Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 137310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
But like they’d been doing since they showed days ago, they kept their distance from Maddy.
Until they were at the door and Eight had it open, ready to walk out.
That was when Maddy cried, “Wait! That’s it?”
All the men stopped and looked back at her.
No one said anything.
Then Maddy burst forth, hit Eight on the run and wrapped her arms around him.
I knew, by the look on his face as he curved his tall body over hers and returned her hug, that whatever he was going to get up to, if you agreed with it or not, it was his calling.
“Thank you,” I heard her whisper the first words she said to him.
And the new look on Eight’s face both gutted me and restored my faith in humanity.
“My honor, little one,” he muttered.
Oh shit, it was happening again.
I was going to cry.
I jumped when Hugger slung an arm around my shoulders and tucked me to his side.
We watched as she did the same with Muzzle but with Linus, Core, Dutch, Jagger and Roscoe, who she didn’t know as well, she just waved.
Muzzle was the last out the door, but he left his head inside it and said to Maddy, “Every second you live good and strong, babe, you beat them. Keep kicking their asses, Maddy. You got this.”
Maddy emitted a soft sob.
Elias wrapped his arms around his girl.
Muzzle disappeared from the door.
Hugger and I were at our respective sinks in the bathroom, each of us brushing our teeth.
Why did I love looking in the mirror and seeing Hugger at my side with toothpaste foam in his beard?
“Di?”
At Maddy calling my name from the bedroom, I turned to look at Hugger in person, before I spit, rinsed, wiped, and left the bathroom.
Maddy was standing just inside the door.
“All good?” I asked, going to her.
“Can I ask you to do something?”
“Anything.”
When I said that, something washed over her face, something warm and wonderful, and sad and sorrowful, before she reached out and took my hand.
She fiddled with my fingers while she watched.
But she didn’t say anything.
“Maddy, you okay?” I asked.
She lifted her head. “Don’t get up and say goodbye to us in the morning.”
I felt like I’d been punched in the sternum.
“Maddy,” I whispered.
“I can’t say goodbye to you, Di.”
Damn it!
I’d managed to hold them at bay when the guys left, but I wasn’t sure I could do it this time.
“We go to sleep, like normal, except Mama and Daddy are here,” she stated. “Then you wake up, and I’m gone.”
“Honey,” I pushed out.
She latched onto my hand hard. “Don’t make me say goodbye to you. Just say goodnight and we’ll pretend I’m not going away.”
My voice was croaky and my throat hurt like crazy when I asked, “Can our goodnight include a hug?”
Her answer was to walk right into me.
We held on to each other for what was a long time but felt like seconds.
A million words came to my mind when she broke free, but I couldn’t get any of them out of my mouth.
She stopped at the door, looked back at me, and I committed to memory her peaches and cream skin, her pretty blonde hair and her beautiful blue eyes.
“Goodnight, Di,” she said.
I was losing it, but I managed to get out, “Goodnight, Maddy.”
She shot me one of her little smiles and disappeared behind the door.
I dropped my head in my hands and almost went to my knees.
What stopped me from doing the last was Hugger swinging me up in his arms and carrying me to bed.
Once we were there, I burrowed again and used all the rest of my energy to stop myself from breaking down.
“Let them go,” he whispered.
“Tomorrow,” I choked out.
“Okay, baby,” he agreed.
He kept hold on me as he rolled side to side to turn out the lights on the nightstands.
I belatedly realized his chest was bare, and hairy.
I didn’t have it in me to process this. I just had it in me to feel Hugger yank the covers from under us and pull them over us.
“I’m never gonna get to sleep tonight,” I told him.
“Good you got the day off tomorrow, then,” he replied.
“Yeah,” I mumbled.
Hugger twined his long legs with my shorter ones and held on.
I listened hard for signs of life in my house.
There weren’t any.
I kept listening.
And, held safe in Hugger’s arms, I fell asleep doing it.
When I woke, Hugger was the big spoon again.
I knew he knew I was awake when his arm around me pulled me deeper into his body.
And I knew he knew I heard the noises beyond my bedroom door when he kept holding tight.
Eventually, there was silence, and my body, tense from toes to top of my head, remained that way.
There was a quiet knock on the door.
I didn’t move.
I felt Hugger lift his head before he called, “Yeah?”