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)
“Your ex?” Charlie asks, and I close my eyes, and for the first time in my life, I try to count to ten. But I get to two before she talks again.
“He’s been calling and leaving me messages,” she admits. “I’ve ignored him.” My hand clenches around hers.
“You think he’s the one who has been doing all this?” Charlie asks because all I can do is look at her.
“It makes sense,” she reasons. “Who else could it be? All of this has happened since he came back to town.”
“He’s back in town?” I stand, and her hand falls from mine. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know.” Charlie holds up his hands.
“He left me a voicemail today.” She gets up from the couch and heads over to her phone, which is on the counter.
I share a look with Charlie, and he shakes his head. I take one step toward the front door when Charlie shouts, “You aren’t going anywhere!” He comes close to me, his voice going lower. “Lock it fucking down.”
“He left me this,” Lilah says. She plays the voicemail, and I want to take the phone out of her hand and throw it across the room. “If it’s him, I can’t stay here. Lucy is here, and it’s not safe for her.” She looks between me and him, and then back at Charlie, hoping he would agree with her. Little does she know that I’m not letting her out of my sight, let alone let her fucking leave.
“You aren’t leaving this fucking house,” I hiss at her. “We have security, and we’ll start arming the house.” I look at Charlie, who nods at me. “Even when we are in the house, we’ll arm it.”
“There is no way he would be stupid enough to get anywhere near me,” Lilah states. “The last thing Derek is, is stupid.”
“We aren’t going to chance anything,” Charlie assures her. “I’ll find out if he’s back in town.”
The phone beeps in my back pocket, and I look at Charlie. “Lucy.”
“I’ll go get her,” he offers. “You stay here.”
“No, I can stay here by myself. He took over my life already once,” she hisses. “He doesn’t get to do it again.” She looks at me. “Show me how the alarm works.” I think about fighting with her but know she’s probably still not going to give in to me or my demands, so I walk with her to the alarm panel and show her how to use it before walking out of the house with Charlie at my side.
“Going to see him isn’t a smart idea. Let me handle this.” He looks over at me.
“If he gets near her, I’m going to rip his head off his body,” I vow between clenched teeth. “If he even attempts it—” I fight back the anger bubbling inside me.
“Think about Lucy,” he reminds me. “She already lost one parent. Don’t go off half-cocked.”
I close my eyes. “Fine, you take care of it, but I want to know where he lives and who he works for. If you don’t give it to me, I’ll call Pops myself.” I open my truck door.
“I don’t know who you think you're threatening by using my grandfather against me.” He laughs, and I shut the door to block out his laughter.
I start the truck and head toward Lucy’s school, the whole time wanting to kick my own ass. I knew she was keeping something from me. I felt it in my bones. As long as her ex is around, she’s unsafe. I know that until he’s gone, I’m going to make sure she feels safe. I’m going to fix it, even if I have to play dirty to do it.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
LILAH
I slip out of bed, trying not to wake Emmett, who has been glued to my side since last night when he came back. He even tried to get out of riding with Lucy until I put my foot down and said I was going with or without him. I thought it was a good idea then, but the longer we were out there, the more I looked around and saw things.
Of course, nothing was there, and it was just my head playing tricks on me, but I was on edge the whole night, especially when Emmett had to explain the alarm to Lucy. I wanted to grab my bags and get the fuck out of here. Except I had nowhere to go, or better yet, I didn’t want anyone else getting tangled in the web that was my life.
Who would have thought, after everything Derek had already put me through, he would be doing this now? Not me, that’s for sure. I was a thousand percent sure I was just a memory to him.
Tiptoeing to the side of the bed, I grab my panties that somehow got tossed there in the middle of the night and then my phone. Turning the door handle in my hand, I try to get out without waking Emmett. I pull open the door and then look over my shoulder at him sleeping in the middle of the bed, on his back. One hand is on his chest, the other hand is beside him where I was just sleeping a couple of minutes ago. My head tells me to get out of here at the same time my heart tells me to go back to him.