Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 122440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
Harlow liked that she sounded so confident. Rainier was a man who appeared as if he would run roughshod over his wife, yet Shabina held complete conviction that he would find a way for all of them to visit Raine despite the lockdown. Would she have that same confidence in Wilder? That he would find a way to put her first? She knew she had the type of personality to put him first. To find ways to make him happy. That trait was deeply embedded in her character. It was one of the reasons she was so careful around others. She could so easily get walked on if a man knew she would go that extra mile to please him.
Wilder? Sometimes he had such pain in his eyes. Most of the time he was arctic cold, a glacier, but once in a while, she could see hell in his eyes. He’d blink, and it would be gone. She would doubt she truly saw that deep, lingering pain until she was alone in her bed, replaying the moment. She found herself thinking about him and that look far too often.
“Are you even listening, Harlow?” Zahra demanded. “I’m spilling my deepest fears here, and you’ve got a smarmy look on your face.”
“Smarmy?” Harlow’s eyebrows shot up. “No one says smarmy, Zahra. No one even knows what it means anymore. You’re dating yourself.”
“It means pay attention when I’m telling you that you’re the one giving me nightmares now. I’ve got a fear of bears and snakes. Now I have to worry about mutant snakes. I can’t get the idea out of my head. Just like killer bees that are taking over the world, the snakes probably have dens, a hundred dens with a new species. Mutant. Venomous. Very aggressive. So aggressive, just the vibration of you walking can set them off.” Zahra groaned and covered her face with both hands before resting her head, face down, on the table.
“Good grief,” Stella said. “Now I’m going to have nightmares. I’ve never given much thought to snakes. One just exercises care during the season, but…” She trailed off.
“A mutant snake may not have a season,” Zahra stated knowledgeably.
“Thanks a lot. I already have tons of nightmares,” Stella said. “The serial killer kind, although he or she is still a ghost. Nevertheless I wake up and it isn’t good. Poor Sam.”
“You’re still having nightmares about a serial killer?” Harlow asked, that strange, ominous feeling suddenly overtaking her. For a moment, she thought she saw a shadow pass through the café, a dark portent of death. She didn’t have precognition. She didn’t see into the future. She’d never looked at someone completely healthy and predicted their death. Yet she found herself shivering, suddenly worried about her friends. About Wilder.
She knew Rainier was taking the threat to Wilder very seriously. “Stella, did Sam talk to Rainier about your dreams? Rainier wasn’t here the first time we had a serial killer on the loose, and the only way we knew the supposed accidents weren’t accidents but deliberate murder was your dreams. Rainier should know you’re having dreams again.”
“But they aren’t complete,” Stella protested. “I don’t even know if they’re real. Each time I have had the dreams, they’ve followed a specific pattern. They occurred every night, opening a lens wider and wider so I could catch more details. These dreams don’t exactly do that. They’re blurry. No details. They don’t allow me to identify a victim or even a place where the victim will be attacked. I honestly don’t know if they’re real.”
“Rainier should still be alerted,” Harlow insisted. “Sam should talk to him about your abilities and explain what’s happening now.”
She must have put a little too much emphasis on her statement because the women fell silent, all of them regarding her with suspicion.
Stella cleared her throat, took a sip of her drink and set the glass carefully on the table. “What is it, Harlow? You’ve been on edge for a while now. No matter what is going on, we have your back. Tell us.”
She wanted to. She wanted to share her feelings for Wilder and talk things out with her friends. She knew they wouldn’t try to persuade her one way or the other. They wouldn’t take sides. They would ask her questions that might help clarify her very confused emotions. But there was Wilder’s safety involved. He wasn’t in the medical facility under heavy guard. He was at her house, and if anyone found out, those hunting him very well could kill him.
Harlow shook her head. “I can’t.” She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “It isn’t that I don’t want to, it’s that right at this moment I’m not at liberty to share anything.”
“Are you all right?” Vienna persisted.
“There are just so many things going on at once that it’s a little overwhelming. Losing Helen after losing Lawyer is a terrible blow.” She swept both hands through her hair in agitation, knowing she was giving far too much of her mental state away but not caring. These were her friends, and her life was a mess. Worse, she was worried for them.