Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 76203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
But when the tip had come in, finally, after years of nothing but the occasional prank call, this was where they’d said to look.
Once I got down here and started asking around, it hadn’t been long before someone had a direction to send me in.
I honestly wasn’t even sure what I was seeking with him. All I knew was I was alone with a helpless little girl, afraid, and running out of options.
And the man who fathered that sweet little girl in her princess dress—hideous, oversized, brightly colored costume ‘princess’ jewelry included—had pulled two knives and a gun off of his body before we’d fallen into bed. That seemed like the kind of person who might have an idea or two about how the hell to get out of the situation I was in.
Or, you know, lend me a gun and enough bullets to handle it myself.
Not that I was thrilled at the idea of killing anyone. But I would do whatever it took to keep my daughter safe.
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when I pulled up to the address I’d been given at a bar in the nearest town by a pretty redhead who seemed to know York more than in passing, but a pretty little two-story home was not it.
For a quick moment, there was worry that I was crashing into his life with a wife and kids. It was the kind of house you raised a family in. Bright pink, red, and yellow hibiscus flowers poured out of the front flowerbeds, a couple of scattered bikes lay on their sides on the lawn, and what looked like a water gun sat at the top of the driveway.
That didn’t explain, though, the line of motorcycles. Or the fancy sports cars. Or the random man in the front yard who was weeding the front flowerbed in the most inefficient way possible—bent over at the waist with his ass in the air.
Something across the street drew his attention, making him turn, glistening six-pack and all, and smile before jogging off in that direction, offering me a wave as he went.
I watched him join a group of older ladies sitting in beach chairs with umbrellas, mixed drinks in glasses that resembled, well, penises, and books on their laps.
“Are we getting out now, Mama?”
I plastered a smile I didn’t feel on my face. She deserved positivity. She’d been nothing short of an angel when it came to all these ‘road trips’ we went on. Even when it meant sitting in her car seat for ten or twelve hours a day.
“Hopefully!” I turned back to her. “But I need to go talk to my friend first, okay? You’re going to stay here.”
“Can I listen to Frozen?”
“Of course you can.”
I ejected the Aladdin soundtrack and shoved in the Frozen CD. Yes, CD. Because fear had made me too paranoid to do anything like open an account with a streaming service that might, somehow, lead back to me. We were an almost exclusively analog family these days. Which might have been for the best for both of us, but I hated that it was forced on us.
“Okay. I’ll be right back,” I told her, passing her a lollipop, then cranking up the music, wincing at the song that seemed to scratch across my brain, I’d heard it all so often.
With that, I climbed out of the car.
My shirt stuck to my back with sweat, thanks to the air in the car barely spitting out any cool air, so I’d directed it all to the backseat to keep my girl cool. The humidity had my head starting to sweat, making my hair stick to my neck too as I walked up the front path. My lips curved up at the sight of a very in-depth hopscotch board drawn in chalk.
Nerves shot through me as I raised a hand to ring the bell.
But it wasn’t York who answered the door.
Nor his wife. Or kids.
This guy was tall and on the thinner side with black hair and a matching beard, dark eyes, gauged ears, and a hoop nose ring. Hot in an alternative way.
My first feeling was, oddly, relief. Because if this wasn’t York’s house, I was saved from one very awkward conversation.
But then the rocker guy stepped aside.
And there he was.
Looking just as good as I remembered. He was tall, broad, and fit, with brown hair and a full beard that he took good care of. He still had that serious, slightly intimidating air about him, too.
Good, I tried to tell myself, that was what I wanted.
Only, I suddenly couldn’t think. Or breathe. Let alone tell him why I was there.
“Runa.” He sighed out my name, and I was reminded of how he’d done something similar when he’d been buried deep inside me, when I’d been trembling from one orgasm as he drove me toward another.