Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
“No.” King shakes his head. “I didn’t go with him.” I look over at Jeremy, who shakes his head.
“I was with King the whole time, and we hit up the couple of rest stops.” He points at the opposite side of town.
I run to my truck. “Where the fuck are you going?” Charlie shouts and gets into the truck with me. “You don’t think Sammy…”
“The only one I’m ruling out,” I state between clenched teeth, “is you.” I pull out of the parking lot while Charlie’s phone rings.
“You need to rein him in,” Pops says, his voice tight. “I’m trying to get eyes on the house.”
“We got it,” Charlie assures him as I swerve to the right and make my way over to his house.
“If he touched a hair on her head…” I say, my eyes on the road. “If he hurt her in any way.”
He doesn’t say anything because his phone rings. “Yeah?”
“We’re on our way to you,” Pops says. “Do not go in that house unless you have backup.”
“I’m going in that fucking house,” I vow, “even if it’s on fucking fire.”
“We don’t know if he’s alone,” Pops continues, “or if he’s armed.”
I look at Charlie. “I won’t be able to stop him,” Charlie says. “You better fucking hurry.” He hangs up the phone.
“I’m going in,” I tell him. “You are staying out.”
“I’m not letting you go in there without me,” he snaps.
“You have a kid at home and a wife,” I remind him. “They need you alive.”
“You have a kid at home also,” he quickly counters.
“Yeah, but half of my life is in that house,” I tell him, parking two houses away from Sammy’s house. “No matter what fucking happens, she’s going to know how much I fucking love her.” I get out and walk down the sidewalk, looking at the small houses that line the street. “Whatever happens”—I look over my shoulder, knowing he’s not going to wait for me outside because he’s a stubborn son of a bitch—“don’t worry about me. You get her out of there.”
“We don’t know she’s in there,” Charlie reiterates.
“I know it,” I declare when we walk up the steps. “I can fucking feel her here,” I say, holding up my hand to knock on the door. “She’s fucking here.” That’s the last thing I say before I decide to kick down the fucking door.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
LILAH
The door opens, and I fake that I’m sleeping. Something I’ve been doing so often I don’t even know how much time has passed. “I brought you something to eat,” he says, coming over to the bed, and I can feel him beside me, his hand running down my bare arm. The last time he took me to the bathroom, he stripped me bare, dressing me in a hospital gown before placing me back in the bed. My skin was crawling the whole time. “I brought you your favorite, and I even got you a donut. Everleigh had some brought into the barn.” I try not to sob out when he mentions people I love. “They set up this huge thing to search for you.” He laughs. “Idiots,” he hisses, “even Emmett’s fucking kid is helping pass out flyers.” I close my eyes even tighter to force myself not to say anything when I think of Lucy. Hoping the darkness finds me where I’m with her riding our horses. “Do you want to eat your burger first or your dessert?”
I open my eyes to see him walking over to the table and putting the bag down, and closing my eyes when he looks like he’s turning around. “My love,” he says softly, “it’s time to eat.”
I hear him walking back to the bed, and he bends to kiss my lips. “Love coming home to you.” His hand comes up to hold my face. His thumb rubs my cheek. “It’s going to be so much better when I come home to you and our babies.” He kisses me again. “Get up, my love.” His voice changes, and I know what will come won’t be good. It’s like a switch in him turns off, and he’s gone, and in his place is someone else.
“You have to eat something,” Sammy urges, his voice going higher and higher. “Why are you being like this?” He grips my hair in his hand, making me yelp. “Good, you’re up.” He holds up the burger to my lips, and I shake my head. He tosses the food he brought me on the table he moved beside my bed. I open my eyes to look at him, one of them only opening halfway after he hit me yesterday when he came back with boxed hair dye and started to dye my hair. I fought him as much as I could until he, of course, got the better of me. I lick my dry lips, tasting the metal taste, knowing he split my lip also, then tried to kiss me better. “If you don’t eat, you’ll get weak.” He rubs his hands up my bare legs. “You got to be strong, baby. It’s almost over.”