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)
“You’ll have to ask Dakota. She’s the one who baked them.” Dakota’s mother’s smile was crooked when she looked between them.
“Can I have one, Dakota? They smell better than anything I’ve ever smelled before.”
Dakota’s chest filled with pride, something like feathers that tickled in her heart and floated in her belly. Her shoulders went up to her ears. “I made ’em for you. You like the chocolates the best.”
He smiled even bigger.
“Well, go on then,” her momma said. “How about some milk to wash it down?”
“Yes, please,” Ryder said right away.
He and Cody grabbed two cookies each.
Cody gobbled his down in a single bite.
Ryder took his to the table and sat down, slowly eating each one, like he wanted the taste of them to last forever.
Dakota couldn’t help but watch.
“Was it good?” she finally asked because they needed to be if she was going to be the best baker in the world.
Ryder grinned with his big red lips. “That was my favorite thing I ever ate.”
NINE
DAKOTA
My eyes blinked open to the lapping darkness of my room. It might have been peaceful, but instantly, my ears were attuned to what had pulled me from sleep. A sense that there was something out of place in the quiet.
My first thought was it was my little man waking in the middle of the night.
We’d been working hard on getting him to sleep in his own room, but there were times when he woke, whimpering and crying for me.
But tonight, a bulky hedge of silence echoed back.
So thick I tasted it.
A sour lump of dread.
It clung to the darkness as if it were its own entity, dripping from the walls and crawling across the floor.
My skin slicked with sweat, and my flesh pricked with those goosebumps you get when you’re being watched.
I didn’t know what it was. How sometimes you just knew, instincts kicking in that something wasn’t quite right.
The energy off and hinting at something sinister.
Unease stirred through my senses as I strained to listen, keeping as quiet as I could as I eased from my bed. I grabbed my phone from where it was charging on my nightstand and tiptoed across the room.
I pressed my ear to my bedroom door that I’d left open an inch.
The only thing I heard was the wind as it rustled through the trees, a long branch scraping at the glass outside my window. That and the lulled vacancy of the night that whispered through the atmosphere. The chirp of crickets and the random bark of a dog from somewhere in the distance.
Still, a slow slide of chills crept down my spine like the melting of ice, sinking to the bone.
But I couldn’t remain frozen in it.
I edged out of my room and ran on my tiptoes down the short hall to Kayden’s on the right.
My child was the only concern.
I slipped through the crack in his door. The darkness was cut by the nightlight bear that glowed from his crib, and I quickly scanned his room to make sure everything in there was okay.
Kayden was face down and fast asleep with his arm wrapped around the glowing bear, his little lips pursing with each breath as he dreamed whatever beautiful dream was in his head.
Relief hit me, and I turned to quickly shut his door and lock it. I leaned against the wood, taking in several breaths to process what to do.
At war with it being nothing but also unable to shake the feeling that something had been there.
I was also fully aware of how easy it was to convince yourself of the boogeyman in the middle of the night.
I could go and investigate things myself, but I didn’t want to leave Kayden’s side, and I sure wouldn’t take him downstairs if there was a chance there could be danger.
There probably wasn’t. Most likely it was a false alarm. My mind conjuring a bunch of terrible scenarios there was little chance it would turn out to be.
But still, I wouldn’t take the risk.
I contemplated, turning the options over in my head.
I could call my brother, but he lived twenty minutes out of town.
And if I called Ezra, he’d be liable to send over a cruiser or two.
Definitely not necessary.
The solution landed directly on Ryder.
Ryder who lived super close.
His house was only a mile away.
He was the obvious choice even though there was a part of me that hesitated. The last thing I wanted to do was wake him in the middle of the night for no reason.
Or worse, interrupt something that I sure as heck didn’t want to interrupt.
But I bit back the worries because what really mattered was making sure that Kayden was safe, that our home was secure without sending the local law enforcement on a wild goose chase.
I made the call, and my stomach did summersaults as I waited for him to answer.