Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70516 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70516 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
If they could, Nettie would have.
She felt downright fragile in my arms.
“You’re kind of scrawny for being a professional athlete,” I pointed out.
Nettie’s breath hitched. “I’m small. Everyone tells me so. But I’m scrappy.”
She sniffled hard and pulled away, wiping at her eyes. “The bad thing is, Eddy is incredibly wildlife-conscious. She always prepares. Always. How does this even happen? You know that she never leaves without bear spray? Even if she’s just walking down the road.”
“She had bear spray,” Creed called as he came around the corner in time to hear Nettie’s words. “The can was empty right next to where she was attacked.”
“Fuck,” I replied.
“That’s another indication as to the bear having rabies. There’s not much that wouldn’t make a bear run from that.”
There was a commotion in the hallway beyond where we were standing, and I stepped in front of Nettie as I got a good look at the doctors and nurses surrounding a gurney.
What I saw was a mop of curly brown hair matted with blood. Then I saw the blood covering white dressings. An arm in a splint. Then the gaping open wound along Eddy’s torso. Five jagged lines right across her stomach to where I could see…
My brain refused to make any connections from that point forward.
But I knew that I would forever remember the way that she looked lying there on that gurney, face pale.
“Was that her?”
“Yeah,” I croaked.
“Did she look okay?” Nettie demanded.
Creed and I exchanged a look before I said, “She looked okay.”
That was one of the biggest lies I’d ever told in my life, and I’d told a thousand of them.
Only, this one had the power to gut me.
Thirteen
I wore this outfit yesterday, but since I’m going different places today it’s okay to wear it again.
—Eddy to Nettie
Weaver
“I have a few things for you.” Apollo popped into my line of sight.
I blinked tired eyes at him.
I’d stayed at the hospital until I’d absolutely had to leave for work.
My back was absolutely killing me from lying crossways across several hard, plastic chairs in the hospital waiting room.
And my left finger was numb fifteen minutes after prying myself out of the chairs.
“Where did you come from?” I muttered as I walked stiffly down the hospital corridor. “And how did you know where I was?”
I had to be at work in thirty minutes, and I still needed to get home to change before going.
“Here,” Apollo said as he handed me a coffee.
I practically inhaled it.
“I knew where you were because I pretty much have control of every single camera in this area, and great computer programming that has even better facial recognition software,” Apollo answered. “I feel like y’all are my little ants. I keep an eye on every single one of you from morning until night sometimes to make sure you don’t die out here on your own.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Your fake wife is out of surgery and responding well despite the obvious,” Apollo said. “They’re very hopeful since she made it through the night.”
That made me happy to hear.
Since you could only have one person back in the ICU at the time, Nettie had gone. And I hadn’t argued. Because what right did I have to demand that I go instead of her own sister?
She’d said that she would update me and I could go home, but I hadn’t wanted to leave, just in case.
It wasn’t like I could do anything for her if shit hit the fan, but I almost felt like my presence here was required…just in case.
“That’s good,” I rasped. “Thank you for figuring that out.”
“She had over a thousand stitches,” Apollo said. “Did they tell you that?”
“They did,” I said. “They were able to set her arm well. She’ll be in a cast all the way up to her armpit for the next several weeks, if not months. Her concussion wasn’t a concussion at all. But they’re still watching that just in case.”
“That’s what I read from the medical reports,” Apollo said. “As to the reason I came down here, I decided that I needed to find the information myself. I have to be in their house to do that, though. And what better way to get them out of their house than to use this perfect opportunity of a hurt child?”
I hated that he was right.
“You’re going to sneak into their place?”
“I’m going to set fire to it.” Apollo’s eyes gleamed.
I blinked. “What?”
“Set fire to it.” He paused. “Which’ll then get firefighters involved. We’re going to have the lady behind call it in when she sees smoke.”
“Okay.” I shook my head. “What ever happened with the stuff they were burning?”
“They never got to light it because the old lady a house over from theirs reminded them that you couldn’t burn in the city limits. So they took everything back inside.” Apollo rubbed his hands together. “This place is so great for my brain. Y’all are coming up with so much shit that I get to deal with. I never get to do stuff like this at home.”