Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Usually by the end of his jog, he had figured out whatever he needed to untangle and was ready to get to work when he arrived home sweaty and tired.
The path was a favorite among the locals as well. There was usually a handful of other people he would encounter jogging or walking the path along with him. They were nodding acquaintances, which was just fine. He didn’t want to be stopped by idle chitchat when he was trying to organize his thoughts. His nosy neighbors tended to limit their gossiping to when they could catch him at the mailbox or mowing his lawn.
A line of sweat started down his brow toward his eye, and Devlin wiped it away. The morning had started off a little cool but was warming as the sun rose higher in the sky. He still felt a tug of regret for shooting Kai a text informing him that he was going for a jog this morning. He didn’t want their communication to devolve to sending texts to each other while they were in the same house together.
This was a mess. It was ridiculous. Why would someone like Kai be interested in him?
Well, there were more important questions, like possibly: Did he want Kai interested? What could they possibly have together other than really great sex?
Not that he had a problem with amazing sex. It had been so long since he’d touched another person that way.
Devlin’s brain fizzled out a little bit as it wandered along the path of a shirtless Kai pinning him against the wall and kissing him as if his life depended on it. Running his hands up Kai’s smooth chest. No, running his hands down to his pants and—
He stumbled over a crack in the path and ran awkwardly a few steps to try to catch his balance rather than faceplanting on the rough asphalt. When he got his balance under him again, he stopped and straightened, dropping his head back while gulping in deep lungfuls of air. He wasn’t even winded. It was just that thoughts of Kai were screwing with his head. Jogging was not helping him to focus.
Behind him, a soft steady rhythm of feet on the pavement approached and slowed to a stop beside him. “Hey, are you okay?” a woman’s gentle voice asked.
Yeah, he was fine. An idiot, but fine.
He lifted his head, looking forward again, but before he could turn his attention to the woman, his gaze caught on a hand in the tall grass near the path. The hand was slender and slack, the empty palm open to the blue sky. His eyes followed the hand down a wrist to a long, pale arm. With every inch, his heart pounded in his chest and the pressure around his lungs tightened. He could barely breathe when he took in the blood-covered woman staring blankly at the trees. Her dark hair was wild about her head and tangled with sticks and leaves as if her body had been dragged through the nearby woods.
“What—” his Good Samaritan started to ask, but the question was cut off when she let out a high-pitched scream. It was enough to shock Devlin out of his stupor.
He grabbed the woman’s hand tightly in his and looked at her. She was wearing the typical white T-shirt and running shorts. Her sweaty brown hair was tied in a high ponytail that swayed as she trembled. He started to tell her that it was all right, but the words got caught in the back of his throat. Nothing about this was all right. It was horrible. Monstrous.
“Do-do you have your cell on you? We need to call the police,” Devlin forced out. He had his and nearly reached for it, but he stopped himself. This was his second dead body in as many days. He couldn’t be the one to call it in. Though, there was no avoiding yet another interview about another body, which would lead to even more uncomfortable questions, but he’d cross that bridge when he came to it.
The woman nodded as tears streamed down her face. Her breathing was ragged, and he was starting to worry that she was going to faint.
“Can you call the police?”
She nodded again. “Y-yes. I’ll call. Are…are you sure she’s dead?”
He thought it was a pretty safe bet that she was dead based on the devastating volume of blood covering her, but he needed to check. If there was even a small chase of saving her, they had to act quickly.
“I need to check. Will you stay with me?”
The woman nodded and even gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. The idea of calling the cops seemed to have given her a little more focus. After releasing Devlin’s hand, she grabbed her cell phone from a zipper pocket on her shorts and dialed 9-1-1. Devlin moved slowly to the body, keeping the jogger in his line of sight. He didn’t think she’d run away, but he wasn’t sure. He didn’t want to be alone in this quiet stretch of the running path.