Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
“I’ll do the same.”
The line went dead, and I darted through the trees, tapping out a message as I went.
Me
Hey, baby. Need you to stay at the bar with the rest of the girls until me or one of the guys gets there. Stick close together.
Didn’t want to freak her out, but I wasn’t taking any chances. Not when I was sure Toga wanted to hurt me every bit as badly as I wanted to hurt him.
I broke out on the other side of the trees, and I ran for Unit B, just needing to get Finn into my arms.
I gave a quick knock at the door, though I didn’t wait for Nelly to open it. I tapped my keycard against the reader and pushed inside.
Nelly’s head popped up from where she was in the kitchen. Surprised air rushed from her lungs. “Criminy, you just about scared the pants off of me, and that is a sight I promise that you don’t want to see.”
Her smile was easy before it drained when she noticed the rage on my face. “What’s going on?”
“My Feo!” Finn popped up from where he was on his belly on the floor scribbling in a coloring book. His little legs carried him in my direction.
I glanced between him and the worry that was etched on Nelly. I snatched him up, breathing in his calming scent, close to the cherries like his mom, though it was mixed with a dose of innocence.
I hugged him tight, allowing the frenzy roiling inside me to abate with him in my arms.
Wrath ran through my blood, but it’d taken a new shape. The truth that the only thing I really wanted to do was protect the ones I loved.
It struck me the second I thought it.
What this was.
The full truth of it.
My arms quivered with the perfect weight of Finn in them, and he babbled and bobbed, “My Feo get back? We get food and a moovie?”
I smoothed my hand down the back of his head and pressed a kiss to his temple. “I might have to go back to work for a little bit, but I’ll be back soon. I promise.”
“Mommy?”
“Mommy will be back really soon, too.”
I set him onto his feet as Nelly slowly wound around the counter.
“What’s going on, Theo?” she asked.
“Don’t want to worry you, but there might be some trouble in town. Going to send the security guard over here to keep an extra eye, and I want you to sit tight and make sure the doors stay locked. You hear anything out of the ordinary, you call me.”
“Did he…find her?” The question heaved out of her.
Disquiet gripped me in an instant. Didn’t know what it was.
This was about Toga.
Still, I lifted my phone, checking for a response from the text I sent Piper.
Nothing.
Anxiety buzzed through my senses.
“I don’t exactly know who that is, Nelly.”
There was a spurring to it.
The foul, grim feeling worming through me telling me I needed to know.
Right then.
Uncertainty passed through her features. “If she didn’t tell you…” She wavered before she rushed, “She kept thinking that he might have found us. Thinking she felt something the way she did when he caught up to us a few years ago. But then she said that it was someone else here at the motel who was in trouble.”
Her throat bobbed heavily as she swallowed. “I told her she needed to tell you everything. That you would hold it. She needs you, Theo. We all need you. And I don’t know what’s going on, but I have this feeling right here.”
She gathered the tips of her fingers over her heart.
Without waiting for more, I dialed Piper’s number, fucking itching while it rang and rang before it went to voicemail.
A crush of fear hit me, and I dialed Emery. She answered on the second ring.
“Well, hello there, Theo,” she drew out on a giggle. A ton of noise echoed around her.
Thank fuck. They were still at the bar.
“Need to talk to Piper,” I grated. “She isn’t answering her phone.”
The giggle died on her tongue. “Theo…she’s not here. She left here a while ago to go home to talk to you.”
Dread spread like a disease.
Infiltrating.
Invading.
“What?” I choked.
“She’s not here.”
“How long has she been gone?”
A sudden frenzy blazed from the other end of the line. “I don’t know…at least thirty minutes. We’ve had another round of drinks since then. I…I saw her Volvo drive by the front of the bar heading north. I thought she was going home.”
“Fuck. You’re sure?”
“Yes. I’m sure it was her. I’m positive it was her in the driver’s seat.”
Terror erupted, and I curled my hand tighter around my phone.
“Who’s with you?” I forced out.
“Charleigh and Raven.”
“Call Kane and tell him to get over there. Do not leave that bar. None of you. Stay put.”