Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 151384 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151384 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
“Yeah. All right.”
“I just don’t want anything to happen to my girl.” He drew her close and she sunk into him.
God, she wished she was his girl.
9
Immy paced up and down the foyer.
Maeve and Gray were due here any moment.
That was her boyfriend’s name. Gray Hawkins.
Amazing name. It really suited him.
“Immy, stop pacing,” Jenner called out. “Have you had anything to eat today?”
“I made cookies.”
He scowled. “Cookies are not food.”
Sure they were. “Well, they’re not lumps of coal.” She peeked out of the window. Was that a car coming up the drive? Was it them?
“They’re a treat—hey! Where do you think you’re going!” Jenner yelled.
But she ignored him. That was definitely Maeve. Excitement filled Immy. Lately, she’d been bogged down with worry. And the guys were being ridiculously overprotective of her. It felt like Immy couldn’t even pee without one of them trying to follow her into the bathroom.
She was going insane.
So she wasn’t really thinking properly when she raced down the stairs toward the car. Her legs just sort of took on a life of their own. And they didn’t want to stop as the car headed toward her.
Oh. Cupcakes.
The car slammed on its brakes and she could see Gray and Maeve staring at her through the windshield. She knew she’d likely gone pale. Her heart was racing, her stomach tied in knots.
Unicorn poop.
What did she think she was doing? Gray jumped out of the car and suddenly Jenner was there, grabbing hold of her, running his hands over her.
Oh. That was nice. The fear and shock was gradually replaced by pleasure at his touch.
Yes, there was something really wrong with her.
Jenner drew her against him, squeezing her tight.
God. He smelled so good. Why did he smell like chocolate and cinnamon?
Immy loved chocolate and cinnamon.
Then it all went downhill as he took hold of her shoulders and started yelling at her.
“Why did you do that?” he yelled, shaking her. “That was foolish, what the hell were you thinking, Immy! You could have been run over!”
“I-I’m so sorry.” Immy rubbed her hands together. If there was one thing that she hated, it was being yelled at. All of her childhood, her father would yell. He’d always tell her off for every little thing. After they’d left the cult, he’d grown calmer.
But still, the memory was there. And the damage was done. Immy could handle being scolded. But being yelled at threw her back into the past. She also hated upsetting people.
Especially Jenner.
“I didn’t mean to,” she explained. “My feet got away from me.”
There was a bit of a slope in the driveway and her feet sometimes just did what they wanted to do without her permission.
“She’s safe, Jenner,” Maeve said. “Stop yelling.”
“What?” Jenner replied. “I’m not yelling. Am I?” A look of guilt filled his face as he stared down at her. Then he quickly removed his hands from her shoulders.
Gray was growling at Maeve for moving around on her own, but Immy barely paid them any attention. Nope, she was too busy feeling dumb and stupid.
Then she saw Gray pick Maeve up. Okay, wow. That was so sweet and romantic.
“The doctor never said anything about me not walking,” Maeve grumbled at Gray.
If Jenner wanted to pick her up, she wouldn’t protest. If he just wanted to carry her around everywhere like a baby . . . yeah, she’d like that a lot.
“She said you’re to take it easy, though,” Gray countered.
“That doesn’t mean I can’t walk,” Maeve protested. “It means no running or exercising excessively. And trust me, if I’m running, we’ve got bigger problems than my health. It means the zombies have attacked or killer robots or enraged hamsters.”
“Enraged hamsters?” Gray asked.
“Those things are evil.”
Immy couldn’t believe that Maeve still thought that poor little hamsters were evil. They’d grown up with pure evil. Hamsters were just, well, furry rats. Weren’t they?
“Hamsters are not evil, Maeve,” Immy said.
“You saw that movie too,” Maeve told Immy. “I had nightmares for weeks about evil hamsters.”
“Movie?” Gray asked.
“Some cartoon movie,” Jenner explained. “Maeve has an overactive imagination.”
“Hey, take that back,” Maeve protested. “I remember you nearly peeing yourself when we watched that horror movie with that guy in the mask.”
“That’s different! He was going around hacking and stabbing people. And I was ten.”
“We snuck into a movie theater,” Maeve explained to Gray. “They were playing Halloween reruns back-to-back. We thought we were old enough to deal with it. We were not.”
“I don’t think we need to talk about that,” Immy said hastily. She didn’t want to think about that memory. It was the only time they’d dared sneak away from the cult. They’d only managed it because they’d snuck into the back of a truck that had been heading into town to get supplies for the Camp.
The return trek had been more difficult. They’d managed to jump onto the back of a flatbed truck for part of the way, then they’d walked the rest. She had ended up being piggybacked by the guys for most of it.