Total pages in book: 235
Estimated words: 227851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1139(@200wpm)___ 911(@250wpm)___ 760(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 227851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1139(@200wpm)___ 911(@250wpm)___ 760(@300wpm)
“Don’t stop until you’ve found out who’s in my fucking car,” I say to John, hearing his foreboding grunt before the line goes dead. “Look at me, baby,” I order gently, encouraging her gaze away from the carnage to me. Her eyes are empty.
“Where’s your helmet?” she murmurs on a frown.
“Fucking hell,” I breathe, kissing her, squeezing her cheeks. If she had just got in the fucking car with John. “Why do you refuse to play ball?” I ask, smothering her. “I sent John to get you, Ava. Why didn’t you let him take you to work?”
“Because I wanted to shred Matt,” she says. I look down at her. She went to see him? “But you beat me to it.”
“I was so angry, Ava,” I say quietly. Matt had to take the brunt of my rage or I was likely to self-combust with the pressure needing out.
“I would never have seen it through,” she says on a sob. “I wouldn’t have killed our baby.”
Thank. Fuck.
She has no idea how much I needed to hear that. No fucking idea. “Shhh.” I do my best to comfort her, hold her, and this time she holds me back tightly, sobbing into my shoulder.
“Excuse me, sir.” A copper approaches, taking us both in. “Is the young lady okay?”
“I don’t know.” I haven’t checked her properly or closely. “Are you okay?” I feel at her arms, check her face again, her fingers, her wrists, even her dress for rips. Nothing.
“I’m fine,” she says quietly, looking past the officer. “What about the other drivers?”
“Just a few cuts and bruises. You were all very lucky. Shall we get you checked over before we run through some questions?”
“I feel fine,” Ava protests. “Honestly.”
Dear God, help me. “I’m going to take that fine in my palm and slap you all over the arse with it.”
“I’m fine,” she reiterates, taking in her mangled Mini. The Mini she shouldn’t have been driving.
“Ava, don’t defy me on this, please,” I say, taking on a begging tactic rather than a full force demand. She’s delicate. Still in shock. “I have no problem pinning you down in the ambulance so they can confirm you’re okay.” I tilt my head and see her flick a nervous smile at the officer. “Are you going the easy way, or the hard way?” I ask.
“I’ll go,” she breathes, and that’s the only reason I release her. “My bag.”
I check she’s stable on two feet before I let go of her. “I’ll get it.”
“My phone’s on the floor,” she calls after me. The closer I get to her Mini, the colder I feel. How differently this could have played out. It’s chilling. I thought an attempt to drug her was low enough. This? I need to get us out of town for a while. Make a few calls, and maybe now actually get the police involved.
I retrieve Ava’s bag and phone and hurry back to her, holding her hand as we’re led through the crowds to the ambulance. I help her into the back.
“Sir,” the copper says, armed with a notepad and pen. “While she’s being taken care of, do you mind answering a few questions?”
Now? “Yes, I do.” I snort, eyes on Ava as she looks down at me and the paramedic fiddling with a machine beyond. Blood pressure? Heart rate? “You’ll have to wait.” They should know she’s expecting. I need to tell—
“Sir, I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
I turn a death stare his way. Yeah, I’m sure. Problem is, answering his questions isn’t a priority right now. Not to mention the fact that I have no fucking clue what to tell him. “My wife and child are in the back of that ambulance,” I say, pointing blindly to Ava, seething. I expect I’ll get told he has a job to do. Well, so do I. “The only way you’re going to stop me from seeing to them is if I’m dead.” There’s a fucking time and a place for questions, and now isn’t it. “So fucking shoot me.”
He backs off, and I return my attention to my wife. She’s standing just inside the ambulance doors while the paramedic continues to fart-arse around behind her. What, there’s no rush because she’s walking? What the hell does someone need to do to get a little urgency around here? I shake my head in despair, drop my eyes, take a breath, and have a quiet word with myself before I upset the medics as well as the—
I frown when a see a trickle of blood appear from beneath Ava’s dress, and my eyes follow its path over her smooth skin down her leg. “Baby, you’re cut,” I whisper, running my fingertip through the trail.
She fists the material of her dress and shifts it up, looking down at her legs. “Where?” Her dress gets higher. Higher. No cut. I step back, looking at my finger covered in blood, understanding creeping up on me. I gaze up at Ava with worried eyes, hoping she’ll diminish my fears.