Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 37885 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 152(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37885 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 152(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Fuck.
Stepping out of the elevator, I race back to the lobby, then follow the signs for the hotel pool.
“Mina?”
I hear a scream, and as my heart jumps into my throat I pick up my pace.
“Help her! Somebody help her!”
It’s Rosaria, Mina’s friend from Chatsbury Prep. I recognize her from the surveillance photos my PI sent me when I was keeping tabs on my sister while she was there. At least if it’s Rosaria she went off with, I don’t need to kill anyone.
In an instant, I’m following where she’s pointing, and I see the dark swirl of hair.
Mina. Fuck. Jesus. She’s in the water.
What’s with her and pools all the sudden? I’m going to fill every fucking pool with cement.
Without thinking I’m diving in, memories of the last time swirling like the dark water. Please let her be okay. I’ll tell her the truth. The whole truth. Just please let her be okay.
I get my arm around her and she doesn’t respond. What the hell?
If she…
I couldn’t go on. If anything happened to her, that would be it for me. What’s the point of life without her in it? I’d rather she hated me for what I’ve done. Rather she looked at me with nothing but disgust, but at least I’d know she was okay. At least I could protect her, even if she wouldn’t let me anywhere near her.
I think of the pregnancy test I bought at the store early this morning. I was so fucking excited thinking I may have gotten my wish and rooted my seed inside her already…
“Mina,” I say as I pull her up to the surface, brushing hair back from her face. “Talk to me, baby. Please, open your eyes.”
Nothing. No response. I glare at the surrounding spectators as I pull her to the side of the pool.
“Call a fucking ambulance, assholes!”
I drag her out and onto the side, remembering the first aid training I had to do my first year in college. Clear her airways, get her breathing.
When she splutters, it’s like someone just gave me a miracle.
I hear Rosaria’s voice. “Mina!”
“Baby,” I whisper. “I’m so sorry I did this to you. Please. I can explain everything. I just…”
Her eyes meet mine. And I see such confusion in them, it shames me. Why didn’t I just tell her the truth from the start, about me, about us, about who we are to each other. I could have let her decide, instead I took that away from her.
“Baby, please…” I whisper, taking her hand in mine.
And feel her squeeze my fingers.
“Daddy,” she says, her voice rough and hoarse from the water. “You saved me. I knew you would.”
The pictures are already all over the bar TV sets by the time the paramedics have given her all clear. A bit of water inhalation. Nothing to worry about. If she starts coughing or gets a fever, bring her to the hospital for a check, but she should be fine.
We’re alone. Rosaria retreated as soon as she knew Mina was going to be okay, saying she’d had plenty of excitement for one day and didn’t want to be here when the next bomb went off.
“Long term effects like amnesia, huh?” Mina says, a little smirk on her face. She glances at the TV screen, where that photo is still being shown, and blushes.
“I can explain,” I tell her. It’s about the hundredth time I’ve said that to her since I pulled her from the water, and honestly I don’t know what explanation could possibly make what I did all right.
But somehow she doesn’t seem as much mad as she is milking the moment.
Perhaps there’s still a little bit of the vixen I’ve had these past few days left inside, enough that she isn’t going to run a mile as far and as fast as her little feet can take her.
Not that I’d let her get away.
She shakes her head. “I’d love to hear your explanation for letting me think we’re boyfriend and girlfriend instead of…” She lowers her voice. “Brother and sister.”
“Stepbrother. Stepsister.”
“Still.”
I shake my head. “It makes the world of difference, believe me. You can’t tell me you didn’t want what we had.”
“I did,” she says without hesitation. “I still do. But society has rules, and this goes against them.”
Taking her hand in mine, I kiss the backs of her fingers and watch her eyes close as she chokes back a moan. So. She still wants this. Then not everything has been in vain.
“Come with me,” I tell her.
“I don’t know if it’s a good idea. Maybe we should just book separate rooms and figure out what we’re going to tell Mom and Dad—”
“Baby, what do you say when Daddy tells you to do something?”
She blushes. “I don’t…”
“What do you say?”
For a moment, she hesitates. Then I see the change come over her. She goes from shy, easily embarrassed Mina to something else. My little girl.