Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 67975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Car lights halt me a few times, but it’s the one that is going incredibly slow that has me hiding deeper into the bushland and not moving until it passes. They’re looking for me. That’s Bennett’s car, and he’s clearly got the job of looking up and down the road.
The car comes up, and down, and up, and down, and I’m forced to stay hidden for well over half an hour, ignoring Alarick’s calls because I don’t want to risk him seeing a light. When the car finally disappears and stays gone for a little while, I get up and keep moving, pulling out my phone and dialing.
“I know where you are, Karen told me. Sit tight, we’re on our way. When you hear the bikes, you move quickly. You understand?”
“Yes,” I whisper.
He hangs up, and my heart aches. Mostly because not once did he ask if I’m okay. When I said I’m hurt, he didn’t say where, or how? He didn’t panic. He just did what he had to do and was done with it. That hurts more than anything on my body right now, because I feel like something just changed—in a big way.
I stay hidden but keep moving down the road farther and farther until finally I hear the rumble of bikes in the distance. As soon as the lights are close enough, I step out of the bushes and watch as the bikes come to a stop. Four of them. Alarick, Cohen, Mykel and Kendric. All of them looking at me like they might just throttle me. I can’t say I blame them. I know I’ve made a huge mistake.
It was never my intention to cause this kind of problem.
I drop my head down and walk to Alarick’s bike, taking the helmet and pulling it over my head. Then I climb on, and without another word, they’re off.
I know what I just did was stupid.
I know I’ve just put everyone’s lives as risk.
I know it, but there is nothing I can do to take it back.
I just have to deal with the fall out, and what a fall out it’s going to be.
I’m not sure I’m ready.
14
FLICK
“Explain to me exactly what fuckin’ happened,” I growl, pacing back and forth across the room as Briella sits on my sofa, her head down.
I try not to focus on the bloodied scratches on her face.
Or the way her hands are all torn up.
I try to look away from the bruising on her cheeks.
And the way she’s limping.
I know she’s hurt, and every single part of me wants to take that hurt away but I’m so damned angry right now, I can’t see beyond it. I don’t know what she was thinking, I don’t know what the fuck ever made her think it was a good fucking idea to do what she just did. She could have been killed. Now, we’re going to have an angry Dax on our cases, like we haven’t had enough trouble with him as it is.
She just lit a match in a gasoline filled room, and now everyone is going to be burned.
“I saw Bennett’s car when I was driving around,” she says softly. “I walked over and it was unlocked, I thought maybe I would be able to find something in there, some information or anything, really. As I was looking, he came back. I had no choice but to hide in the back, because it wasn’t worth the risk if I got out. It wasn’t meant to happen. I didn’t know he was going to come back. I know how stupid it sounds, but I thought I could quickly look and ...”
“You thought fuckin’ wrong,” I growl. “You didn’t think at all, if we’re puttin’ it out there.”
“I know you’re angry ...”
“Angry?” I bark. “I’m so far beyond fuckin’ angry, I can’t even see straight. What you just did was the stupidest fuckin’ thing I’ve ever heard of. You put everyone at risk, but mostly, you risked your own life. Was it worth that? Did you want to fuckin’ die?”
She looks down and a tear rolls down her cheeks. It tugs at my heart strings, and I calm my voice down, just a touch. I don’t want to make her feel any fucking worse but at the same time I need her to know she made a big fuckin’ mistake.
“Tell me what happened after that?”
She exhales and then tells me. “I was in the car for a while, hours ... and the sun was setting so I figured I could get out and make a run for it. It wasn’t the smartest thing I’ve done. The second I got out, alarms sounded and they were after me. I decided the only way I was getting out was to climb a tree and jump the massive fence. Hence all the injuries.”