Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 128801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
Her body bounced as he shook her. No response. No resistance.
His fingers trembled where he pressed them to her neck. There was no pulse. And her skin was too pale. Too white.
He fumbled for his phone and dialed 9-1-1, begged them to hurry before he started blowing breaths into her mouth.
Frantic as he pumped at her chest.
Tears blurred his eyes as the paramedics came in, and he stumbled off the bed as they took over.
He watched like he was detached.
Floating.
Suffering a near-death experience and he was watching his body below him.
But he guessed a piece of him died right then.
When they took her away in the ambulance, even though he knew she was already gone.
He still went to the hospital in Poplar where they’d taken her. He waited in the waiting room, claiming her as his fiancée, knowing she had no one else. No family. More alone than he could ever be.
And the doctor gave no sympathies when he came out and told him they couldn’t bring her back. She’d OD’d. So many opioids in her system there was no way for her heart to beat.
Ryder buried his head in his arms and choked over a shattered, “What?”
As if he was in shock.
As if he didn’t know.
As if he couldn’t believe what she had been involved in.
But it was shock.
Shock over what Dare had done. The lengths he’d gone to keep Ryder trapped.
A warning.
A threat.
One that had cost Amelia her life.
Chains rattled around him. Cinching down tight.
He wandered out of the hospital.
And he dropped to his knees and wailed toward the sky.
Dakota – Same Day
Dakota looked at her reflection in the mirror where she sat at the dressing table in her childhood room. She slicked a shimmery gloss across her lips while nerves fluttered like the flapping of wings in her belly and chest.
Today was the day.
No more reservations.
No more holding back.
He’d encouraged her to chase a dream, had given her the gift of making that dream a reality, and she was going to chase this one, too.
She wouldn’t wait for the cover of night. When the world whispered around them. When they were held in a sanctuary where no harm could befall them.
She was going to go to him and tell him how she felt and pray he felt it back.
Inhaling a steeling breath, she stood and smoothed out the red dress she’d picked for the occasion. The one that made her feel pretty and confident. The one she was sure Ryder loved when she wore it.
Giving herself another quick pep talk, she grabbed her purse from the bed and headed down the hall. She went into the kitchen and grabbed the tin filled with what she’d dubbed Mounds of Joy. Cookies made with Ryder’s favorite candy.
She was quick to hurry out the front door and to her car.
Ten minutes later, with the late afternoon sun shining around her, she pulled up in front of the little house he rented on the far side of town.
Joy filled her that he was chasing a new dream, too.
One of reclaiming his childhood home. She was excited for the memories that would be waiting for him there, and she prayed he would find a semblance of peace within those walls. And she hoped she would get to be a piece of that, too.
Snatching the tin from the passenger seat, she climbed out and rushed to his door.
Anticipation hastened her steps.
She rapped at the door, those butterflies flying through her stomach and lighting in her chest.
She was doing this.
She was really doing this.
Dakota frowned a little when a minute passed, and he didn’t answer. Shifting on her feet, she glanced around. His motorcycle was in the spot where he always parked it.
He had to be there.
Besides the bike being there, she felt him. That sense she got whenever he came near. The hum that buzzed in her blood and the way her feet never quite felt like they were on solid ground.
She knocked again, this time louder.
Nerves rattled through her as she waited.
Anticipation.
Excitement.
In it was also a sticky discomfort.
It grew as she finally heard the lumbered footsteps echo from the other side of the door, and the air locked in her throat when the lock disengaged and he pulled it open.
She gasped when he came into view.
His hair was disheveled, his face ashen, and the deepest grief was carved into the gray of his eyes.
“Ryder?” She could barely get his name to form on her tongue. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
Blankly, he stared at her before he whispered, “She’s dead.”
The words were hollow, though they tumbled through her with the weight of a thousand boulders.
“Who?” She barely got it out.
Fear clamored through her senses.
Dread thick.
“Amelia.” Ryder heaved it, another stone.
The tin she held slipped from her fingers and crashed at her feet, knocking the lid free.