Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 34140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 171(@200wpm)___ 137(@250wpm)___ 114(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 171(@200wpm)___ 137(@250wpm)___ 114(@300wpm)
“Stop! Thief!” Dummy is, thankfully, already far behind me. Too scared to enter the trees and too behind on his cardio. Finally, some good luck.
I keep my speed, cradling the vase like a newborn infant and hurtling ahead until I reach the other side and enter the dark parking lot where I shot out the lights just days before. I’m almost to my car when I hear a yelp.
Turning, I see two men in masks grabbing a curvy little thing and dragging her toward a classic kidnapper van.
I stop.
“Doesn’t concern you!” one of the men yells at me and pulls a gun.
“Help!” the girl screams, terror in her voice.
I should go. I’m right here at my car. I should carefully place the vase in the custom foam case I stowed in the back, get in, and drive the fuck away.
“Please!” she cries as they keep dragging her.
“Shut the fuck up, you little bitch!” One of them yanks her hard, and she yelps in pain.
“Just drive away, Mateo,” I counsel myself and grab the rear door handle. All I have to do is open it and mind my own fucking business.
The men have gone back to wrangling her, apparently satisfied that I won’t intervene. One opens the rear of the van.
“Help!” This time she turns and looks right at me, her eyes huge.
Fuck! I reach behind me and pull out my pistol, then pop the closest one in the back of the head. He drops, dead before he hits the ground.
The other one is still trying to pull her into the van. I appreciate his work ethic, but my bullet doesn’t. He drops next to his compatriot right as the sirens begin blaring.
The girl runs to me. When she jumps, I do the only thing that feels natural. I open my arms. I open them wide. And I catch her. But that also means I drop the vase.
“You saved me!”
My paycheck crashes to the pavement, shattering into ten million priceless pieces, each one stabbing a hole into my flawless reputation.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She wraps her arms so tightly around my neck I wonder for a split second if she’s an assassin. Was this whole thing a setup? Is she bait?
I try to pry her loose, but it’s not so easy. “Okay. Go. You have to go. I’m done here.” I back to my car, crunching the vase under my damn boots, but she’s still hanging on to me like a wildcat with prey. “Go!” I’m fucked. The vase is dust. This little powderpuff of a girl might not be an assassin, but my buyer will be sending one when he finds out what happened.
I grab her with both hands and pull her off me, but damn, does that feel all kinds of wrong. She’s soft in all the right places and smells like sweet vanilla. “Let go.” I glare at her, my eyes locking with hers.
“Please don’t leave me!” Tears roll down her pink cheeks. Jesus, she’s beautiful. What the fuck is she even doing out here this late? Of course she’s going to get stolen. Why would she–Wait. Doesn’t matter. I have to go. I can dig into who she is later. Right now I have to think of some way to fix this before my buyer sends someone to kill me.
Tires squeal, and when I look up, I see another kidnapper van racing into the parking lot. What the fuck? Two vans for one simple abduction?
I peer more closely at her big eyes and button nose. “Who are you?”
The girl cries and gets hold of me again, wrapping her warm, soft body around mine. “Please,” she whispers, her tears tickling my neck. “Please don’t let them take me.”
The sirens grow louder, and I can see police lights flashing just a few blocks away.
“Stop!” The museum guard appears through the trees. He’s huffing and puffing toward me with a taser in his hand, and the men in the van are speeding right for us. I have to go. Now. But the girl is attached to me with a vengeance. Fuck. Fuuuuuck.
2
Milly
“Seatbelt,” he says gruffly then reaches across me and snaps mine into place. He must really be worried about me. A flutter hits my chest. So not the right time, Milly.
“Oh, thank y–”
He hits the gas with a hard thump of his foot. I screech and cover my face as we barely avoid the oncoming van and whip out onto the main road ringing the campus. I peep out through my fingers as the car starts to speed up even more. He zips around other cars smoothly as if he’s done this a million times.
Another scream leaves me when he blows through one light and then another. I cover my eyes again, too scared to peek out anymore. The next time I dare to sneak another look is when I hear the engine roar as he pushes it. He speeds onto the highway, weaving in and out of traffic.