Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Unable to believe the way she and Charleigh had welcomed me into their lives as if they’d known me forever.
I had to admit, it made me feel comfortable and safe.
As if I might be able to trust them with anything.
Harder to believe was how grateful I’d been that they did.
How I’d let go and allowed myself to feel a part of a group in a way I hadn’t done in all of my adult life.
Following the GPS, about a half mile down, I pulled into the parking lot of Moonlit Ridge Grocers. The supermarket was smaller than any that you’d find in a city, set in a building with a pitched roof and exuding a cozy cabin vibe.
Surrounded by the gorgeous woods of this small town.
I found a spot on the right side of the parking lot, and I eased into the space, shut off the engine, and climbed out. I grabbed a cart, went inside, and began to move up and down the aisles.
Trying to force Kane out of my mind but unable to as I shopped, grabbing the things that I’d learned that he liked.
Fresh cherries and organic whole milk and Oreo cookies. The man’s taste in food as contradicting as his personality.
A small smile tugged at my mouth when I moved through the frozen aisle and found the Cherry Garcia ice cream that he’d told Maci was his absolute number one favorite when she’d been grilling him on the subject over breakfast this morning.
The whole time, I picked all of her favorites, too, my time away from them not even close to being that since the only thing I did was think of them every second.
I’d been away from them for less than thirty minutes, and I was already yearning to get back to them.
Satisfied I’d loaded the cart with everything we needed, I went to a register, paid, then pushed into the warmth of the summer day.
I headed for where I’d parked the SUV on the far side of the lot, clicking the button to open the tailgate as I crossed the space. It glided open, and I angled the cart to the side and began to pile the bags into the back.
A sudden sensation slicked through my being.
A sticky awareness that sent my heart thrumming wild.
And I realized it wasn’t just because I was anxious to get home.
It was that sense again.
The skitter of spider legs that crawled across my flesh.
A shiver rolled through me, and I slowly shifted to peer over my shoulder and into the parking lot.
Across it, I saw a woman with two children loading groceries into a minivan and a man carrying one bag opening the door to his truck.
Irritation rolled through me. There was absolutely nothing to be worried about.
I whipped back around and finished loading the bags into the back, and I turned around so I could return the cart to the corral.
Only I gasped when a blur came at me from out of nowhere. A rush of maliciousness that flew up from behind.
A hand clapped over my mouth, and a thick arm locked around my waist, pinning me against the horrid wall of wickedness.
Evil oozing out and blackening my sight.
Terror ricocheted through my body as the deviant began to drag me backward where we were almost completely hidden from the lot by the angle of the car. Toward the dense copse of trees that surrounded the store and lot.
No.
No, no, no.
Flailing, I kicked and jerked. A frantic, desperate bid to break free of the painful hold.
My nails raked at the only bare flesh I could find on him—a sliver of it at his wrists where the long sleeves of his black tee didn’t meet the leather gloves that he wore.
“You bitch,” the ungodly voice hissed in my ear. “You want me to make this hurt? Stop squirming, and maybe I’ll make it easy for you.”
He meant make it easy for him.
That was not going to happen.
I gripped onto the wrist of the hand that covered my mouth, causing him to release it for a fraction of a second.
It was enough time to release a scream. A scream full of rage and anger and all the fear I’d kept contained for too many years.
And I fought, tearing and ripping at his hold as he tried to pull me into the forest where there was no question I’d be forever lost.
I rammed an elbow into his ribs.
He grunted out in pain, though it rebounded in indignation.
“You fucking whore. The things I’m going to let them do to you.” He grated the threat at my ear.
Horrors spun. A thousand of them that hit me in a torrent of appalling flashes.
Things I’d suppressed.
Three days of agony.
Three days of torture and hell.
A lifetime of it that Jana had lived, however short that was likely to have been.