Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 56628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
God, I fucking missed him. Hell, I fucking needed him.
Without a word, I turned on my heel and stormed off toward the bar. I could feel Tristan’s gaze on my back, but I ignored him, not even bothering to turn to face him. “Fucking hell, I wish I could have a drink right now,” I muttered as I made my way behind the bar top. I looked up at Jhenna as I reached up to rub my temples where they were beginning to throb. “Hey, darlin’, get me a cold water,” I told her.
She arched an eyebrow at me. “Just a water?” she asked, almost as if she couldn’t believe that I would want water on the night we were having a club party.
I narrowed my eyes at her. She instantly cowered back from me a little. “Did I fucking stutter?” I snapped at her. Her face paled the tiniest bit. “I said to get me a fucking water.”
With a nod, she spun around to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water, handing it to me. I strode away from the bar and headed for my room. However, before I could reach it, my phone began to vibrate in my back pocket. With a disgruntled sigh, I pulled it out.
Unknown:
Time is ticking, gorgeous.
“Fuck!” I yelled, dropping to the floor as the ground beneath my feet shook, and the glass from the windows exploded, raining down all around me like rain.
Whoever had exploded this place did it with perfect timing. They had to have been watching because they’d made sure I was away from everyone else first.
“Addy!” Tristan roared, his voice filled with panic.
I coughed, the air quickly filling with smoke. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the building was on fire from whatever had exploded outside. I quickly pulled my shirt up to cover my nose and mouth, desperately trying to see through the smoke.
Heat wrapped around me like a suffocating cloak, and I cursed. I couldn’t see past any of the flames and the smoke. I coughed again, my eyes burning from the smoke and the heat.
Was this really how I was going to go out? What a fucking cruel way to die.
“Adelaide!” Tristan roared. “Baby, if you’re alive, please fucking answer me!”
“Tristan?!” I called out, coughing again.
“Fuck, Addy, where are you?” he yelled, his panic increasing.
I screamed when a board fell from the roof, and I jumped out of the way just in time before it collapsed on top of me. “I’m trapped!” I told him just as I realized it myself, fear gripping my chest.
I placed my hand over my belly as I began coughing so hard that I was gagging, my shirt not doing much to help with the smoke in the air. “Tristan, it’s hard to breathe!” I managed to choke out.
“I’m coming, Addy. Just hang in there, baby,” Tristan told me.
I couldn’t fucking breathe.
I dropped to my hands and knees, clawing at my chest.
Joey, babe, I’m so fucking sorry that I couldn’t protect your kid.
Everything went dark.
Chapter Fourteen
Tristan
Addy was no longer responding to me. My heart was racing so fast that I was sure I was either going to have a heart attack or a stroke. I had to fucking get to her before it was too late. The part of the building that she was trapped in was already burning high and hot.
“I’ll go through the back,” I informed Jesup. “The fire shouldn’t be too bad in there.”
He nodded, still speaking to the 9-1-1 operator on the phone. I rushed around the back of the building, Troy hot on my heels. I was terrified that something had happened to Adelaide. I could barely fucking think past the panic swirling in my head, creating every worst-case scenario.
I looked at Troy when we reached the back of the building. “If I’m not out in two minutes, something happened,” I told him.
Troy nodded. “Be careful, bro.”
I nodded, rushing in. The heat and the smoke were almost unbearable, but I pushed through, desperate to get to Addy. She was the only one who hadn’t been able to get out.
And then, I saw why.
There were burning boards all around her, blocking any escape route she could have taken. She was passed out on the floor, but I knew she wasn’t going to last much longer if I didn’t figure out how to get her the fuck out of there.
Whoever had set up that explosion had done it perfectly. It kept Adelaide from being saved.
And something in my gut told me that was the plan all along. Someone wanted to shut Addy up.
“Troy, I need help!” I roared.
I heard him behind me a moment later, and he cursed. “What’s the plan?” he asked me as he looked around the burning building, trying to find a way to her.