Total pages in book: 156
Estimated words: 160192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
Not to mention the cameras, alarms, and guards patrolling.
One of whom was standing over a small figure crumbled on the ground, his gun drawn.
“Show me your hands or I shoot!”
Fuck!
55
“Show me your hands or I shoot!”
Angie really wanted to show him her hands.
But she couldn’t move them out from under her without agony shooting up her side.
What had she been thinking?
Had she really imagined that it would be easy to escape Jared’s property? If she’d taken a moment to just think, she’d have realized that she needed an exit plan.
A strategy.
But she’d been acting on emotion not rational thought. She’d just wanted to get out and away from them.
She’d thought they wanted her.
Stupid, foolish Angie.
Nobody wants you. Nobody will ever love you.
You’re not lovable. You’re someone to be used.
A part of her knew she wasn’t exactly being fair. That they still wanted to protect her. Which was more than a lot of people had done.
But she could go back to Keira and have protection.
What she needed was to be desired, to be craved, to be wanted for who she was.
Who was yelling at her?
Was it the guy who’d murdered Rex?
No. Wait. That was dumb. If this guy was Beltran he’d have just shot her, right? There wouldn’t have been any warnings.
But that didn’t change the fact that this guy was about to shoot her because she couldn’t move her arms.
“I . . . I can’t,” she managed to get out.
Her side burned. It felt like she’d torn it open as she’d fallen off the fence. There must have been something sharp on the ground.
“Patrick!” a sharp voice said.
Relief filled her.
Because even though he didn’t want her like she did him, she knew that Jared would keep her safe.
“Boss? Careful, there’s been a breach. Found this one lying on the ground after throwing herself at the fence.”
“It’s all right, Patrick,” North told him. “She’s not a threat. We’ll take care of her. Although you need to keep her presence quiet. For security reasons.”
“Um, sure. If you’re certain. Do you want my help transporting her?”
“No, we have this,” Jared replied. “Thanks, man.”
“All good.”
And then she felt someone crouch next to her.
“Oh, baby girl,” Jared murmured. “What happened?”
“I assume she fell while trying to scale the fence,” North said.
“I guessed that,” Jared said. “But what hurts? Can you tell me?”
“I . . . I . . .” She couldn’t talk for some reason. The air just wouldn’t come.
“What do you want to do?” North asked as Jared started to gently run his hands over her.
“Get the doctor to meet us at the house,” Jared ordered. “Hopefully she doesn’t need the hospital. It would be risky to transport her.”
Because of Beltran?
“I’m going to roll you carefully, baby girl,” Jared told her.
Wait! No!
A cry of pain erupted from her.
“Fuck. Fuck!” Jared said. “North?”
“I’ve got the doctor enroute,” North said, crouching on her other side. “Where is the pain?”
“Mostly on . . . my right . . . side,” she managed to get out.
North lifted her shirt on the right side. “She’s bleeding.”
He suddenly stripped off his shirt and wadded it up before pressing it to the side of her stomach.
“I think we’re going to have to go to the hospital,” North said.
“Make it happen,” Jared told him.
Oh. Goody.
Angie woke up groggily, staring around.
Where was she?
In her room at Jared’s house? At Zander’s compound? Maybe in her small house that she’d had for such a short time?
No. This place smelled funny. And there was a strange beeping.
“Baby girl? Hey, it’s all right. You’re okay.”
She blinked as she stared up into Jared’s blurry face. What was going on?
“Where . . . where am I?”
“In the hospital,” North replied, coming up on her other side.
Her vision was starting to improve.
“Wh-why?” she croaked.
She really needed a drink of water. Suddenly, Jared held a straw to her mouth.
He was so good at figuring out what she needed. She wasn’t sure if that was because he was a Daddy Dom or not.
But she drunk some water and tried to figure out what had happened.
Why would she be in the hospital? And why did she feel so awful?
Well, she guessed they both went hand-in-hand, didn’t they?
“What happened?”
“You don’t remember?” North asked. “The doctor never said that you had a head injury.”
Head injury?
“You fell, baby girl,” Jared said, taking hold of her hand. “You’re cold. North, she needs some more blankets.”
“On it,” North said.
“They should keep the hospital warmer,” Jared said with a frown. “It’s unacceptable that you are cold.”
“I will speak to the administration,” North said as he returned with armfuls of blankets. They proceeded to absolutely cover her in blankets until she couldn’t breathe.
“Um, I . . . it’s too much . . . too much . . .” she said, her voice edged with panic.
She knew it was silly to panic over blankets, but she couldn’t seem to push them off. One of her hands wasn’t working properly.