Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 105506 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 422(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105506 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 422(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
As much as I didn’t want him to see me, couldn’t stand the weight of his eyes on me, the prospect of being alone in the sterile room was much worse.
Every time I woke, I didn’t gently rise to consciousness. No, I jerked awake, sweating, terrified, convinced I could feel the weight of a chain on my ankle.
Each time that happened, Colby was there, quietly reminding me that I was okay, that I was safe.
The words didn’t help much. I was not okay, nor was I safe. I wasn’t even out of that warehouse. Not really. Something grave told me I’d never fully escape from that warehouse.
Doctors came and went, telling me things I already knew. That I had almost died. That there had been massive blood loss. That it was a small miracle I’d survived. That I’d be scarred for the rest of my life.
I hadn’t wanted to look underneath all of the bandages on my torso, which was where the worst of my injuries were, but I did it anyway. There was nothing to be afraid of anymore. I’d seen pure evil, survived the worst of the worst, all the fear had been sucked out of my marrow. And I couldn’t fear my own body. I had to live in it for the rest of my life. I had to make myself familiar with the new wounds.
And they weren’t pretty.
There were a lot of punctures, some small and shallow, others ragged and much, much deeper. They were red and angry and promised to make my favorite midriff baring outfits a thing of the past.
Unfortunately, as I was growing stronger, I was awake for longer periods of time. Therefore, I was subject to Colby continuing to do the whole ‘you are mine’ routine. That routine consisted of him giving me intense looks, his jaw flexing whenever my injuries were brought up or I winced in any kind of way, and him trying to control my life.
“You need to tell Violet you’re here,” he said. “And you need to fuckin’ eat.”
I scowled at him, then at the tray of hospital food. “This isn’t food.”
“I’ll go and get you whatever you want,” he offered immediately.
I rolled my eyes, tempted to send him off on an errand but terrified to be alone in this room.
“If you didn’t notice, I’m on a bunch of painkillers right now and recovering from near death. Although you might expect me to be craving a cheeseburger, a couple of bites of this is about the best I’m gonna keep down for the foreseeable future.”
Colby dragged a palm over his scruffy chin shadow.
“You can buy me some chili cheese fries when I get out of here,” I added for reasons unknown. When I got out of there, I needed to get as far away from Colby and his orders, his proclamations and his jaw ticcing as humanly possible.
“I’m gonna hold you to that,” Colby said as if he were reading my mind.
Yeah, I was gonna have to deal with that … soon. But not now. We had other fish to fry.
“You are not telling Violet shit,” I told him with narrowed eyes. “If a single biker ruins her first week of motherhood with this bullshit, I’ll be making you all eunuchs.”
“You almost dying in the goddamn hospital is not bullshit,” Colby seethed.
“I’m alive, aren’t I?” I sighed. “And you need to lighten the fuck up. If anyone gets to be moody and pissy, it really should be me.”
Colby looked properly chastised, and I almost felt a little guilty for milking my condition. But if a girl couldn’t milk it when she was almost killed by a serial killer, when could she?
“Okay, we won’t call Violet,” Colby conceded.
I sucked in a breath, picking up a cracker on the tray of food and nibbling at it.
“See?” I told him between bites. “You lose some, you win some.”
“I nearly fuckin’ lost everything.”
Again with the brooding.
“If we’re not calling Violet, we’re calling your parents,” he informed me. “They’re not your emergency contact, Violet is. So I need their number.”
I shook my head to make sure I wasn’t having some kind of episode. But Colby remained there, clad in black, looking way too good for a guy who hadn’t changed clothes or slept properly in days.
“You won’t be getting their number.” I tried to act calm. I was pretty well practiced at expertly diverting all conversation away from my parents. Hell, I’d even done that with Violet, my closest friend.
My closest friend who I was keeping a bunch of secrets from. Secrets that were no doubt common knowledge now.
Can’t think about that. One thing at a time.
Colby glanced over to the chair where my purse was sitting. Luckily, they’d retrieved it when they found my car on the side of the road. It felt like a relic from another life.