Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 74589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
But I stay awake, thinking.
There’s only one place in this world I want to be right now. It’s in this bed with Nolan. I need his lips on mine and his hands on my skin. I need his cock between my legs. I need the sweat on my flesh and the way he groans ringing in my ears. I want his praise so badly it’s like a fire in my guts. I’d bend over backward and let him take me however he pleases just to hear him tell me how sexy he thinks I am one more time.
And I still reach the same conclusion.
I extract myself from him as quietly as I can. I pull on clothes in the dark and stand at the end of the bed. He’s breathing deeply, passed out and slumbering soundly, and I want to get back under the covers so badly it hurts. This kills me, but I’d die for my sister, and I’d murder for my unborn niece or nephew, and I have to do what’s right for them even if it rips me to pieces in the process.
I step into the hall and go into my room. I fill a bag with all the clothes I can fit before slipping into the bathroom and grabbing all our toiletries. When I’m packed, I head into Kady’s room and gently shake her awake.
She blinks up at me, groggy and confused. “Cora?”
I hold my finger to my lips and lean down to whisper in her ear. “We’re leaving.”
She sits up, confused, and rubs her eyes. “What? Why?”
I shake my head and hold a finger to my lips again. She wants to argue, but I’m insistent. I push her up and make her pack, making sure she’s being fast and silent. I can tell she’s not sure what’s going on, but she trusts me and that’s enough. Once she’s ready, we sneak downstairs and I make her wait in the front hall for a full five minutes to make sure Nolan isn’t going to appear.
But the house is dead silent.
I grab Nolan’s car keys from the hook next to the door. Kady left our truck at the brewery and there’s no way we’ll get it back. I’ll miss that thing, and I feel bad taking Nolan’s car, but he’ll understand.
One day, maybe, he’ll even forgive me.
I hurry Kady outside. She buckles herself into the passenger seat and I turn on the engine. It roars like a beast and I pull away from Nolan’s house as fast as I can. As I hurry down the dark road, I swear a single light comes on upstairs, and I think I see him staring out the blinds as I roll fast around the corner and the house disappears from view.
“Are you going to explain any of this?” Kady asks once we’re out of the neighborhood and headed for a major highway. “Why the heck are we running?”
“Can I just drive for a while?” Tears stream down my face. I feel like I’m losing Momma and the trailer and my entire life all over again. It’s like I got a second chance at feeling something good but it’s burning down in front of my eyes and I know I can’t ever save it.
Leaving Nolan like this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done and even though I know it’s the right choice, it kills me. It breaks me.
It shatters my heart.
We don’t talk as I press down the gas and speed into the night.
Chapter 19
Nolan
My boot slams through the front door. Wood cracks and splinters as I force my way into the house, gun raised. It’s dark and the tiny living room doesn’t give much away. Couch, TV, coffee table, pictures on the wall.
Eric hustles past me into the kitchen. “Clear,” he whispers.
Tom goes into the back bedroom, the bathroom. “Clear.”
I take the stairs two at a time.
My blood’s on fire. I’m ringing with hate and all I want to do is kill, hurt, maim. I reach the top and a gunshot goes off like a thunderbolt through my spine, and the wall next to my head explodes with buckshot, splattering dust and drywall shards into my face.
I throw myself back as another shotgun blast goes off, breaking a huge hole where I’d been standing a second before. I bounce off the steps and land hard at the bottom, groaning, but I’m aware enough to fire off a few shots. Whoever’s up there doesn’t poke his head out.
I climb to my feet as Eric crouches down beside me. “Cover,” I say and he curses.
“You can’t go up there. It’s a fucking standoff.”
“Cover me.” I start back up, rage shoving me harder and faster.
“Nolan,” Eric says but he curses and fires off a few shots past me into the dark.
I reach the top and dive forward, rolling fast and out of control. The shotgun goes off, but it misses, and I come to an awkward stop against the opposite wall. My gun comes up and I fire, missing my attacker, and the bastard retreats down the hall.