Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 24451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 98(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 98(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
Then, there was the solitude which was especially heavy when night fell and the fact that I was truly alone settled in. Every creak and groan of the house sounded louder—more sinister.
I took one more sip of tea, set my mug down, and was about to go back to reading when I thought I glimpsed movement right by the edge of the woods. My body went on alert, and I sat up straighter, my focus and preparedness rising to the forefront of… everything.
My heart started racing, and I felt adrenaline spike in my bloodstream.
The dark figure was massive, but then again, maybe it was just a deer? I’d seen plenty since living this close to the woods.
“It’s just a deer,” I whispered to myself, my laser-sharp focus still on the window and the property right outside. Despite that, I got up, checked the windows and doors, and made sure everything was locked. Just in case.
The sound of the locks clicking into place made my nerves settle a little more. With one last glance out the window and not seeing any other shadows, I headed upstairs to the bathroom to shower before bed.
I stayed in the shower longer than normal, letting the almost scalding-hot water wash over my aching muscles. I let my mind drift, relaxing under the steady pulse of the spray. Everything felt calm, peaceful even, as the heat chased away the last remnants of my tension and my full day of work.
I was lonely, and it was when I was getting ready for bed that my mind reminded me of that fact, which felt harder with each passing day.
When I turned off the water and got out, the quiet hum of the space heater I brought in to make the bathroom extra warm was all I could hear as I dried off my wet body.
When I was pleasantly warm and dry, I wrapped the towel around myself, securing it under my arm, and then I turned off the space heater, unplugged it, and took it with me as I headed into my room, using my elbow to flip off the bathroom light as I went.
Once I was in my bedroom, I set the heater on the floor by my bed and plugged it in then turned it back on. This was an old house, and the windows and insulation were shit, which meant the cold air outside always made itself known as it crept in through the cracks and crevices.
I stared at my bed, confusion the first thing I felt as I stared at the clothes lined up neatly across the mattress. Clothes I certainly didn’t put there when I was in here earlier before I went downstairs to read by the fire. Clothes only visible because of the scented candles I lit on my nightstand and my dresser across the room, so it would smell like lavender and chamomile in here to help me sleep when I finally came to bed.
Fear quickly replaced that confusion, and I reached out to flip the light switch on my wall.
And that's when I felt it… a presence now in my room.
I spun to look behind me, never actually turning on the overhead light, and everything in me froze.
He stood right outside the doorway, looming in the dim light of the hallway coming from my lamp in the living room downstairs. The man had a hulking figure, massive in height and muscle, and I took a step back on instinct.
God, his presence was so overpowering that I felt it suck the air from the room.
Neither one of us spoke, and after my initial shock that I wasn't alone faded and my eyes adjusted, I realized what he was wearing.
A dingy prison uniform.
The fabric was faded and stretched taut over his broad shoulders, arms, and powerful frame. As he took a step forward, the candlelight from inside my bedroom caused shadows to carve harsh lines across his face. His features were brutal in the way I imagined a warrior’s would’ve been.
He wasn’t handsome in the classical sense, not with the raw power and danger that was clearly etched into every angle of his face and masculine line of his body. But he was still undeniably attractive.
I could barely breathe, so I focused on the way my pulse hammered right below my ear.
Everything in me said to run. To escape. To survive. But I couldn’t tear my gaze away from him, not when I was paralyzed with fear by his presence.
His gaze went to the clothes on the bed, then he slowly turned his eyes back to me. His head cocked to the side, and his dark gaze roamed over me, unblinking, as if he were a predator and didn’t want to miss any little detail of his newfound prey.
His slow and deliberate perusal of me sent terror shiver down my spine.