Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
It was when I tasted the salt of her tears that I realized she was crying.
I pulled back and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“You’re what’s wrong, you silly man.” She sniffled. “How could you not tell me?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t want whatever we had going on to be tainted by what I was doing for Wendy.”
She shook her head. “You’re crazy.”
I’d been burned by my ex.
It was hard to trust people and their feelings when you were caught up in your own.
Not to mention, I still had one more huge secret that I’d need to share with her before this got any further.
But it was a double-edged sword. On one hand, I needed to share it with her, to let her know that she wanted a murderer. The sooner I told her, the better it would be for all involved.
However, if I told her, she might leave.
She might not want anything to do with me.
However, this was a huge freakin’ secret. One that meant life and death for me.
What if I couldn’t trust her?
What if I…
“Are you even listening to me?”
Her cold hands smushed together my cheeks, causing my lips to pucker.
“Kind of,” I admitted.
“Are you freaking out?”
I nodded.
Though not for the reason she thought.
“I won’t tell anyone your secrets,” she whispered. “Everything you care to share with me will stay in this steel vault right here.”
She let one of my hands go and knocked on her skull.
I snorted. “You’re a weirdo.”
“I know,” she said. “You’re stuck with this weirdo, unfortunately.”
“Okay.” The doctor came back. “Dr. Pendelton confirmed. I’ll just need to see some ID to confirm you’re you.”
I showed him my ID, albeit fake.
He glanced at it, nodded his head in confirmation, then said, “You can go to this room right here, and we’ll get you set up.”
I squeezed Constance’s hip before letting her go.
“Go,” I urged. “I’ll be back.”
She went into the room with her daughter, and I went into the room right next to it where a nurse who had no freakin’ idea what she was doing took my blood.
Or tried to.
She was on the third poke in when Sage walked in looking bored. “Marin, how’s it going in here?”
I tried not to wince when Marin was startled and completely missed my vein.
I took the needle from her and asked her to step back.
The nurse, who had a “student” next to her name, looked at me wide-eyed before taking a healthy step back.
While Sage and the student nurse were watching, I stuck myself, got the bag flowing, and removed the tourniquet from my arm that was way too tight.
Sage shook her head. “I’m guessing that means it didn’t go well.”
The student nurse winced.
“You can head to the room next door and…”
“She will not be taking blood or giving the blood to Wendy,” I barked.
I was all for student medical staff.
What I was not for was making children suffer.
Willing adults was one thing. Children who had no concept of learning students and pain didn’t need to be experimented on, no matter if the student needed to learn or not.
Sage snorted. “We’re not that crazy. I only sent her in here because I figured she’d be able to get you stuck. You have massive veins.”
I nodded, watching the blood spill from my arm into the bag that would then be transferred to Wendy.
The nurse squeaked. “I’m sorry!”
I shrugged. “You have to learn somehow. I think it’d help if you were more confident in yourself. It was obvious that you hadn’t done this before, but you’ve learned how to do it. You’ve likely practiced it on other people. Just go with your gut, and don’t overthink it.”
“O-okay.” She smiled timidly at me. “What did you need me to do next door?”
“Get the room cleaned up and the tray table set up. We’ll head in there to start this IV as soon as he’s done bleeding for us.”
I smirked. I squeezed my hand into a fist since I wasn’t given anything to squeeze.
The nurse left, and Sage suddenly got very serious. “I think I know who did it.”
Twenty-One
I just cried because I ran out of coffee creamer. So I don’t think I’ll survive the apocalypse.
—Constance to Odin
Constance
Dropping Wendy off at school the next day was the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life.
I wanted to keep her at home with me, but Wendy wouldn’t hear of it.
She was the most aggravating kid on the planet.
Always “school is necessary” and “being on time is nonnegotiable,” not “let’s skip and have a girl day.”
What kind of kid had I raised?
Yesterday had been wild.
And I hadn’t had much time to process all that I’d learned.
Odin was the reason I’d moved here.
The grumpy man had literally saved my child’s life, and he hadn’t shared with me.
Last night, I hadn’t had much time to talk to him.
He’d been called away for work stuff almost immediately after Wendy had been discharged to go home, two stitches above her eye and two on her wrist.