Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 98755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Braxton is barely conscious, and my stomach flutters with a dread I’ve never known. Please don’t take him. Please don’t take him.
“Make yourself useful,” Dad spits at Anya, and she clicks her tongue, moving to Braxton’s other side.
“What the fuck?” Hawke asks when he meets us on the stairs. Ford’s eyebrows furrow as he tries to understand the situation. River, Anya’s husband, is already in motion.
“I thought we were killing this fucker!” Hawke shouts in shock.
“It’s a family affair,” Anya says cryptically as she and River share a kiss as they walk past one another. Anya is a capable woman who can help carry his body down the stairs, and she speaks so quickly, instructing the others to move, that I can barely keep up. The only thing I’m focused on is Braxton.
“Stay with me,” I beg as his blood drips down the stairs.
“Fucking stairs. This is what you get when you date peasants who can’t afford elevators,” Aunt Anya curses.
“Anya,” Dad scolds.
“Don’t you, Anya me. He’s getting blood all over my favorite jewels.”
Braxton is barely coherent, his head flopping back and forth. We carry him to my father’s car. I lay Braxton’s head on my lap in the back seat, still trying to apply the pressure.
My father is zipping through the streets at a speed my mother wouldn’t approve of. My aunt is trying to clean herself up and looks over her shoulder.
“Does he know about your little secret?” she asks.
I swallow. Hard. “I think so.”
“And he killed his partner for you?”
“I don’t know if it was for me. I don’t get what happened at all. All I heard was that they should arrest me and that his friend had evidence.”
“Is that the only evidence?” Dad asks.
“Yes.” We all look to Braxton as his breaths come in shallow pants. “I’ve covered the ressssst.”
His head becomes heavier in my hands, and tears stream down my face. “Drive faster!” I scream.
“Don’t go. Don’t do this. Please don’t do this to me. I’m sorry.” I press kisses to his forehead. “I didn’t mean to. I thought you were going to take me in. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.” I kiss and kiss and kiss him, hoping it’s enough to keep the Grim Reaper away.
I can feel my aunt and father looking at me, but my aunt no longer interrogates me. But I hear her quietly say, “It brings back memories, doesn’t it?”
I look away from Braxton for only a moment to catch my father’s gaze in the rearview mirror, watching us. I’d heard my father had almost died once protecting my mother. I wonder if my aunt and father are reliving that memory now.
I silently beg him, the man whom I’ve known to be capable of so many things, to help me save Braxton. To save this man I stupidly love and will do anything to protect. For him to somehow fix all my problems like he always has. But when he looks away, that’s when it hits me that sometimes, not even my parents are capable of impossible things. Life and death can’t always be controlled.
CHAPTER 44
Hope
The evening is a blur. My mother is confused as we pull Braxton’s bleeding body from the car, and a wild storm rages in her gaze but is quickly taken over by the need to help. We arrive at the same time as the doctor, and although they try to take him into the spare room, I’m adamant he’s taken into mine.
I hold his hand the entire time the doctor works on him. Phone calls are made, and my mother’s voice becomes increasingly louder as she demands answers from my father. Some questions he answers, others he tells her she’ll have to ask me.
I don’t care about any of that right now. I just focus on Braxton, praying he makes it through the night. Grateful for my family, who are so quick to clean up this mess I made. If I hadn’t lost faith in him, if I hadn’t freaked out and called my father, none of this would have happened. It’s all my fault.
There’s so much blood on my bed, on my white carpet. But I don’t care. I don’t care about any of those things.
I’m exhausted, and at some point, I must fall asleep. When I wake up, it’s because my mother puts two glasses of water down on my bedside table. Braxton is hooked up to an IV drip, and I rub my tired eyes, shocked I was even able to doze off.
I immediately look at Braxton, who still isn’t awake. “The doctor said he should pull through and just needs some rest,” Mom says. I know she was supposed to leave in the early hours for a flight, but looking at the time on my alarm clock, it appears she has chosen to stay. “You need some rest, too.”