Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 132649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
“Your, uh, that is, Mr. Quinn said he’d cleared this with you? The interview? I’m here for the interview?” God, why did everything she say have to sound like a nervous question.
The chill that shuddered down her spine had little to do with the weather and everything to do with the added layer of frost that instantly transformed his silvery gaze into ice.
“Fuck off,” he instructed with a snarl. “You’re not welcome here.”
He stepped back and moved to shut the door. Iris panicked and reacted without thinking, wedging her foot in the door before he could close it. She muffled her pained yelp when he slammed the damned heavy door on her trainered foot.
His glower got even darker when he grasped what she’d done and he—thankfully—eased the door back, removing the pressure. It had been an idiotic move and she had no one but herself to blame for her throbbing foot. But she refused to remove it, knowing that he would have no qualms about closing the door in her face.
“I have nowhere to go,” she told him before he could say another word. Her words were rushed, desperate. “You have to let me in.”
“I don’t have to do a goddamned thing. You, on the other hand, need to remove your grubby self from my damned back porch.”
“No, you don’t understand. I can’t leave. My car has a flat.”
“That sounds like a you problem.”
“Mr. Abbott… Look, your manager, Hunter Quinn, told me where to find you. It’s my understanding that he’d arranged for me to stay here for the next three weeks. He said you were fine with that.”
The sound torn from his chest could conceivably have been considered a laugh, if Iris hadn’t—like the rest of the world—been very familiar with Trystan Abbott’s infectious chuckle. Instead, the noise he produced sounded menacing and feral and she flinched in reaction.
“I won’t tell you again,” he warned. “Fuck off, or I’ll physically toss you out on your ass.”
His words made her pause as she wondered if this hulking man was capable of physical violence. She took an involuntary step back and he slammed the door in her face, the wood coming within an inch of her nose.
She gasped in outrage and—as she cast a quick glance around at her dark, blustery surroundings—no small amount of fear.
She thumped at the door with the side of her fist.
“You can’t leave me out here! Open up, please. Call Mr. Quinn… he’ll clear this up.”
The door remained firmly shut. She tried the handle.
Locked.
She redoubled her efforts, knocking and kicking at the wooden door in fear and frustration.
She heard a low, ominous growl from much too close behind her, and it reminded her that she was not alone out here and she screamed, the sound high-pitched and bloodcurdling.
The door was immediately snatched open again and she sagged in relief.
“Please, I think there’s a wolf or wild animal out here. Let me in.”
He peered into the darkness over her shoulder and refocused on her face with a sinister little sneer.
“Well, try not to let it eat you! You might give it indigestion.”
“You can’t leave me out here to face whatever that is,” she said in horror. “It’s illegal.”
“So’s trespassing, but that doesn’t seem to bother you.”
“You invited me to come.”
“I did no such thing.”
“Well, your manager did. He speaks on your behalf, right? I never…” Her voice trailed off on a helpless whimper. “Oh God, please just let me in. I’m sure it’s a wolf. He’s been watching me from the treeline.”
“For fuck’s sake, just piss off back to where you came from.” His accent was mostly Americanized, but—despite her distraction and distress—Iris could still pick up an Aussie twang beneath that meticulously cultivated Hollywood drawl.
“We’re in the middle of nowhere. My car is half a mile away. My phone is dead. I have nowhere to go and no way to get there. Just let me stay the night. If you really want me to leave I’ll make a plan in the morning.”
He laughed again, the same awful sound as before.
“Yeah right, and let you snoop around my house tonight? I don’t think so.”
“At least let me charge my phone, I can call an Uber or something.”
“Again… these are not my problems. You got yourself here, you can get yourself the hell out of here too. I don’t care how you do it.”
“Without a GPS, I’ll get lost. I could fall off a cliff. Die. That wild animal could maim or kill me.”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure the people who give a fuck about you will eventually send out a search party to find your corpse in the woods.”
“That’s not remotely funny.”
“I look like I’m kidding?” he asked without expression.
He looked as serious as a heart attack and that terrified her. He could quite conceivably leave her out here to fend for herself.