Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 29744 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29744 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
I hesitate for a moment and then sigh. "I don't have any evidence, but I have a suspicion that her mother is the person we're looking for or is at least the brains behind the operation. The detectives are fairly certain whoever broke into her house is behind several of the letters she's received over the last year. They're far too familiar with her to be just a fan."
"Son of a bitch," Bentley growls.
"Fuck," Cash mutters, one dark brow flying upward. "How sure are you?"
"I don't have any proof if that's what you're asking," I murmur, keeping my voice pitched low so no one overhears. The last thing Winter needs is for any of this to get out right now. "But I don't think whoever this is wants to kill her. I think they're trying to scare her into quitting. The letters and scriptures all heavily imply that Nashville is a sinful place and that she's surrounded by wickedness."
"Jesus Christ," Bentley says, shaking his head in disgust. "What kind of parent disowns their kid and then torments them like this?"
"One twisted by their own beliefs," Cash answers grimly before looking at me. "If you're right, it's going to break her fucking heart."
"Yeah, I know." Unfortunately, I don't think I'm wrong. Her mom is the one behind the attacks. I'd stake my life on it. The only thing I don't know is what the hell she's hoping to gain here. If she knows her daughter at all, she should know she isn't going to scare Winter into quitting. All she's going to do is get someone killed, potentially her own daughter.
Hell will freeze over before I allow it to go that far. I don't care if she is Winter's mom. If she endangers her life again, she'll answer to me. I've lost too goddamn much already. I'll be damned if I lose her too.
Chapter Seven
Winter
"Stop looking at me like that," I hiss at Riley, pressing my hands to my cheeks to hide the way they burn. She keeps grinning at me like she knows something I don't know. Every time she does it, Cami hides a smile behind her hand. I feel like a teenager on her first date instead of a grown woman sitting in a private hospital waiting room with two of her best friends.
"I'm just looking at you," Riley says.
"No, you aren't," I grumble, pulling an oversized pair of sunglasses out of my pocket and plunking them down on my face.
Cami laughs quietly. "Stop teasing her, Riley. You're embarrassing her."
"Why did he throw your phone out the window?" she asks.
"He's in love with you," Riley says.
"What?" I yank the glasses off my face to gape at her. "Who? What? No, he isn't."
"Yeah, he is," she says.
"Is not," I mutter, my heart doing flips in my chest. "He's just doing his job."
"Oh, really?" She arches a brow, smirking at me. "Then why did he throw your phone out the window?"
"He didn't want anyone to track it," I mumble.
"Mmhmm," she hums, her smirk growing. "Who were you texting when he threw it out the window, Winter?"
"Memphis. Why does that…?" I trail off, my eyes widening. Is she trying to tell me that he threw my phone out because he was jealous? Oh my gosh! He did, didn't he? That's why he was so cranky about it. He didn't want me texting Memphis or anyone else. I stare at Riley in shock.
"He has it bad for you," she says.
"What am I going to do?" I whisper.
"Uh, him!" she says, laughing. "Preferably as often as possible."
"Riley!" Cami says.
"What? She has it just as bad as he does. It's written all over her face." Riley points at me. "She's practically glowing. She did not look this way two days ago."
"It's too fast," I blurt, standing up to pace around the small waiting room. I'm pretty sure it's where doctors bring families to deliver bad news. There are only half a dozen chairs and two small end tables. The art on the walls is meant to be soothing, but it's the same dull artwork found in most hospitals…the lifeless, sterile kind that serves only to remind you where you are and offers no comfort. "Isn't it too fast?"
It doesn't feel fast. I think I fell in love with him when he said he wanted to work for me because I need him. I fell again when he pulled me into his bed with him last night. I look at him and my heart aches to know what it feels like to belong to him. He cries out in pain and my heart does too. I'm in love with him. So damn in love with him.
"There is no such thing as too fast," Cami says gently. "The heart knows exactly how it feels. The head is what gets in the way and makes everything complicated."