Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 74554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
I’m coming.
Hold on.
Two minutes.
That last one was from five minutes ago.
Did I dare believe it was him?
My blood rushed through my ears, too loud to trust them to differentiate one voice from another.
With trembling fingers, I shot off a quick text.
Is that you?
“Thank fuck,” I heard the voice say with a deep exhale. “Yeah, darlin’,” he said, his voice moving closer, still trying to find me. “Yeah, it’s me. Where are you hiding?”
“Closet,” I called back as my heart swelled.
I released Ernest and started to crawl forward, the grime coating my sweaty palms and legs as I made it to the little door.
“Don’t come out,” he called. “There’s glass everywhere.”
“I know,” I said, pushing my little crawl space door open. “I heard it break,” I added as he slid the door open to find me on all fours in the little square doorway.
“That’s a damn good hiding spot,” he said, trying to keep his tone calm, soothing. But I saw the tension in his jaw, the relief in his eyes.
“I have Ernest in here with me,” I told him. “He can’t come out with the glass everywhere.”
My voice was weirdly calm even as my insides scrambled around.
“Okay. Point me in the direction of a broom and dustpan.”
“There’s a rack right outside behind the door to the garage.”
“Okay. Hold tight. Give me one minute.”
Ernest grumbled, poking me with his cold, wet nose.
“Just another minute, buddy,” I cooed at him as I heard a strange, loud, rumbling sound move closer and closer.
It wasn’t until the sound suddenly cut off and there was an uncomfortable silence that had my ears ringing that I realized what it was.
Motorcycles.
A lot of them.
I sucked in a shaky breath, realizing I was going to be okay. Even if Marco or his men were still around somewhere, the bikers were here. With, I imagined, their guns.
It was over.
I could hear the rumble of male voices, and then Kylo was back in my bedroom with Velle on his heels.
“How you doing, sweetheart?” Velle asked, moving toward the side of the closet, his posture casual, but I could see how tight his jaw was.
“Alive,” I said.
“We can work with alive,” he said, offering me a smile as the swish of shards of glass moved across the floor and into the dustpan.
Kylo was rushing but trying to be thorough.
“How’d you get your dog in there with you?” Velle asked, sensing that distraction was what I needed so I didn’t start freaking out now that I was safe.
“I had pepperoni pizza in my hand,” I admitted. “I tossed it in.”
“That’ll do it,” Velle said. “Are you hurt?”
“I… no. No, I’m okay. I heard their shoes crunching on the gravel and I just… ran.”
“Good instincts. I want to mentally prepare you,” he said, wincing a bit.
“They trashed my house.”
“They did. And it wasn’t like they were just tossing it to look for hiding spaces. They were just… assholes.”
“I figured,” I agreed. “After what they did to my shop.”
“Okay. I think I got it all, but I’m going to lay down the comforter from your bed so we can coax Ernest out,” Kylo explained. “Then Velle can pick him up and carry him outside.”
I was going to ask why he couldn’t pick up Ernest, but at the sound of his name, Ernest pushed at me from behind.
So the second the comforter was down, I crawled out, then moved aside to let Ernest do the same.
Ernest was quick.
Velle was faster.
He swooped down, snagging my chunky dog around the middle before he could rush off the blanket. Then he picked him up and carried him. Ernest’s front legs went over Velle’s shoulder. His tongue lolled out, then licked Velle’s ear.
“Yeah, nice to meet you too, bud,” Velle said, moving out of the room with him.
“Hey, you’re okay,” Kylo said, watching me with growing concern in his eyes.
It wasn’t until he said it that I noticed my body was shaking head to toe, all the adrenaline seeking an exit now that the danger had passed.
“Yeah,” I agreed. Even my voice sounded shaky as I dropped back on my heels. Tears pricked my eyes, and I lifted my hands to try to hide my face, saw the grime coating them, and dropped them with a pathetic sob.
Kylo, hesitant before, dropped down with me then, reaching for me—filth and all—and pulling me until I was on his lap, my legs on either side of his, my head buried in his neck.
The familiar scent of him, the feel of him, only seemed to make me cry harder.
His arms tightened around me, squeezing me almost to the point of cutting off my air.
“You came,” I choked out.
“Of course I came. I’m not gonna let them do anything to you,” he vowed.
I believed him.
No matter what had happened between us, no amount of trying to repaint him as the bad guy could make me believe he was a bad man.