Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68481 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68481 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
“He goes, too,” Silas ordered.
I stiffened.
“I’m not going.” I shook my head.
My eyes never left Amelia’s.
She smiled.
“Yes, you are,” Sam growled.
“No, I’m not,” I disagreed.
“Listen, kid,” Sebastian started.
I finally looked away from Amelia’s face to stand up and stare at them.
I kept my hand in hers, though.
“I’m not going,” I repeated myself, sounding much more severe this time. “I’m. Not. Leaving. Her.”
Sawyer was waiting out in the hall, but I could see the small smile that she had on her face. The one that said she kind of liked that I was standing up to the three men.
“We need to talk to you about them.” He gestured to his left where Rogan and Hilton Barnes had been brought in to collect samples from. Samples that would help convict them of the crime they’d perpetuated tonight against my girl.
“I’ll talk to you,” I said. “But only when I’m ready. Talk to Hunt.”
Silas sighed. “Hunt’s gone.”
Now that didn’t surprise me anyway.
After he’d gotten done telling me everything, and we’d pulled up into the ambulance bay, I’d forgotten all about him.
When next I thought about him, he was gone, and I couldn’t find him anywhere.
Not that I’d looked all that hard.
But I had sent a few of the guys to look.
Whatever. There was time to deal with all of that shit later.
For now, Amelia was scared, whether she acted that way or not, and I wasn’t leaving her.
“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to fucking wait, okay?” I finally said. “I want to spend this time with Amelia.”
Silas sighed. “You’re not making this easy.”
“It doesn’t need to be easy for you.” I shrugged.
Then, ignoring them all silently staring at me, I sat down and looked back at Amelia.
She was grinning at me like a loon through her two cracked lips.
“You stood up to my father,” she said.
I shrugged. “I’d do just about anything for you, Amelia Mackenzie. And standing up to your dad because I want to stay at your side? That’s nothing.”
My heart was still aching fiercely.
Every single time I thought about the scene I’d walked in on, my stomach would lurch.
God, if we’d only been two minutes earlier, we might’ve stopped the beating entirely.
But two minutes later? Shit would’ve gotten out of hand, and Amelia might not be alive right now to hold onto.
“I’m okay,” she said again.
I studied her face. Then her hands.
“You may be, but I’m not.”
Her face softened.
Chapter 22
Sometimes I close my eyes and wish you would hit yourself in the face.
-Amelia to Adam
Amelia
“I’m okay, Adam.” I tugged lightly on his wrist.
When he still didn’t move, I glanced out in the hallway to see all the men and women lining the walls.
Men from the SWAT team and their women. My family. Hell, there were even a few of the Dixie Wardens MC here now. All of them outside in the hallway where Zach had kicked them to moments before.
“You may be, but I’m not.”
Adam’s words had a knife twisting in my gut.
“You’re… you’re not?” I asked, sounding timid and lost.
Was he not okay because of the baby?
Fuck, a baby.
Even thinking it, which I’d been trying to avoid doing over the last twenty minutes, was out of this world to me.
I wasn’t ready to be a mother.
I had plans, and things I wanted to do, and places I wanted to see.
Oh, and I wanted to do all of those things with Adam.
A baby wouldn’t fit into those plans.
But what choice did I have?
A baby of Adam’s was a dream come true.
There was this little niggle of excitement that was growing inside of me each second that I allowed myself to think about what a baby of Adam’s would look like.
Would the baby have his hair? His eye coloring? His skin tone?
God, I hoped so.
I studied his face as he looked brokenly at my hands.
“I’m not okay because I almost lost you today, and I didn’t even fully realize that I wanted to keep you forever until you almost slipped through my fingers,” he murmured softly.
Those words made my heart melt.
“Oh, Adam,” I said as I held out my other hand for his. “I love you.”
He bent down and rested his forehead against my hand instead of giving me his fingers.
I let go of his other hand and sifted my fingers through his hair for a few long moments.
The men of the SWAT team would glance inside, see Adam, and then quickly glance away. Going back to their conversations or looking away as soon as they saw him.
Just as I was about to look away, I spotted a familiar face that hadn’t been there earlier.
“So…” Reggie came into the room rolling a computer. “I heard that you decided to go and get beat up, Amelia Mackenzie.”
She looked up after she maneuvered the computer into the room and blinked hard at the sheer amount of people stuffed into the area surrounding my room.