Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 71074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
"Where is my dad?" Quinn asks.
"He’s going to be here in five minutes," Beau says, rushing over and taking Chelsea in his arms. "I’m here," he tells her, and I want to brush her hair away from her face so I can see her eyes. I want her to know I’m here and nothing is going to happen to her.
"What’s going on?" Ethan says, looking around and then sees a trickle of blood run down my leg. I shake my head slowly, telling him not now.
"We might as well wait for Uncle Casey," Amelia says, and she is in Jacob’s arms as he kisses her head.
"I need water," Chelsea says, and she pushes away from her father and slowly walks to the kitchen. I follow her, and Ethan just watches us. She grabs a bottle of water, and her hands shake as she tries to bring it to her mouth.
The front door opens, and Casey comes in, putting his sunglasses on the top of his head.
"Okay, we are all here," I say now. "What happened?"
Everyone looks at Chelsea. "We went to the diner," she says. "We were sitting at the booth, and I just felt eyes on me the whole time," she says, and the blood flowing in my body turns to ice. "I kept looking around the whole time to see if someone was in the diner I didn’t know." Jacob looks over at Casey, who nods his head. "Asher came in, and I got up to order some food to bring back here," she says. Her hands shake just a bit, and she shakes them off.
"You can do this," I say to her softly. "Just focus."
"We walked out of the diner, and I just felt it." She looks at me now. "I saw a man. I don’t even know what he looked like anymore." She closes her eyes. "But he was just staring at me."
"Did you go up to him?" Ethan asks. "Did you talk to him?"
"No." Chelsea shakes her head. "A bus came by, and by the time it left, he wasn't there anymore." She puts her hands on her stomach. "I thought at that point that I had made it up." Her lower lip shakes. "I thought it was all in my head. I ran to the truck, got in, and I kept looking around, but nothing was there. It was just all in my head, I thought. But…" She looks at me. "But then when we were pulling out, I saw him again. His beady eyes were staring straight at me."
"That motherfucker!" I roar out and look over at the men. "We need to find him and end this. Do you hear me?" I walk back to the bedroom and pick up the green bag Ethan tossed me earlier. I ignore the pain in my body. I ignore my whole body going into shutdown. I ignore the pain in my heart piercing so hard you would think I was shot straight in the chest.
"What are you doing?" Chelsea asks, her voice frantic.
"I’m doing what I should have done two days ago," I tell the whole room. "I’m getting out of here."
"And where are you going to go?" Chelsea’s voice comes out angrily.
"Anywhere but here,” I tell her and look at Casey. "You can get me set up somewhere off the grid."
"I can," Casey says to me, looking down before continuing. "But."
"No more fucking buts!” I roar out. "He could have hurt her and then what?" All the men look down at the floor. Just the thought of her being hurt because of me is too much to bear. I can’t do it. I won't do it.
"Before you decide anything," Jacob says, "this could work to our advantage." I put my hands on my head in shock.
"You have got to be fucking kidding me," Beau finally says. "He got close enough to her that she felt fucking eyes on her." He points at Chelsea. "How much fucking closer does he have to get before we listen to Mayson and get him out of here?"
"We don’t even know if it’s him," Ethan says calmly. "No one knows for sure."
"Who the fuck else could it be?" Quinn asks, his voice going louder.
"Let us check the tapes and decide then," Casey says. "If it is him, we can come up with a plan to bring him out."
"You want us to play sitting possum?" I shake my head now. "So just sit here waiting for him to strike."
"It’s not the dumbest plan," Ethan says. "We have something he doesn’t."
"Yeah, and what is that?" I ask him, furious now.
"We got eyes on him," Ethan says. "He doesn’t have a game plan."
"He came out in the daytime," I say to him. "He came out into the light and she saw him." I point at Chelsea. "He had to have known she would see him and tell me."