Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68509 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68509 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
“Marco, how the hell did you find us?” I asked, noting a bandage on the side of his neck, wondering if maybe he hadn’t gotten out of that first shootout scot-free.
As an answer, Marco shrugged then waved up and down the street. I took that to mean he’d been driving up and down looking for us. Likely since we’d first disappeared.
Sure, I was paying him a lot of money. And he didn’t get the rest of it until he delivered us safely from the rainforest. But that was some dedication I never expected.
Violet wasn’t up for talking, though. She ran to the Jeep, pulling open the back door, and climbing inside.
“Thanks for this, man,” I said, clamping a hand to Marco’s shoulder. His gaze slid to my hand, brows raising. “It’s been a long couple of days,” I admitted, getting a nod from him. From the car, I heard a little cry, knowing Vi was in there, her relief manifesting in tears. Marco’s eyes softened. “Yeah, for her, I’m gonna need you to drive me right to a fancy-ass hotel that has great food.”
To that, Marco nodded, and we made our way to the car.
To give Violet privacy, Marco cranked up the music.
As for me, I pulled her into my arms, running my hands through her hair, down her back, feeling a strange mix of relief and dread.
With the rainforest behind us, life was about to get very different. After a brief rest, we were going to have to finish compiling my evidence.
Then head back to the States.
Where she would have to turn me over to an unknown fate.
Once we left Ecuador, it was possible that all that had been growing between us—and the depth of feeling I never could have anticipated—might be over.
My heart felt like it cracked just at the thought.
Before I could fall into too deep of a depression over the future, though, Marco was pulling up in front of a luxury hotel.
“Marco, you have gone above and beyond,” I told him, digging into a hidden compartment in my pack for the rest of the cash I owed him. “If I get out of this shitstorm of a situation I find myself in, I might be in contact again.”
When I turned back to Violet, she was staring longingly at the hotel.
“Ready for luxury?” I asked.
“And coffee. Don’t forget about the coffee.”
“As if you would ever let me,” I said, wrapping an arm around her hips and giving her a squeeze.
Then she dragged me into the hotel.
I had a grin on my face the whole damn way.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Violet
Wick was still MIA. Getting food and coffee, I imagined. I’d let him shower first since I knew I was going to stand under that water for upward of forty-five minutes to scrub every inch of me clean, shave, exfoliate, all the things the jungle didn’t allow me to do.
When I came out, even with the exhaust fan blowing, the whole bathroom was steamed up.
I slathered on the lotion the room came with, brushed my tangled hair, brushed and flossed my teeth, then climbed into the cozy robe hanging on the back of the door since all my clothes were filthy.
The room was just as luxurious as I’d demanded. It was on a high floor with a sprawling bed covered in white linens; a huge TV hung over a dresser across from said bed, and there was a balcony with sliding doors.
I’d had enough of the outside for a while, so I went to the bed instead, letting out a pornographic moan as it hugged around me.
I reached for my phone that had been sitting on the charger, wincing at the hundreds of texts I’d missed, the frantic calls and messages.
I didn’t overwhelm myself with them; I just dialed my mom’s number, knowing she could spread the ‘Vi isn’t dead’ news to everyone else for me.
“Thank God you aren’t dead, but I might just kill you myself,” she greeted me, making my lips curve up.
“Hey, Mom,” I said, heart warming.
“What the hell happened?”
“The rainforest,” I told her. “Well, first a remote island. Then the rainforest. And assassins. Killer lightning. Stinging bugs. A mudslide. Oh, and a frog with butt cheeks!”
“You’re gonna need to start from the beginning,” my father’s voice filled my ears as my mother set the phone on speaker.
I felt tears prick my eyes—again—at the sound of their voices. Just a day ago, I’d been sure I would never see them again, that I would die in a cave behind a waterfall, and no one would ever know what happened to me.
So, alone, safe, clean, alive in a luxury hotel in Ecuador, I gave my parents the whole story.
Minus some spicy scenes.
“Baby girl, I’m glad you’re okay,” my father said. “I gotta go tell the club. Get your arse back home.”