Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 127484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
I licked my chapped lips, throat suddenly dry as I realized I hadn’t had a sip of water in … how long?
Knox noted this and immediately stopped his menacing, threatening dance to direct me to the small fridge in the room—surprising that it had one—where he found a bottle of water he uncapped then passed to me. He did this while keeping one hand on me at all times, as if he were afraid I was going to fall off the face of the earth if he let me go.
I greedily sipped the water, all the while feeling more and more in love with the caretaking side of Knox coexisting right alongside the cold-blooded murderer.
Once I was done, I looked up at Knox, who was cataloging my bruises. He capped the water bottle then lifted up my shirt once more to regard the swelling on my stomach.
His fingers brushed the skin in a barely-there touch.
“We need to watch for internal bleeding,” he said, his voice chilly. “Might’ve cracked some ribs, though there’s nothing to be done about that except time. And blood.” He glanced up. “No more of yours will be spilled. But don’t ask me to take this without punishment.”
It was as close to a beg as I’d ever get from him.
I stroked his cheek. “Don’t ask me to put your vengeance before my sister’s safety,” I pleaded.
I saw the change in his eyes. Not before the battle, though. This was someone who had previously defined himself by not caring for others, not having a weakness. I was asking for him to show what he perceived as weakness.
It made sense that it would be a battle. I worried he simply wouldn’t be capable of it. Not in the face of the brutality I’d endured. I knew that woke up something primal in him.
After a long pause, he nodded. “I’ll send Joey to get her right away.”
My body sagged.
I leaned up to kiss him on the lips. Gently.
And he kissed me back. Gently.
“But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to kill them with my bare hands.”
Although I thought such a gesture was impossible minutes ago, I smiled against his lips. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
It was somewhat of a dilemma as to what to do with me once Joey left. Knox didn’t want me anywhere near what he was about to do. But he also didn’t want to let me go.
His hands were on me every moment, moments we knew were scant. I wasn’t sure how long ago my captors had left for dinner, but they were likely due back any moment. We had rented the room next door, situated in there waiting. Knox’s eyes remained firmly on the window that opened to the parking lot, watching for headlights to illuminate the dark room.
He was coiled, tense, had retreated back behind the façade of the killer he wore so well. But he hadn’t retreated completely. He cast concerned glances my way every few seconds.
“Where did you go?” I asked, a question that had been bubbling around in my mind for a while now.
He didn’t look at me, clutching the ragged curtain. “I went to Maine.”
I frowned, thinking about the distance he covered and how it explained why he was gone for so long.
“My brother lives there,” he continued.
His brother. The one other person he said he cared about.
“I went to him for … help.”
His voice was strained, fractured. Mingled with coldness and vulnerability
“Help?” I repeated. I couldn’t fathom Knox asking for help. What a huge battle that must’ve been for him. He would’ve had to abandon all of his pride, the story he told of himself being unbreakable, in order to ask for help.
“I don’t know how to walk this path, Piper,” he said looking back to the window. “I don’t have the parts for it. I—”
He was cut off by the lights that passed then pulled into the parking lot.
My body strained with tension, both of us silent as doors closed. Muffled male voices and laughter sounded as the door next to us locked, opened and closed.
“Stay here,” he demanded, not waiting for me to speak, not looking at me. He just left.
It was quiet. However, he did it. I barely heard anything beyond a small muffling of a shout and a thump.
That was it.
I was wringing my hands, sitting statue-straight on the bed, unable to move, though I longed for a shower to wash off the filth and blood. I used the restroom because the cramp against my stomach felt more to do with nature than man at that point. And on top of the shit sandwich of a situation, I’d gotten my period. Another fun little tidbit about being barren… You got to keep all the horrible things that show you’re fertile except you’re actually not.
I’d gotten a tampon from the bag on the bed, a bag of clothes and toiletries Knox had had the presence of mind to grab from the cabin. He’d not only understood that we wouldn’t be going back there but he’d had hope that he’d find me, and I’d be alive to use the contents of the bag.