Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 154595 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154595 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
A burden.
A chill ran through her and she stiffened as she felt someone step up behind her.
“You ran, Little Birdie. That was so naughty when I wanted to play.”
She turned just as someone grabbed her from behind. Instead of dragging her away from the pool, though, they shoved her in. She immediately pushed up. Fear flooded her. She could swim, but she wasn’t that good.
And if this asshole tried to drown her . . .
She attempted to swim away, but he must have jumped in as well, because he grabbed her, forcing her under the water. His hand was in her hair, holding her head down.
Fight, Maeve.
Fight!
She tried to kick him. To claw at him. But nothing was dislodging the hold he had on her.
This was it . . . she was going to die.
And she never even got to tell Gray how she felt. Sure, she hadn’t been planning on doing that but now that she knew she was going to die, what would she have had to lose?
Blackness filled her vision.
Her lungs burned.
Her body begged her to take a breath.
Pain. It hurt so bad.
And then it didn’t.
Lethargy filled her and she stopped fighting. What was the point? This was how her life ended.
Slowly, the world went black.
Gray was surprised at how easily he managed to get onto the grounds of Knight’s place. Shouldn’t he have better security? He’d been unable to get through the gates. The asshole in the booth hadn’t reacted to threats or bribes. He had placed a call through to Knight’s house. But when that had gone unanswered, the security guard had told him he’d have to go before he called the cops.
Since he wasn’t interested in pulling the attention of the cops, he’d left to make different plans. Instead, he’d waited until dark so he could sneak through the gated community. Jesse had found Knight’s exact address so he knew where he was going.
But still . . . it shouldn’t be this easy. He’d thought for sure he’d run into trouble already.
Moving closer to the pool, he heard a splashing noise and then he saw someone climbing from the pool. They paused, looking over at him but he was too far away to see them properly. Then they took off.
What the fuck? Who was that?
Part of him wanted to go after the guy.
But there was a larger part urging him to go see why he’d been in the pool.
Go. Go. Go.
He’d never been one to ignore his gut, so he ran toward the pool, coming to a sudden stop as he saw there was someone floating in it.
Someone with long hair.
“No!” he yelled. He dove in, not caring about his shoes or phone. Grabbing her, he flipped her over and searched frantically for a pulse.
No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening.
There! She had a pulse, but she wasn’t breathing. He quickly got her to the side of the pool and heaved them both up. Then he started breathing into her mouth.
“Come on, baby.” Breathe.
“Don’t leave me.” Breathe.
“I fucking love you.” Breathe.
Suddenly, she started coughing. He rolled her onto her side into the recovery position. The coughing continued until she began to vomit.
Fuck. Poor baby.
Relief flooded him as he heard her gasping for breath. But she wasn’t out of the woods yet. He felt for his phone, pulling it out of his pocket. Fuck, it was soaked and not working. Picking her up, he headed into the house. He grabbed a blanket off the sofa, then set her on the floor and quickly stripped her down to her underwear.
Where was Knight? Had he left her here on her own?
He wrapped the blanket around her and searched for a phone. He didn’t see one. Fuck. Most people didn’t have landlines these days and he could waste precious time searching for one. It would probably be quicker to drive her to the emergency room himself.
Picking her back up, he took note of how blue her lips were.
Fuck. Fuck.
“Do not die, Maeve. If you die, I will fucking follow you. I will find you and I will spank your ass until you can’t sit again without a memory of how much I fucking need you.”
He raced through the house.
Security here was shit. No way was his girl staying here any longer. She’d be coming home with him once she was well. Where he could make sure she was kept healthy and happy.
He wouldn’t be trusting her care to anyone else.
And he didn’t much give a shit what she thought.
He raced down the street with her in his arms and past the security guard.
“Where are you going? Who have you got? Hey!”
He ignored the asshole, pulling the key out for his rental car as he grew close.
Opening the back door, he laid her down, then put a seatbelt over her.