Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 60573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Moaning, she closed her eyes, and thrust her pelvis up against him.
“Fuck, baby, you’re so hot. How did I not know this? I’d have taken you out for a test drive.”
It was like a bucket of cold water was thrown over her.
They had been together, and it had resulted in something that had sent her crazy. Slamming her elbow against his stomach, she jumped out of bed. Gash cursed, releasing her long enough so that she could get free.
“Don’t touch me.” She was shaken to the core, and her body was on fire for his touch. Two completely different emotions, and it was sending her already sensitive mind haywire. This was not the way to handle the situation with Gash. He was back in her life for them both to kill Rebecca and Jeff. Then it would be finished between them with either him killing her, or them parting ways. She didn’t see any future between them. The moment his hands were on her, it had reminded her of how they had once been together, and that wasn’t going to happen again. Gash would destroy her, and he didn’t even have a clue of the kind of power he had over her. Only she remembered what happened between them.
“I’m sorry. You were hot for—”
“Don’t. Don’t be an asshole. Are we leaving today?” she asked. The sooner she got this done, the happier she’d be.
“Yes. If we make good time.”
“I’ll get ready.” She had no intention of lingering with him.
She grabbed some clothes from her wardrobe, and rushed into the bathroom. Sitting on the toilet, she rested her elbows on her knees, and took several deep breaths.
Everything is okay.
Just breathe.
You’re alive.
You’re alive.
She chanted over and over in her head as tears filled her eyes.
You don’t need him.
You’re stronger than anyone.
In that moment, she didn’t feel strong. She was weak. One night he’d been back in her life, and she’d been ready to let him play with her. Charlotte couldn’t even blame him. She’d known he was drunk, but it didn’t stop it from hurting any less. It wasn’t going to happen. There was no way she was sleeping with him. She was stronger than that, and she wouldn’t give in to him.
“Charlotte,” Gash said.
“Go away. I’m getting dressed.”
She wiped away the tears that she hadn’t realized had fallen. Standing up, she stared at her reflection, and was transported to a distant memory.
“It’s done,” Jeff said.
“Done?” Charlotte croaked out the word, holding the blanket up to her chin. “What’s done?”
“You don’t really think we’d let you carry his child, did you? It’s so stupid what you did, Charlotte. You were never supposed to be part of this, but I guess you just couldn’t help but stick your fucking nose in where it doesn’t belong.” Jeff pressed his hand against her head, and leaned in close. “Now, you will pay.”
“You took my baby?” she asked.
“You were going to fight us, Charlotte.”
She whimpered, and placed her hands on her stomach as she was overcome with a deep wave of sadness. “You killed it?”
“Yes. The baby you had, it’s now gone.”
Charlotte screamed. Reaching across to the pitcher of water, she slammed it against him. The pitcher smashed, and as she grabbed a shard of glass in her hand, not caring that it cut her deeply, she tried to attack him. Her body was not her own, and as she stood on the glass, pain shot between her thighs, and on her feet. She tried to attack him, slashing him with the makeshift blade.
Charlotte came out of the memory, and shivered. Nurses had rushed into the room, strapping her down. The next time she came to, Jeff had been gone, along with her baby, and she had tried to kill herself. After trying to end her life three times, she was committed to a psychiatric hospital where she spent the next five years trying to ease the pain in her heart by using every chance she had to take her own life. It was only when a good doctor finally got through that she started to fight. It was ironic. Gash got out of prison at the same time that she got out of a hospital. She wasn’t the same woman who entered that hospital, and for the past two years she had tried to make a life for herself.
Gash coming back into her life had given her the best kind of medicine that he didn’t even realize he was offering. He gave her a chance at revenge, at killing the man and woman who did this to her.
Staring at her reflection, she wiped away the last of her tears.
You can do this.
She pictured Jeff Wright in her mind, and how damn smug he thought he was. Coming back from her business trip to discover that Gash had been falsely accused of rape and murder, she’d been about to get in touch to tell them the truth about Gash. Charlotte had heard the date that Gash was supposed to have raped Rebecca then murdered her boyfriend. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that it wasn’t him because that night, Gash was with her, making love, giving her a baby that was later torn from her. Gash would have known she’d be able to help him because when he woke up the next morning, he’d seen her.