Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 47196 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 189(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47196 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 189(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
He lies down next to me, on top of the covers. I press my body against his, and after a brief moment, he wraps me in his arms.
My cheek is pressed against his chest, and the steady thump of his heart beating is soothing in a way I can’t explain. “Thank you.”
He tenses under me, but I continue. “Thank you for today, Zach. If you weren’t here… if you didn’t show up when you did…”
His voice is raw. “Please, don’t thank me. He should never have been able to touch you.”
I clench my eyes shut, trying to not let my mind go there. “But it could have been so much worse.”
His silence worries me. I want to ask him about it, but sleep starts to take me.
I’m not sure how long I’ve been asleep, but when I wake up, Zach is sitting on the chair in the corner of the room, just staring at me. I start to get up, and he’s by my side in an instant. “What’s wrong? What do you need?”
I laugh and throw the covers off. “I need to pee.”
He scoops me up in his arms and carries me to the bathroom.
“Zach, I can walk.”
He just grunts. He doesn’t say anything else until he sets my feet on the bathroom floor and then hovers next to me. “Are you hungry? You didn’t eat breakfast or lunch, and you should eat something.”
“Yeah, I could eat.”
He stands there, staring at me, and I give him a playful shove. “You, uh, going to go so I can take care of business?”
He doesn’t smile. Doesn’t laugh, nothing. He backs out of the bathroom and grabs the door, not closing it all the way. “I’ll be right here if you need me.”
I pull my pants down and sit, but even though I need to go, I can’t. “Zach.”
Instantly, he has the door open and is standing in front of me. I put a hand up. “Hey, uh, can you close the door? I can’t do this with you listening to me.”
He doesn’t want to, but he walks back out and shuts the door. Quickly, I take care of my business, wash my hands, throw some water on my face, and then brush my teeth. My hair is standing up all over the place, so I pull a brush through my wayward strands.
Only when I feel more put-together do I walk back out of the bathroom. Zach is waiting for me, and he doesn’t say anything, just scoops me up and carries me back to bed. “Lie down and I’ll get you something to eat.”
As soon as he releases me, he’s practically sprinting from the room.
I put my back against the headboard and look at the empty doorway. An uneasy feeling comes over me.
When Zach comes back, he’s carrying a drink and a big plate of food. He sets the water bottle on the nightstand and holds the plate out to me. It’s filled with crackers, meats, and cheeses. “This looks good.”
“Terry,” he explains.
I nod and take a bite. I pull my feet up under me. “Have a seat.”
Instead of sitting on the bed next to me, he sits on the chair. I take a few bites, thinking of what I need to say, and when I think I have my thoughts together, I set the plate down on the empty bed beside me. “Talk to me.”
Zach is staring at his hands. “What do you want to talk about?”
CHAPTER 19
ZACH
I knew that we were going to have this conversation, but I don’t want to do it now. Skyler moves to the side of the bed, letting her legs dangle over the side so she’s facing me. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”
I stand up and start pacing the bedroom. “What’s wrong? You could have been killed today. You could have been—”
She cuts me off. “But I wasn’t.”
I stop, facing the wall, unable to look at her. “But you could have been, Skyler. I fucked up. I shouldn’t have—”
I stop, unable to say the words that I’ve been thinking all morning. So many scenarios have played out in my head. If I had kept my distance and treated this like the job it was, I would have been downstairs already. I wouldn’t have been in her bedroom while she was down there being attacked.
I can hear the hurt in Skyler’s voice. “You shouldn’t have what?”
I open my mouth but quickly close it. I can’t say it. I shake my head.
Hurt turns to anger. “No, Zach, you don’t get to just stand there and say something like that and not finish it. What is it? What shouldn’t you have done?”
I let my head hang. I fucked up, and I don’t know how I can explain that to her.
Her voice is small and broken. “You shouldn’t have had sex with me? Shouldn’t have made me love you? Shouldn’t have what, Zach?”