Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
And, sure enough, he was right.
I’d pulled on my little blue cardigan, suddenly self-conscious about the state of my dress, of myself, as I stayed behind Riff while we walked down a two-lane road toward what looked like a small town.
“Wait, no. No,” I said, tone more desperate as my hands grabbed the back of Riff’s shirt, pulling until he stopped. “No,” I said again, voice all shaky.
“Whoa, okay,” he said, freezing. “Alright. No, what?”
“No… I don’t want to go down there. Please, don’t make me… not until…”
“Okay. It’s okay,” he said, tone placating. “I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. But I think I might need to go down there to be sure I get service and to get a town name to give to my brother. I won’t make you. If you want, I will settle you into the woods, hidden from the road, and run down there, make my call, and come right back. Is that better?”
I hated feeling so shaky, so breakable.
But, yes, that was better.
I wasn’t going to try to understand why.
I was just going to accept the kindness he was offering me.
“Yes,” I agreed, nodding for emphasis.
“Okay. Then that’s what we’ll do,” he said, walking us closer, before heading up a hill, and finding a particularly dense area of shrubbery to hide me behind. “How do you feel about guns, darlin’?” he asked.
“I… they’re fine, I guess.”
“Would you like to hold onto mine until I get back?” he asked, producing it. “Simple enough. You pull this safety back, then put your finger on the trigger and pull. But try not to shoot me when I come back, okay?” he asked, giving me a boyish grin as he held the gun out to me. “Just to make you feel better about being alone. But I will only be, maybe twenty minutes. I promise.”
“Okay,” I agreed, putting the gun on my lap as I sat, not wanting to do anything accidentally with it. But he was right. It felt good to have it, just in case.
“Twenty minutes,” he said again, more firmly.
I gave him a nod, then watched as he took off out of the woods, this time without me slowing him down, at a dead run.
And I sat and waited for him to return.
Wondering if maybe, just maybe, they would let me go with them. All the way to California. Away from the reach of the men who had turned my life into a horror movie for months.
I guess time would tell.
CHAPTER FIVE
Riff
“Riff! Jesus fucking—“ Raff’s voice met my ear.
“I have almost no charge,” I cut him off. “I’m in a town called Hankersville. Long story. Got a woman with me. She has to come with us. But she’s afraid of being in town, so I’m going to be in the woods on the road leading into the town from the west. Got it?” I asked, cringing as the low battery sound beeped in my ear.
“I got it,” he said, voice tight.
“And Raff?”
“Yeah?”
“Prepare yourself for her. It’s… not good.”
With that, the phone died, and I tucked it back in my pocket as I rushed through the convenience store, grabbing several bottles of electrolyte drinks, energy bars, and two big cups of hot coffee before I paid and walked as quickly as possible back up the street and into the woods.
“Don’t shoot, darlin’,” I called as I got closer to the circle of shrubberies I’d left her behind.
Hearing my voice, she popped up, her eyes all panicked and round, the gun in her trembling hand.
“Got you something warm to drink,” I told her, trading the coffee for the gun without saying anything about the shaking. “And some drinks and protein bars to snack on. Raff is on his way. But I don’t want us to stop anywhere close to this area, so I figured getting a little more food was a good idea.”
“Thank you,” she said, cradling the cup between her hands for a long moment before taking a sip.
The sound that came out of her was practically erotic, and I felt like a complete shit for even thinking that of someone so traumatized.
“I haven’t had coffee in so long,” she admitted, taking another sip.
“I loaded it up with cream and sugar, figured some extra calories are a good idea.”
“This is how I take it,” she told me, taking another sip, eyes closed, a ghost of a smile playing with her lips.
I vowed right then to never take the simple shit for granted again. Because I don’t think I’d ever enjoyed anything as much as she was enjoying that cup of coffee.
“What’s your brother like?” she asked, her gaze watching the trickle of cars on the road in the distance.
“The opposite of me in a lot of ways. He’s more extroverted and fun-loving. Doesn’t take much seriously. Always after a good time. People always love Raff,” I told her. Then, just to make sure she knew it, “You have nothing to worry about with Raff. I promise.”