Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 109695 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109695 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
He grinned at my cheesy line, and I did a mental head slap. Ugh, I was such a dork!
“Let’s go then.” His lips twisted before he continued up the stairs to Cash’s front door.
“Wait! Let me touch it first.” I managed to step in front of him to touch the knob. If we were lucky, it would be open just like it had been earlier.
Taking a breath, I touched the doorknob. Darkness hit me, the same as when I’d touched Stone, but it seemed like there was more to it. Trying to see more, I grasped the knob. It turned slightly in my hand, and I heard a raspy voice singing burn, burn, burn, that ring of fire.
What the hell? Suddenly, a searing heat burned my palm, and I jerked my hand away. “Oh, shit.” In a panic, I backed into Stone and nearly fell. “Run!”
He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me down the stairs. Running as fast as we could, we didn’t make it far before a fiery explosion blasted through the silence.
The concussive wave sent us flying, and we both landed hard on the pavement. Debris showered around us, and something hard landed on my lower back. Stone crawled to my side and shoved the debris off me. He draped his body over mine, shielding me from the rest of the fallout.
Seconds later, the remnants of the blast had finished landing on the pavement. We both turned to find a blaze of white-hot fire and thick, black smoke billowing into the night sky. Stone spoke, but my ears were ringing so hard that I couldn’t make out what he said. “What?”
“Can you get up? We need to move.”
Nodding, I swallowed and pushed to my hands and knees, feeling pain in my knees from the fall. Stone staggered to his feet and helped me stand. I didn’t realize my shoes were gone until Stone tugged me away and I faltered. Taking in my bare feet, he slung my arm over his shoulder and picked me up.
People came running out of their trailers, most in pajamas and slippers. With their eyes on the blaze, no one paid much attention to us. Luckily, Cash’s trailer was the last one on the lane, and not close enough to the others to catch them on fire. Still, with a blaze that big, people were beginning to panic. Not to mention that their neighbor’s house had just exploded.
While they called nine-one-one, we made our way toward Stone’s car. He set me down and opened the door. After I got in, he hurried to the driver’s side and slowly drove away. We made it back to the main road before the sound of sirens cut through the ringing in my ears.
Stone glanced at me, his voice raspy. “Are you okay?”
“I think so. But I lost my shoes! I really liked those shoes.”
He raised a brow. “You wanna go back?”
“What? No.” I swallowed, my head still a little fuzzy. “What about you? Are you okay?”
He nodded. “Yeah, that was too close.”
“I know. I didn’t see it coming until I turned the doorknob. I must have triggered it somehow, but I should have known something was off.” I shook my head. “Well, that’s not entirely true. I did know something was off, but I thought it meant Cash was dead inside, not that there was a freaking bomb.”
Now that the excitement was over, pain began to radiate from my knees, along with a few other places. In fact, sitting down wasn’t so comfortable, either, and I was starting to shake. I’d nearly died. We’d both nearly been blown up. Holy hell.
We arrived back at Vitality Ventures, and Stone pulled into the parking garage. Still shaking, I got out and limped toward the elevator.
“Hang on, let me help.” Stone carefully wrapped an arm high around my waist to help me walk. “I can carry you if you want.”
“No… it’s fine. I walk barefooted all the time.” In the light, I gasped to find charred holes in my dress. Several burned spots dotted the red material, and my leather jacket had taken a beating. At least it had protected my elbows. But a sharp pain low on my back side was growing with each step. I tightened my jaw. It really hurt.
I’d felt something hit me there, but I didn’t think it had burned through my clothes. What if it had? I reached back to tug at the bottom of my dress, but Stone stopped me.
“Don’t do that. You’ve got a burn on your… uh… back. I’ll take a look at it in the apartment.”
“My back or my butt?”
He raised an eyebrow at me and I blanched. Could this get any worse? Based on the pain, he’d get a decent look at most of my bare butt if I let him help me. Just the thought of being so vulnerable made it hard to breathe.