Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
“Pull yourself together, Dani,” she hissed. “I’m fine.”
I barked out a laugh. “I’ll get right on that. This is twice in as many weeks. I’m not going to be able to pull myself together for a long fucking time.”
Lemon grinned. “Nice f-bomb, Dani.”
“Brat,” I grumbled with no real heat.
“This could have ended so much worse.” Apple wrapped her arms around me and leaned her head on my shoulder. “We could have all been killed.”
“But we weren’t.” Lemon looked and sounded fierce. “We weren’t, and you’re not even going to think about it.”
“Kinda hard not to. I was so scared he’d shot you, Lemon. We could hear him shooting. How did he not kill anyone?”
“‘Cause he’s a fucking horrible shot. He even missed me with that bigass .357.”
“Wait.” Wylde wrapped his arms around both me and Apple as he confronted Lemon. “What do you mean he missed you?”
“I told you. I saw him and that bitch, Jordan, together outside the school, so I went to investigate. When he pulled a gun, I had to do something. I taunted him. Tried to get him to come after me and leave everyone else alone. It worked. Mostly. He got a couple of the resource officers and one of the ROTC guys. Good thing I lured him in that way instead of through the front door like he’d been going for.”
“I think I’m gonna puke,” I whimpered.
Sure enough…
When I finished, Lemon and Apple were on either side of me as I sat back on my ass and cried, the stress of the day finally crashing down around me. Wylde held my hair out of the way until the girls surrounded me with hugs. Apple cried quietly and Lemon… tried not to. I felt moisture on my shoulder where she tried to bury her face for a moment, but when she pulled back, she’d composed herself.
“I’m sorry, Dani,” Lemon offered. “But I wasn’t letting anything happen to Apple.”
“I know, baby. And I’m proud of you. I really am. But you need to know you matter just as much as Apple. I love you both and don’t want to lose either of you.” I gave her a watery smile. “You’re much stronger than I’ve ever been, honey, but you need to learn there are people all around you who can help you. You don’t have to do it all yourself.”
She shrugged. “I know.” She glanced at Wylde before looking away. “I just don’t trust anyone to do as good a job as me. Except maybe I’ll consider giving Wylde the benefit of the doubt. Unless he starts acting like a fucktard again.”
I barked out a laugh. Wylde just sighed. “Appreciate that, sourpuss.”
That got a scowl from Lemon, but I thought I saw a hint of relief also. Apple was quite possibly the only person she’d ever let see her feelings. Wylde seemed to recognize Lemon needed a way to regain her composure and had given it to her. It made me love him that much more.
“You sure Jordan’s been taken care of, Wylde?” Apple looked up at him like he could fix anything.
“I am. The information I gave the police, combined with the security footage from the school, should be enough to put her away for a long time. Roman’s right. She’s a pretty good hacker. Good enough she hid from me. For a while at least. Raven said he’s putting some bugs in important ears to make sure she gets held without bail, but given the results of her actions, I don’t think that will be a problem.”
Apple nodded her head slightly. “Good. That’s good.”
Lemon scowled. “How the fuck did she do all this anyway? Did she have anything to do with the cell towers fucking up?”
“Lemon…”
“She does it on purpose,” Wylde said and chuckled. “I like her style.” Lemon snorted. “But to answer your question, she was able to take down the cell towers briefly. Just long enough to allow Leo to get a head start on the police and to prevent information from getting to the right people. I haven’t looked in to how she did that, but she has some skill with the computer.” He shrugged. “Guess she really was after my Titan GT77. Don’t really care at this point as long as the cops have her. School security camera caught her giving him a Magnum. Which was found on him. May be hard to prove it was that exact gun, but it’s pretty compelling.”
“Fuck.” Lemon looked disgruntled. “Really wanted a shot at that bitch.”
“All right, Lemon. That’s enough. Take your sister and do whatever the two of you do when you need to destress.”
“Can I hang out with Deacon?” Apple looked up at me. I could still see the terror in her eyes and knew she needed to feel safe. Deacon could give that to her. “I promise I won’t do anything.”