Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Never claimed not to be a sadistic bastard.
“Are you okay?” I forced my voice into calm as I tried to break through the daze that had taken her hostage.
Attempting to get her to focus on me when I could see her spellbinding gaze whirring with confusion.
“Hey, I’m right here. We’re going to get you help. I just need to know if anyone is hurt.”
She blinked through the havoc, words breaking on her tongue. “I…my son.”
Rattled cries of terror were coming from the backseat.
“It’s alright. Just stay calm. I’ve got him.”
I pressed the locks on the inside of the door. They clicked, and I hurried to the back driver’s side door, pulling it open to expose the car seat that sat directly behind the driver’s seat.
It faced backward, and a toddler who I’d guess was maybe two was buckled into it. His blond hair struck in the bare glow that rained down from the cabin light. Fat tears ran down his chubby cheeks, and he pointed his little index finger toward the front.
“Mommy!” Fear distorted his face, his mouth tipping down deep on the sides.
Distraught and still cute as fuck.
“Hey, buddy.” It was impossible to keep it light and easy with the dread that barreled through, my words gritting against the thickness that held the air. “Your mommy is right here. She’s okay. You’re okay.”
At least, I hoped to God they were.
From where I stood, I couldn’t see any visible injuries on the child, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t suffering something internally.
“Does anything hurt, little man?” Tried to inject lightness into the question, hoping not to freak the kid out any more than he already was.
His head swished erratically in his seat, and he pressed his chest up against the restraints. “I not hurt. I want my mommy!”
I could feel the woman finally break through the haze. No doubt, her son’s pleas drove her to coherency. “It’s okay, baby. Mommy is right here. We just had a little accident. It’s okay.”
“O-kay.” He drew it out on this little cry, though his fear was tempered by her voice.
The woman shifted to peer at the older woman in the passenger seat who looked to be maybe in her early seventies. Just as confused as the driver, her gray hair sticking up all over the place as she tried to process what had happened.
“Are you okay, Nelly?” The words heaved from the driver.
The older woman inhaled a steadying breath.
“I think so. Might have scared the pants off me, but it doesn’t feel like any of these old bones are out of sorts any more than they normally are.”
The driver nodded, then started to fumble around to unbuckle.
“Think you should stay right there until we get someone out here to check you all out,” I warned.
“I’m fine,” she wheezed, ignoring my instruction.
“You have a nasty gash.”
“I said I’m fine.”
Before I could convince her otherwise, she was on her knees, turning around, and crawling through the narrow gap between the seats.
My guts clenched in uncontrollable greed as the dome light overhead illuminated the striking contours of her face.
Fuck me.
This woman was stunning.
The kind of exquisite that could cut through every roughed layer of a hardened man.
Crack him wide open and make him believe there might be a chance of beautiful things.
Too bad I had the propensity of destroying the beautiful.
That didn’t seem to sway the urge at all because my fingers itched to reach out and explore.
Wanting to drag them through her long hair that was so white it was nearly the color of the snow.
Trace them along a face that was a painting of perfection. Defined but soft on the edges.
Cheeks flushed from the adrenaline.
Lips plump and pink.
But maybe what was really stealing my breath was her fierce determination as she fought her way to her son.
Blood gushing from that cut and tenacity dripping from her veins.
Made her look like some kind of battle-torn angel.
Or maybe it was just my own adrenaline thundering through my being that was distorting my nerve endings. Sending my reaction sideways and slanting in a direction it shouldn’t go.
A trauma response.
Only I’d seen so much blood and gore in my life that I knew fuckin’ better than that.
I was nothing but a gluttonous fuck.
Wanting to devour the good and lay it to waste.
“Mommy is right here, baby.”
The second she set her knees on the seat next to him, the kid instantly stopped crying.
“Hi, Mommy.” Through his tears, he grinned this beaming smile, and she choked out a relieved laugh.
“Hi, baby,” she whispered. Her delicate hands started running over every exposed inch of his body.
His little arms and legs.
Over his head and chest and shoulders.
Searching for any injury.
“You’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay,” she mumbled like maybe she was trying to convince herself.
“I okay. We go crash?”
“Yeah, just a little crash, but we’re okay. Everyone’s okay.”