Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 85228 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85228 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
My skin is still heated, still on fire, both from the confrontation with Scott Wilson and with the time I spent with Caitlyn in the kitchen this morning.
The ride back to the cabin takes longer than I feel it should, but traffic is at a fucking crawl through the main stretch of town. Unlike a lot of other places in the country, Tennessee seems to be one way in and one way out as the roads follow the curves of the mountainsides.
I breathe a sigh of relief when I pull into the driveway and see her car still there.
My threats to Scott mean nothing. If I've learned anything about men with obsessions, even the threat of death doesn't usually keep them away. I have no doubt tonight wasn't the last time I'd have a run-in with the man, but knowing she's safe at this moment is enough that I can pull in a full breath of air.
We didn't talk much after the kitchen sex. I managed to take a step back and pull the used condom from my dick without falling on my ass. As I lifted my eyes from the trash can, it was just in time to watch her bend to grab her clothes and scurry out of the kitchen.
"You coming with us?" Lark asks as he steps out on the front porch before I can make it to the door.
"Where are we going?" I ask, knowing better than to volunteer for anything before I get the details.
"Jericho, Aspen, Eli, the doc, and that strange-looking dog are heading toward the indoor dog park. Hemlock asked for some backup. Seems it's a little more crowded tonight than he anticipated," my teammate explains.
I turn on my heels, following him right back off the porch. I regret leaving Scott alone in his parking lot. What if he somehow knows that Caitlyn isn't at the club tonight but instead is at some fucking dog park?
I climb into the passenger side of the SUV parked out front, wishing a little too late as Lark gets in the driver's seat and pulls out of the parking lot that I had taken my own vehicle.
The drive to the indoor dog park is just as slow because of traffic as it was to get back to the cabin earlier.
Lark rambles on about the job he was working recently, and it makes me wonder just how free so many of the guys are. It's a blessing that they've never really been touched by the same brand of trauma I've been through. I wouldn't wish my pain on anyone, but at the same time, they could be a little more introspective and a little less fucking talkative.
"Do you just like to hear your own voice?" I grumble as we pull up to what seems like the hundredth fucking red light.
"Have you heard me sing?" the man asks with a wide grin, his attention still on the traffic in front of him. "It's like angels on earth."
"Vanity is a sin," I mumble.
"Good thing I don't believe in God then, huh?"
I snap my eyes in his direction. I'm not a very religious person, but it isn't often that someone will just come out and admit they don't conform to some sort of religious norm.
"I'm not going to have a discussion about religion with you," I mutter, pulling my eyes away from the vehicle beside us at the red light when the driver of the minivan looks in my direction.
"You should know by now that I don't have to have someone listening to have a full-on conversation," he says, humor in his voice. "What I will say is that I don't understand someone worshipping a god that seems keen on hurting people."
"God doesn't hurt people," I murmur. "People hurt people."
"God is supposed to be all-seeing, all-knowing, and perfect. Which means that if he existed, he could create a perfect world. Instead of doing that, he created a world where children die of cancer. That alone tells me that if God exists, he's at minimum a sadist."
I ignore his words, but I feel them deep in my soul.
I live in a world where someone falls asleep, and innocent little boys burn to death. It wouldn't be my first time to doubt the existence of God, but my mind prefers to blame the deity. It makes the day easier than blaming myself. If God doesn't exist, then it becomes my fault that my sons died, and I don't know if I could ever come out from under the weight of that.
"This doesn't look like much," Lark says as he pulls up in front of the building as the navigation directs him.
The simple metal building is set off the main road as if an afterthought of the town's more flashy attractions.
"This doesn't look like a place that Caitlyn would come to," I mutter before I can think twice.