Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81182 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81182 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
When the sound of footsteps starts up the stairs through the door to the apartment that is still open, I brace as I watch his friends walk inside.
“What’s happened? Why is their blood on the stairs?” Tim asks, his eyes finding mine.
“Mrs. Lewis fell.”
“Is she all right?” Nathan asks, and I shake my head.
“She passed away.”
“Bloody hell,” he whispers, looking down at his friend, who hasn’t taken his face out of his hands.
“There are three blokes downstairs, and one of them is losing his bullocks looking for you,” Tim says, and I squeeze my eyes closed.
Crap. How much time passed since I got home?
“Are you going to be okay?” I ask Josh, who nods but doesn’t look at me. “If you need anything, I’m downstairs.”
“We’ve got him,” Tim assures, and with a nod, I get up and leave the apartment. Taking out my cell phone, I ignore the million calls I missed from Walker since it was on silent, and I use the flashlight to make my way down the stairs. Before I even reach the bottom step, Walker’s eyes find mine, and relief instantly fills his features.
“Sorry,” I whisper.
“What the fuck happened?” he asks, taking the phone from his ear, his gaze roaming over every inch of me as Otto and Ham glance down at the steps below me, where there’s still a pool of blood.
Walking toward me, Walker grabs my waist and lifts me over the bottom two steps.
“Mrs. Lewis fell down the stairs. She….” I close my eyes, dropping my forehead to his chest. “I found her when I got home.”
“Jesus.” His arms wrap around me. “Is she okay?”
“No, she’s… gone.” I drag in a breath and step out of his hold, swallowing as I look around. “Her sister and Josh’s parents are going to be here soon. I don’t… I don’t want them to see....” I swallow again, this time over the bile crawling up the back of my throat. “I need to clean this up before she gets here.” I motion to the steps.
“Where are your keys?”
I take them out of my pocket, and he removes them from my grasp. I don’t bother picking up my stuff, which is still by the door, when he opens it. I go to the kitchen and open the cupboard under the sink. Taking out a new roll of paper towels and a spray bottle of bathroom cleaner, I start to walk back to the door, but three men block my path. “We’ll clean up. Go get in the shower.”
“I’m fine,” I lie, feeling like I’m about to come undone at the seams.
“Baby, you have blood on you.” I look down at myself and see that my cream top I have on under my blazer is smeared with blood, and so are my hands. I hadn’t noticed. “You shower. We got this.”
He presses a kiss to my forehead and then ushers me across the hallway to my room after handing the cleaning supplies to Otto and Ham. Walking me into the room, he stands in front of me and helps me out of my work uniform, and when I’m down to nothing but my underwear and bra, he urges me into the bathroom and starts the shower.
He cups my jaw, forcing my gaze to his. “I’m gonna go check on the guys. Will you be okay for a few minutes alone?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
When he leaves, I unhook my bra and step out of my underwear, then walk into the open shower. As the hot water beats down on me, I grab my soap and scrub the blood from my hands, then I wash my hair and body.
Walker comes back before I’m even done, and when I shut off the water, he holds the towel open for me and wraps me up in it. Grabbing another he begins to dry my hair. “Everything is cleaned up.”
“Thank you.” I fall into his arms and fight back the urge to cry, because I know when I let go, I’m not going to be able to stop.
“I’m sorry, baby. I know she was your friend.”
“I just saw her yesterday before I left for work. She was excited about the flowers she planted last fall coming up in the garden. I was in such a hurry to get to the train I...” I close my eyes. “I should have taken a few more minutes to talk to her. I should have given her a hug. I never hugged her.”
He holds onto me without saying anything, and the tears I’ve been trying to fight back begin to slip from between my lashes as a sob climbs up my throat. Lifting me off my feet, he carries me to my bed and lies down with me.
Curled against his side, I cry myself to sleep, wondering what would have happened if I’d been home just a little earlier.