes out anyway, echoing through the room. He looks like he’s been punched, like the world is just crumbling down around him.
“I didn’t ...”
I know he didn’t mean it. I know that.
But the pain inside me is irrational–I can’t make sense of it.
I’m afraid, even though I know I shouldn’t be.
He takes another step, and I put my hands up, my fingers trembling. “Please no.”
“I won’t hurt you.”
His voice is so broken, so horribly pained, that it breaks my heart into a thousand tiny pieces, but I just need to breathe. I need air. I need to go, right now.
“I know,” I say quickly. “I know. I know. I just ... I’m sorry.”
I rush toward my purse and lift it, rushing out the door as I reach in to pull out my keys. Western yells my name, but I don’t stop. I pick up into a run as I reach the front gates, and the two men standing guard by them for the night narrow their eyes as I get closer. One of those men is Fury, and I know that they’re waiting for the shooter to return or for more chaos to unfold. What they’re not expecting is to see a woman running toward them, tears rolling down her face, harsh sobs being torn from her throat.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Fury says, stepping in front of me, putting his hands up in front of him. “Slow down. What’s goin’ ...”
His eyes drop to my neck. Even in the light that they’re standing under, he can see the marks that are already forming. Western nearly killed me in there tonight, his grip was stronger than anything I’ve ever experienced in my life. It’s going to leave a mark that will be nearly impossible to hide. Fury’s eyes flash and his head whips up toward Western who is approaching, still barking my name.