Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 76396 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76396 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
I clench my eyes shut, and take a staggering breath.
I have to trust someone, sometime.
I drop the knife, and my fingers burn from the slashes I’ve just created in them.
I don’t care.
I ignore the blood running down my palm, and get to my feet, unlocking the door.
Then I take a shaky breath and step back, watching Slater, Malakai and Maverick enter the room.
They’re alone.
I exhale and drop to my knees, hands hitting the ground and making me cry out in pain as I tear the wounds even more.
“Fuck,” Slater says, dropping to his knees and taking hold of my hands. “You’re cut up, pretty bad.”
“I...I got the knife. Like you said.”
“Good girl,” he murmurs, looking up at Malakai. “Check out the rest of the bakery, and then bring the truck as close as you can to the entrance. Not riskin’ that fucker getting anywhere near her.”
Malakai nods. “Already on it, brother.”
Him and Maverick rush off, and Slater turns back to me. He lets my hands go only for a second, to pull off his shirt, and then he uses that shirt to wrap around my hands, binding them sort of together. Then, he looks me in the eye, “Do you trust that I won’t hurt you, darlin’?”
I hold his eyes, and I nod.
Because I do trust that.
He leans down and scoops me into his arms, lifting me up into them. I clench my eyes shut, because it doesn’t feel normal to me, even though I trust him. But after a few minutes of my face being buried against his chest, and smelling the comforting scent of him, I relax. I keep my eyes closed as he carries me out, and it seems like the world around me just stops, and becomes so much safer. Like nothing can penetrate the protective shield it feels like he puts around me.
“You’re comin’ back to my house. I’ll call Erin.”
I say nothing, I just let him carry me to the truck which Malakai has managed to get really close to the back door. He opens a door and Slater slides me onto the back seat. Then he gets in next to me. He buckles my seatbelt on, and then orders Malakai, “Take me back to my place, we’ll go from there.”
“Will get the other guys over, too,” Malakai says. “Need a plan, a stronger one. He got too close.”
“Yeah,” Slater murmurs. “He fuckin’ did. It won’t be happening again.”
But Slater doesn’t know...that when that monster sets his mind to it, he’ll find a way.
He’s smart.
And he’s tricky.
And there is always a loop hole.
Even in the best laid plans.
I’m not safe.
I won’t ever be safe again while there is air in his lungs.
The only way for me to be free.
Is for him to die.
~*~*~*~
THEN – SLATER
“Close your eyes.”
Ellie stares at me, hair soft and flowing around her shoulders, make up light and fuckin’ beautiful, dressed like a damned angel for our date.
“I don’t like scary surprises, Slater Knight...”
She scrunches up her pretty nose, and I laugh, leaning down and slamming my shoulder into her belly. Then I launch her up and over mine. She squeals, and laughs, and then starts slamming her little fists onto my back.
“You put me down right now, Slater Knight, I won’t have it!”
I chuckle. “You make things hard for me, woman, then I have to take matters into my own hands.”
She squeals as I carry her towards my truck and open the door, flopping her down onto the seat. I buckle her in, and then go around to the driver’s side. “Now, you can close your eyes,” I say as I get in, “Or I can make you close your eyes...”
Her mouth opens, and then closes, and she huffs before closing her eyes.
I grin.
“Ready?” I ask.
“No.”
I chuckle.
We start driving. It takes less than twenty minutes to get to the large lake on the outskirts of town. I hired a boat for a day, a fuckin’ expensive, fuckin’ nice sail boat, with lunch included. I don’t even know if she likes boats, so I’m hopin’ this doesn’t come back and bite me in the ass.
“Keep your eyes closed,” I say as I get out of the truck, and walk around to her side.
She still has her eyes closed, even if she is scowling, which only makes her look fuckin’ cuter. I lean in, and press a kiss to her nose. She startles, and then her cheeks burn red.
“W-w-w-what was that for?”
“For bein’ so fuckin’ beautiful.”
I help her out, and I don’t miss her smile and rosy cheeks as we walk down towards the boat. The man driving it, waves, but doesn’t say anything.
“I hear water,” Ellie says.
“Yeah, you’re goin’ to walk up a ramp, don’t trip.”
“Is it a boat? Are we going on a boat?”
Her voice turns into an excited squeal, and I breathe a sigh of relief. Thank fuck.