Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 67468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
I grinned and pocketed the phone before leaning down, lifting Alice awkwardly into my arms—her not giving up her hold around my chest meant I didn’t have any range of motion—and took a seat on the countertop.
She shifted, moved to sit more comfortably on my lap, and sighed.
“Do you want us to go down to The Marina?” Aodhan asked.
“I think for now it’s best that we leave the crime scene untouched so that the police can take a look around without us messing anything up,” Wake suggested. “Sunny’ll kick my ass if we go down there and destroy any evidence that might be there.”
“Agreed,” I admitted. “I think it’d be best to not go down there.”
Because I might very well kill someone if I saw whoever had attacked Alice there.
“Did you hit him or wound him in any way?” Aodhan asked. “Will he have any identifying marks so that we can keep our eyes open for injuries on anyone around town? This is a fairly small community. We should be able to keep our eyes peeled for that.”
She was shaking her head. “The only thing that my attacker might have is a bruise on his shoulder. I shifted so that he had to fall into the water with me, and I think he might’ve hit his shoulder on the dock on the way down. He jerked really weird before we fell in, allowing me to escape him before we’d even hit the water.”
That fucking bastard.
The fact that she had to go into the water at all to escape was enough to send my heart racing.
I squeezed her just a bit tighter in that moment, causing her to look up at me, her eyes so grass green in that moment that I wanted to take a picture so I’d have it forever.
“What?” she asked.
I shook my head, indicating that I didn’t have anything to say. At least not in front of everyone so they’d get to listen to the torture that hearing her in that situation was causing me.
She looked back at Aodhan just in time for him to say, “You did good, girl.”
That was high praise for Aodhan. Aodhan, who barely ever spoke or said much of anything, to be truthful.
He was like that silent presence that you knew would always protect you, but you’d never see.
“Thanks,” Alice whispered.
“Sheriff is here,” Wake, who’d been holed up by the door, said as he kept a close watch outside.
We had most of the lights off, allowing Wake to see out but nobody else to see in.
“Let him in, please,” I urged.
Wake pushed off the window frame with his shoulder, then strolled to the door and opened it before the sheriff could knock.
Karen arrived with a concerned look on her face, with Sheriff Sunny close on her heels.
He looked around, spotted Alice in my arms, and clenched his jaw.
Karen gasped, dashing toward Alice and me.
“You’re hurt?” Karen asked, voice raised.
Her cool composure, that I normally saw her holding on to with a tightness that was worrisome, had disintegrated.
If I’d had any questions about the nature of her and Silvy’s relationship, it was confirmed now. Karen cared about Alice, sure. But she cared about Silvy, more. And this situation would definitely be hurting Silvy.
“Tell me everything that happened,” Sunny ordered.
Before either Alice or I could say anything, every single phone belonging to the Gator Baits and the sheriff dinged at the same time.
Kobe had his in his hand, allowing him to see what it was.
“Your friend hacked my phone and sent me the video of the incident.” Kobe’s jaw twitched, and I wasn’t sure if it was due to Folsom hacking his phone, or what he saw on the screen.
I didn’t go for mine.
I was angry enough as it is. Seeing the attack in action? I’d save that for later when I could make sure that Alice was safe, but not in my arms.
Sunny pulled up his phone and frowned at what he saw.
His hand clenched at his side, and I knew he was watching the video.
“Looks like a younger guy,” Aodhan said after a few minutes. “When he takes his shirt off after getting out of the water—which he had trouble doing because he had no upper body strength—you can see that his belly and chest are underdeveloped. As if he hasn’t quite grown into his body.”
“Agreed,” Sunny said. “The way he walks away so uncertainly, too, indicates he’s young. He doesn’t quite have the confidence of a man yet, if that makes any sense at all.”
“It does,” Wake said, looking up from his phone. “Men have a confidence in their bodies that this kid isn’t showing. And if you look at the beginning of the video, where he has his arms wrapped around Alice, you can tell that he’s not much bigger than her. So I would say around sixteen or seventeen or so. Not a single look at the kid’s face, though.”