Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 74227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
It fucking sucked.
And I hoped with all that was in me that they were able to contain the fire.
“I won’t move from the hallway,” I told him. “Does Baylor know?”
“Texted him.” Tate, the man of few words, said. “He said ‘okay.’”
I snorted and poked my head into the room where the girls were sleeping, thankful that they weren’t up and puking like Hannah said they’d been doing all day.
Which then got me wondering about Hannah and TJ.
“Do Hannah and Travis know?”
“I’m sure Baylor informed Travis. Don’t know about Hannah.”
I pulled up the text button on my phone and sent Hannah a quick text telling her what was going on, and not to come home if she was going to—which I doubted. It took a long time to be seen in the ER, but Hannah was a nurse, so it was possible she’d been seen faster because of who she was.
She replied back within moments that she was in with the doctor, and that she wasn’t coming home anytime soon.
Thankful that was the case, I then pulled up Baylor’s name and sent him a text, too.
Lark (12:33 AM): My old house is on fire.
Baylor (12:34 AM): I know. Glad you’re not in it anymore. Did you see anything?
Lark (12:34 AM): No. I was reading. Didn’t see or hear a thing. Tried to look out the peephole, but whoever it was knocking covered the hole and I couldn’t see a thing.
Baylor (12:35 AM): Tate is there.
Lark (12:35 AM): Tate is on the phone with me. He’s a man of few words.
Baylor (12:36 AM): That’s Tate. Stay safe, and listen to everything he’s saying. I’m on my way…don’t freak out when you see me.
Before I could ask what that meant, I heard police sirens and got up, heading to the front door again to look out the peephole.
There was no hand covering it this time, and the distorted view that peepholes gave when you looked out at them made me gasp in surprise at what I saw.
It looked like the whole sky was orange. I could see flames out the right corner, but that was all I could see.
“He’s gone if you’re wondering. Ran when he heard the sirens,” Tate said.
Pongo collapsed at my feet and laid his head on my toes.
“He went to a dark sedan at the end of the block, ran straight past my truck. He’s got a crazy ass wig on. Even in the dark, I could tell that it was fake.”
I sighed.
There went identifying who it was.
“Let me guess, he was in all black, too.”
“Affirmative.”
I sighed.
“Can I come out?”
“No,” Tate denied me. “Stay there until Baylor comes to the door. We’ll stay on the line until then, too.”
I didn’t argue with him. What was the point?
“Fine.” I sat on the couch and waited, counting my breaths, for my husband to come for me.
And he did, five minutes later, scaring the absolute crap out of me when he appeared behind me.
“Lark?”
I screamed.
I screamed so loud that it even hurt my own ears.
“It’s just me!” Baylor bellowed.
I immediately shut up.
“Are you fucking stupid, Hail?”
So, I got mean when I was scared. Sue me.
Baylor’s mouth twitched, and it was then I finally took him in.
“You’re…naked.”
“Not naked,” he said. “I’m in my underwear.”
“You don’t usually wear underwear,” I pointed out.
“They’re not mine.”
If they weren’t his…
“Whose are they?” I raised a brow at him.
“They’re borrowed…from Travis.”
“Was he wearing them at the time that you borrowed them?”
“Sure was,” Travis said. “Sorry we came through the back. Wanted to make sure we weren’t seen coming through the front. And it kind of works out seeing as there are police cars blocking the road.”
“Not to mention you’re both very colorful.”
The only thing Travis was wearing was a raincoat and his jeans.
I just shook my head.
“What happened?”
“Daddy!”
I watched as Travis’s daughter, Alex, came running into the room. Reggie was hot on her heels.
The moment I saw them, my mouth fell open.
“What the fuck happened to her hair?”
That was Travis’s surprised voice.
I winced and looked over my shoulder.
“Apparently, your children want to be hair stylists,” I moaned. “I had no clue…Seriously, they were sleeping like angels when I checked on them a few moments ago.”
“In all reality, it doesn't look too bad,” Baylor supplied. “It looks like they actually tried.”
He was lying. Their hair looked fucking awful. Almost as if they’d cut it as short as they possibly could with the scissors.
“Where did you get scissors from?”
“Mommy’s office,” Reggie answered immediately.
I pinched the bridge of my nose.
“We love it!” Alex informed them all.
Travis snorted. “I’m sure that will comfort Hannah when she sees it.”
I turned to Travis. “Did Hannah tell you why she wasn’t here?”
He sobered and nodded. “TJ was running a fever. These two were puking all day. We were using the scissors on their Popsicles all afternoon. When I was called out for the pick-up, TJ was already running a fever. She’d just given him Tylenol when I left.”