Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 55039 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55039 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
I manage a nod, and he places a hand on my shoulder. “Go to the hospital. I got Winter. Mom and Dad will meet you there.”
Hospital. Yeah, right.
How about no?
Pulling my keys from my pocket, I feel my heart break in my chest.
I knew where he would be. It was more than evident to me. Anderson is an asshole who will never change, no matter how many times you beat him senseless. The gun he used is nowhere in sight as I walk up to him. He holds a beer in his hand as he laughs at something someone said. How dare he sit there like he didn’t just shoot the love of my life?
It takes one knock to the back of his head to send him crashing to the ground, the beer going with him, cutting his hands up as he falls. He screams like the little bitch he is as he turns to face me. I kick him hard in the stomach, making him scream even louder and fall onto his back.
“If she dies, you know you will soon follow,” I tell him, leaning down and grabbing his shirt so I am in his face. He goes to punch me but misses, and I strike him in the face, hearing and feeling the crack of his nose underneath my fist.
Hands wrap around me, pulling me back, but I push and lurch forward, my hands extending toward Anderson again and hitting him once more.
“August.” Strong arms wrap around me, and this time, I’m unable to move. “You need to calm down and tell me whose blood that is.” Anderson is restrained on the ground by a police officer who’s looking up at me.
“He has a gun on him,” I tell him.
The police officer pats down Anderson’s body until he finds the gun and pulls it free.
“How did you know that?” I turn to see Glenn behind me. I haven’t seen him in so long. He looks older, more worn down since I last laid eyes on him. “August, whose blood is that?”
“Rylee’s,” I answer.
“Where is she?” he asks.
“Hospital.”
He nods. “Go. And don’t come back. You were never here.” I look around to see all the police officers surrounding Anderson, their guns trained on him. “I’ve seen her, by the way. She’s beautiful … Winter,” he finishes, offering me a small smile.
With my hands still clenched in fists and bloodied, all I can do is nod and walk out.
Chapter 26
Rylee
I wake to voices. Lots of voices. A hand tightly clutching mine. When I manage to open my eyes, I see my sister by my side, her eyes puffy and red with tears as she sits there staring off at nothing.
“Rhi.” My voice is dry and scratchy, and I lick my lips as she jumps from her seat to hover over me.
“Oh, my God...” She lets go of my hand and runs from the room.
When she comes back, a doctor is with her, and he smiles down at me. “It’s good to finally meet you, Rylee.” I try to smile, but my eyes want to shut. “You did great and are expected to make a full recovery. The bullet missed any major organs, but we had to operate to get it out. You’ll be sore for some time, and I will discuss it more later when I come back to see you.”
“Mommy.” My eyes spring open at that voice. Winter is next to me and looking down at me as August holds her. She reaches for me, but August pulls her back. “Mommy needs to rest right now, but tomorrow, we’ll come back and see how she is.”
“August.”
His eyes are tired, and I think mine more than likely match his.
“She will be fine. She’s been fine,” August says.
August shuffles out, and as he does, I notice my brother sitting in one of the seats near the window. “He beat him, put him in the hospital,” Beckham says as I watch him groggily. “I should have done it, but August got to him first. Anderson,” he adds, telling me who he’s talking about—as if I didn’t know.
“He can’t,” I say, shaking my head.
August can’t go back to where he was.
Especially now.
He has a family.
“Glenn was there, and he covered for him.”
I sigh. That’s a relief.
“Where is Anderson now?”
“At the police station. I don’t think he can get away from this one so easily. They found the gun, and now they have the forensic evidence with the bullet from you. Mommy and Daddy’s money won’t be able to save him from this.”
“That’s good to hear. I’m just going to rest my eyes.”
Blackness overtakes me quickly as I flutter my eyes and go back to sleep.
I wake again to a soft voice. As my eyes adjust, I see Jacinta standing there with her son. It’s late and no one else is here.