Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 72074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
I tell myself it’s for the best. It’s better this way. He answers, barking out, “What?” He listens to whoever is on the line, and when his eyes fly to mine, I see something in his gaze. “Find out.” He hangs up the phone and then his eyes go down before he glances up at me again. For the second or maybe for the third time, my life is changed. “Your attacker was just found dead in his cell.”
Chapter Ten
Casey
I say the words I know will change everything. “Your attacker was just found dead in his cell.” I watch as she looks at me, and then she falls to her knees. I’m not fast enough to catch her in time and watch as she howls out in what sounds like gut-wrenching pain. “Darlin’,” I say, picking her up and carrying her out of the bedroom. She buries her face into my neck and wraps her legs around my waist as I carry her into the kitchen.
When I walked in and saw her packing, I went through so many different emotions. I was pissed she was leaving and then sad she wanted to leave. But most of all, I didn’t want her to leave. I didn’t want her going anywhere, and I finally admitted it to myself. This thing between us is there. In all this craziness, I’ve gone and fell for her on a level that is just … I can’t even come up with the words to explain it. When I pulled her hair out of the elastic and then buried my hands in her hair, it was as soft as I dreamed it would be. Watching her shield go down, I saw the softness in her eyes as the color got just a touch lighter. I was so close I could taste her, but then the phone rang. I wanted to throw it against the wall, but then when it rang again with Derek’s ringtone, I knew something was wrong.
I place her on the counter, but her legs don’t let me go. My arms go around her, and I know that I’m filthy, and she’s probably going to get dirty, but I don’t care. I’ll hold her for as long as she needs me to.
“Darlin’,” I say softly as her sobs are beginning to subside.
“Why?” she asks, voice cracking, and I feel her breaking down. “Why me?”
I wish I had the answer. I wish I could say whatever she needed to hear. I wish I could make all this go away. I do know one thing—I’ll die before it touches her again.
“I don’t know,” I say. The front door opens, and I hear the sound of footsteps running through the house. Kallie whips around the corner, stopping in her tracks with Jacob behind her. I look at her, and she puts her hands to her mouth. Jacob just looks at me.
“You heard?” he asks, and I just nod my head.
“Derek just called me,” I tell them. She peels her face out of my neck. She turns her head, but doesn’t loosen her hold on me. And neither do I.
“Why don’t we run a bath?” Kallie suggests, coming to my side and rubbing Olivia’s back. “A nice bath.” Olivia looks at her and then at me. “We can use Casey’s big one.” I see the look she had in her eyes right before I kissed her is gone, and in its place is the shield, and I hate it.
“It’s never going to stop,” she whispers. “Why can’t I just be left alone?” When she releases me, I see the defeat in her eyes. I watch as Kallie takes her hand and walks with her to my bedroom. Only when I hear the door close do I look over at Jacob.
“I’ll kill him.” My eyes return to the spot I last saw Olivia. “I swear to everything, if I see him, I’ll kill him.”
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” Jacob says. Walking over to the cabinet on top of the fridge, I take out my father’s whiskey. I open it, forgoing the glass, and take a huge gulp, letting it burn all the way down. “You may want to go easy on that.”
“Fuck you, Jacob,” I say. I know I shouldn’t lash out at him, but he’s the only one in front of me. My phone rings again, the ringtone letting me know it’s Derek. I put it on speakerphone this time.
“Derek.” I say his name. “Jacob is here, and you’re on speaker,” I inform him in case he has something confidential. “What did you find out?”
“From what I can gather, he was killed between one and three a.m. The cameras on his block coincidentally went off at twelve thirty and only came back on at four.”
“Coincidence, my ass,” I say, looking over at Jacob.