Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
I distrusted the rickety piece of shit, almost as much as I did a frothing-at-the-mouth raccoon, but without another option, I jumped up and caught hold of the bottom of the balcony.
With a slight groan—on the balcony’s part, not mine—I pulled myself up, then shuffled up the bars until I could get my foot up on the rusted metal landing.
Once in position, I used the strength in my legs and hauled myself up and over the railing, sighing in relief when I realized that the balcony would hold.
“You’re going to fall,” Tai called from behind me.
“Fuck off,” I snapped.
“You want me to do it?” he asked. “I’m lighter.”
“I’m already up here!” I growled loudly, tossing him a glare.
He held his hands up in an act of surrender, and I turned back to my business.
After checking to make sure it was locked, I gave the French doors a narrow eyed look, and leaned my shoulder directly in the center, pushing inwards.
They folded in like the flaps of a cardboard box, and I cursed again as I realized just how easy it was to get into this place.
Pieces of shit.
She would not be staying here anymore. Not if I had a say in the matter.
I didn’t care if I had to help her fix up her own house before I fixed up mine. This was no place for her.
No way, not this fucking cesspool.
“July!” I called loudly.
A soft moan floated up from the bed directly in front of me, and my eyes went to the bed.
Massive amounts of pillows lined the bed on each side, and sandwiched in between the two mounds was July’s sexy body.
Sexy, naked body.
She was glorious.
One leg was raised to lay on the pile of pillows. However, the color of her skin was so pale that she nearly blended in with the white sheets of the bed.
Sleeping naked was something I’d encouraged her to do when we’d first started sleeping together.
I loved having easy access to her body, and she seemed to like giving that to me.
She’d obviously kept it up since she’d left, and my heart, as well as my cock, started to pulse steadily at the sight of her.
Another moan drifted up, and I leaned on the bed to see the rest of her body that been concealed by the mound of pillows, and blanched at what I saw.
Her face was white, except for a bright flush of red riding high on her cheeks.
July’s eyes fluttered open at the movement of her bed, and she turned and vomited all over the sheets.
“Shit,” I said, reaching for her so she didn’t choke.
Pulling her down the bed and carrying her to the bathroom, I sat her on the toilet and leaned her over the side of the tub.
“You okay, baby?” I asked her, my hands running all over her body as I surveyed her.
“No,” she moaned. “Hurt.”
I grabbed the nightgown that was lying on the counter and pulled it over to me by the little white bow at the top of the collar.
Once securely in my hands, I positioned it over her head and started tugging it down.
It was only when I went to pull one arm through the hole that I saw the inflamed wound on her back, leaking a thick, viscous green fluid.
“Shit,” I hissed, taking the nightgown back off and staring at the wound. “Shit. So fucking stubborn.”
I eyed the wound a little closer while I held her up, wondering if she’d taken care of it at all before she’d continued to go on about her business as if nothing had happened.
“Why couldn’t you have just stayed and taken care of this?” I asked the pain in the ass. “You wouldn’t be feeling near as badly right now if you had.”
“I don’t need you to tell me I’m stupid,” she snapped weakly. “I now know it was stupid. Please save yourself the breath and get the hell away from me.”
My eyes narrowed on the back of her head.
“If I let go of you right now, you’d hit your face on the bathtub because you couldn’t keep yourself upright,” I told her. “Do you really want me to let you go?”
She growled, and it was so cute that I almost smiled.
Almost.
What kept me from doing it was the way she leaned weakly into my arm in the next moment.
“Take me to the doctor already,” she ordered. “Just not the ER you took me to three days ago.”
I picked her up and walked her back to the bedroom where I grabbed the first pair of underwear I could find, which happened to be the ones at the top of a folded pile of laundry sitting on top of her dresser.
The panties were familiar. Really familiar.
They were the ones she’d been wearing the first time we’d had sex.
They were black with white polka dots and a red satin bow on the front waistband.