Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69909 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69909 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
I’m sure Rudy senses something is off but doesn’t say anything.
When we get to the new facility, the director comes to greet us, well, mostly Zeke. She seems like a nice enough woman, but I know it’s Zeke’s money that’s buying all this concerned attention, her over-the-top welcome of my sister, but I’ll take it because Wren is thrilled by the waiting balloons, the walls that have been painted baby blue just for her. It’s her favorite color, she tells everyone.
Once we’ve unpacked my sister’s things and Rudy gets lunch ready for Wren, Zeke takes the woman out into the hallway I suppose to explain the two men who will be stationed here 24/7 and that no one, absolutely no one, is allowed to visit Wren apart from the two of us. I give Wren a hug and am grateful at how lighthearted she seems. How happy.
“That’s a pretty necklace, Blue,” she says, pointing.
I reach up to touch it, having forgotten the thin collar, the small, sparkling lock. A shudder goes through me at the memory of what Wyatt Hoxton had said he’d do to take it off my neck once I was dead.
“Thanks,” I say to my sister, making a mental note to not wear it next time I come to visit.
“Is it a gift?” she asks, eyes over my shoulder at Zeke as she sways a little, a small smile playing on her lips.
“Maybe,” I play along.
“Can I try it on?”
“Yes, of course, but I have to bring the key to unlock it. I’ll bring it next time, okay?”
She nods and I follow her gaze to watch Zeke who has his phone pressed to his ear but is watching us. He looks pensive.
“He likes you. He keeps looking at you.”
I shift my gaze back to Wren. “Oh, it’s not like that,” I say, butterflies in my belly even in the midst of all this fear and chaos.
“Is he your boyfriend?” Wren asks, ignoring my comment. Her tone is almost like I remember it. Like I remember her.
I search her eyes for more but there isn’t more. I shrug a shoulder. “Um...”
“Are you going to get married?” she asks, putting a little musical note into the question as she hugs her arms happily around herself.
Zeke clears his throat and makes me jump. I hope he didn’t hear that.
Wren looks up at him more easily than she had the last time. “I have to have lunch now but when you come back, you can swim too,” she tells him. “I’m a good swimmer.” She furrows her eyebrows at that and turns to me. “Right, Blue? I’m a good swimmer, right?”
She was. I don’t know if she is anymore.
“I’ll be the judge of that after lunch and a nap,” Rudy says, saving the day.
“Nap?” Wren wrinkles her nose at him.
“You know what they say. You can’t swim on a full stomach, and I need to eat.”
“We should go,” Zeke whispers, wrapping a hand around the back of my neck in that way he has, thumb playing along my nape. Goosebumps rise in the wake of his fingers, and I find myself melting into his touch.
“I have to go now, Wren, but I’ll be back to visit very soon, okay?” I tell my sister as Rudy settles her at the table in her room. I’m grateful Zeke has arranged for all of this, knowing I’d never be able to do even half of what he’s done for her. I just don’t have that kind of money.
After giving Wren one more small hug and a kiss on top of her head, Zeke and I head back to town, driving in silence for most of the way until he pulls into the parking lot of a high-end salon.
“You know I can just get a bottle of hair dye at the drug store for like ten bucks, right?”
“I’m sure you can.”
He pulls around back where a Rolls Royce is parked, two men sitting inside it. He parks the SUV and nods to the men.
“Who are they?”
“Protection.” He must see the look on my face because he quickly continues. “Nothing to worry about, just being extra cautious.”
He opens his door but before he climbs out, I reach out to lay a hand on his arm. “That call you took, you looked worried.”
He shakes his head. “Just my brother.”
“Oh, okay. Anyway, I wanted to thank you.”
“It’s fine, Blue.”
“No, it’s a lot. I appreciate what you’re doing for my sister, and I promise I will pay you back—”
“Don’t worry about that.”
“Zeke—”
“I have more money than I know what to do with.”
“Well, I guess I’m not super comfortable with you spending it on me here, for example.”
He sighs and, closing the door, turns to me. “You thanked me. I’m happy to be able to help your sister. We’re good.”
The back door of the salon opens and a man waves to us, making a sweeping gesture for us to enter.