Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 84635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Knowing my luck, I’d be blamed for this accident too.
I sucked in a breath through my teeth when my scraped palms hit the dirt and wet gravel as I pushed myself upright.
I took a tentative step toward the wrecked car but stopped when the driver’s side door flew open. The crumpled metal screeched in protest.
Pierce stumbled out.
He was alive.
Thank god, he was at least alive.
He gripped the car door for balance and raised his arm to touch his forehead, where a nasty gash was already dripping blood. There was a dark stain on the right shoulder of his white dress shirt. He shook his head and blinked several times.
I stayed rooted to the spot, afraid to move or draw his attention to me. Then he straightened, shook off his injuries. His gaze narrowed as he took a step in my direction.
I turned to run.
He stretched out his arm and bellowed, “Madison, stop!”
I froze.
Tilting my head to the side, I stared at him through lowered lashes, afraid to face him directly. Afraid I’d crumble and submit to his command.
The rain had mixed with the blood on his shirt, turning the large red stain pink where it soaked the fabric clinging to the lines of his hard muscle. Until this moment, every time I’d seen him, he’d always been Mr. Perfect. Expensive suit. Perfectly tied tie and shined shoes. Arrogant smile. Always composed and in control regardless of the situation.
His clothes were now bloodied and torn. His eyes burned with anger as more blood trickled over his high cheekbones. His usually impeccably combed hair was ruffled and wet.
Wrapping an arm around his middle to clutch his ribs, he lurched forward. “I mean it, Madison. Not one more fucking step.”
For one baffling moment…I obeyed him.
Only a forlorn bird shriek disturbed the creepy stillness of the desolate country road.
No cars had passed in the moments since the accident.
We were completely alone.
Wind bent the pines’ branches at the tree line. The fog was already engulfing the wrecked car behind him.
I glanced between his approaching form and the woods in front of me.
Pierce paused as he followed my eyes. Returning his attention to my face, he slowly shook his head in warning. “Don’t you dare.”
I smiled for the first time in weeks. “Fuck you,” I fired back.
Pierce’s vicious curse rent the air as I dashed headlong into the deep, dark woods.
CHAPTER 20
PIERCE
Goddammit.
I sprinted after Madison’s retreating form and caught my shin on a fallen tree trunk as the blood dripped into my eyes, blinding me.
In a rage, I tore at the buttons on my shirt.
I yanked it off, crushed the fabric into a ball and swiped it across my forehead, wiping the blood away.
I traced the gash over my eyebrow with the tips of my fingers. Superficial, despite the amount of blood. I didn’t give a fucking damn about my own condition.
I had to reach Madison.
We were already on Worthington land.
The thickets here were dense enough to hide copperhead snakes, and the rain would drive them from their holes. But the snakes weren’t the worst of it. The thick copse of trees so close to the road gave the impression we were traveling through the center of the woods, when in fact we were perilously close to the edge of the cliffs.
The trees gave way to a sheer drop off a jagged cliff into the Atlantic Ocean not one hundred yards from where my car just crashed. With this fog and rain and in her agitated state, Madison wouldn’t see the danger until she was already past saving.
I wrapped my bloodied shirt around my forearm and used it as a buffer against the sting of limbs as I raced through the trees, searching for Madison.
Mud sucked at my shoes. A root snagged my ankle, but I wrenched free without slowing.
My eyes scanned for movement, straining to glimpse the bright white of her blouse through the forest gloom and the wisps of gray fog that swirled and danced around the dark, craggy trunks of the red oak trees mixed among the evergreens. A heavy layer of dead pine needles muffled any possible sound of her footfalls. If she kept heading in a straight line at the dead run she was in, instead of trying to zigzag or double back, I had a chance. I charged deeper into the woods.
Shoving a pine branch aside, I called out, “Madison! Goddammit. Stop running.”
I stopped and held my breath, hoping to hear a response or answering cry.
There was none.
I pushed forward. Trip over the cliff. Bitten by a snake. Fucking bears. As darkness descended over the forest, my mind tallied all the ways she could die.
This was all my fault. I couldn’t risk losing her, even if I didn’t understand why.
My hands were shaking. Not from the wound. Not from exertion. I clenched them and kept moving.