Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
She rubbed her temples. “I need some space, Zale.”
She didn’t mean to tip him off with sheer despair in her voice, but she didn’t have the same skills he did.
He framed her face with his hands. “I can give you space, Vienna, but don’t pull away from me, not until this is all resolved and I can speak freely. Can you at least do that for me?”
She hoped she could do that for him, but she honestly didn’t know, and she didn’t make promises she couldn’t keep.
“I’ll do my best, Zale.”
He bent his head to brush her lips with his. Her stomach somersaulted in spite of every resolve to be strong. His palm slid around the nape of her neck and he rested his forehead against hers.
“I know we interrupted your time together and all of this looks bad. It has to feel that way too, Vienna. I just want you to know I’m trying to keep you safe.”
That did ring true, and she believed him. There was a raw ache in his voice that hadn’t been there before. Unfortunately for her, the sound slipped past her every defense. She didn’t dare raise her eyes to his. That would be a disaster for her. Instead, she nodded to indicate she heard him.
To her relief, Zale stepped back, giving her the ability to breathe again. She hadn’t realized she’d been breathing shallowly in order not to draw him into her lungs. She still had the spa towel in her hand, and she stepped around him and went to join Shabina and Raine outside on the deck.
Shabina hadn’t turned on any lights other than the LED lights that wound around the covered part of the deck and the colored lights in the spa itself. Steam rose from the surface of the water, shrouding the two in the hot tub in mystery. Vienna went up the two steps and swung her long legs over the rim to settle into the hot water.
“This is heaven,” she admitted. “I should have done this first thing.”
“Right?” Shabina agreed. “I brought out water for all of us. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.”
The three laughed together.
“If one of us was going to remember that important detail,” Raine observed, “it was going to be you, Shabina.”
Shabina tipped her head back and rested her neck in the padded slot so she could look up at the stars. “I was in that desert a long time. Water became very important to me. I would think about it constantly. Dream about it. After a while it was difficult to think about anything else if we were traveling. I watched them to see where the water supply was and where they would get it. From plants. Where they created holes. How far down. Rocks. It became an obsession, I suppose. Now I make sure I always carry a filtration system and enough water with me at all times. More than enough.”
Vienna found every single tiny detail Shabina was willing to share of her past very interesting. “It’s very clear that you know Rainier from somewhere other than when Sam had his friends help him keep all of us safe while he hunted for the serial killer. Would you mind telling us where you met Rainier and why he feels he can tell you what to do?”
Shabina sighed, but didn’t take her gaze from the stars. “He was the operative they sent to rescue me. He got past all the guards and came into the camp where they were holding me. I was in bad shape. The worst. I didn’t think I was going to live very much longer. I believe his intention was to get me out of there without any of them being aware I was gone until the changing of the guard.”
She fell silent. The sound of the bubbles filled the quiet. Vienna could feel the froth bursting against her legs, arms and back, massaging the sorest spots where she’d been so shaken by being thrown around in the truck.
“I think seeing what they did to me, seeing the condition I was in, triggered something in Rainier. I was sixteen. He didn’t expect to feel anything at all. He was doing his job.” She tapped her fingers on the surface of the water. “He killed them all. Every single one of them. There were quite a few of them. He wiped out the entire cell. He was fast too, without hesitation. He unlocked the chains on me and whispered to me to look away. I didn’t. He didn’t make a sound, but he went from cot to cot after he killed the guards. He left that room and went to other rooms. When there was no one left alive, he treated as many of my wounds as possible and then he carried me out of there. First, we rendezvoused with a vehicle and then a helicopter. He never left my side. He was definitely in charge.”