Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 111278 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 556(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111278 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 556(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
That’s what scared him the most. That she would run away. He’d find her, of course. He wasn’t letting her get away from him.
But he’d rather she stayed where he put her.
“I already promised.”
“I know you did. But promise me again. It’s not because I don’t believe you. I just need to hear it again.”
“I promise, Dominic. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Thank you, darling girl. Now, how are you feeling?”
“I’m okay. The cramps get worse at night. The worst thing is the exhaustion. But it should be better by tomorrow. Doesn’t help that I can’t sleep very well.”
“I wish I was there to help you. You have a heating pad?”
“Uh, no. I have one at home, but I wasn’t expecting my period. It came a week early.”
“Is that normal?”
“I’m not sure I have a normal body. When I was busy and stressed at work, it wouldn’t come for months. I’m fine. I promise.”
He grunted. “All right. So why you didn’t text me to tell me that you were stopping somewhere?”
“I did text you. I texted you when I was in the parking lot to tell you that I was back in Wishingbone.”
In. out.
Calm.
Yes, spanking her ass right now would help relieve the stress headache that seemed to be developing.
But that wasn’t possible.
“You were supposed to text me when you got safely to the hotel.”
“Oh.”
“Yes. Oh. We’ll talk about that some more when I get back.”
And by talk, he meant he was going to spank her until she couldn’t sit for a week.
“Now, keep going.”
“As I reached my car, I looked over and saw two people in what looked like an argument. Then the man shoved the woman. She stumbled back when he pushed and I realized it was Liv, from the diner.”
“Right. And instead of calling the police, you ran over there.”
“No. First, I went into the trunk of my car and pulled out the baton I keep in there.”
“Of course you have a baton in your trunk.” He rubbed at his head. Definitely a stress headache.
“A girl can never be too careful.”
“You didn’t think to just get out your Mace?”
“Shoot. I had a tampon in my bag. I forgot. Uh, never mind that. Liv was on the ground and he was pulling his foot back to kick her, so I ran over there and whacked him a few times with the baton before he ran off.”
“Thank fuck he ran and didn’t try to attack you.” Now he was rubbing his stomach. Was it possible that she was giving him indigestion?
The silence on the other end was damning. Fuck. Fuck.
“Put me on video, right now.”
“What? Why?” she asked as he flipped to video calling.
“Now.”
When he saw her face, he breathed out a sigh of relief. She looked pale and tired, but that could mostly be due to her period. And her lack of sleep. Her red hair was a mess around her face and her mascara was smudged.
He didn’t care. He just wanted her to be safe.
“Did he hurt you?” He was going to find this bastard.
And he was going to end him.
“No. There was a siren, and he ran off. He didn’t touch me.”
“I expect you to tell me the truth.”
“I am. I promise. When he ran off, I went to help Liv, but she was acting really weird. She told me that I shouldn’t have done that.”
Dominic blew out a breath. “She knew the guy?”
“I think so. I think I saw her talking to him when we were at the diner. She seems to be protecting him.”
“Fuck. All right, so you called the police?”
“She ran off. I went back to my car and went to file a report. Who told you?”
“Several people. But the point is that you should have called and told me.”
“But you were working, and I knew you couldn’t check your phone that often today. I was going to tell you tonight during our phone call. There wasn’t anything you could do anyway.”
Oh, he bet she thought she sounded so reasonable.
But he wasn’t feeling very rational right now.
“You should have called me as soon as it happened. Right after calling the police. If anything happens to you, I need to know, Gwen.”
“I didn’t want to worry you.”
“Did you think of calling me?” he asked.
She let out a deep breath. “I, um, no. I’m not used to calling anyone.”
She wasn’t used to anyone caring. And that killed him. What about her supposed best friend? Wouldn’t he care?
Dominic concentrated on keeping himself calm.
“Next time you will call. Immediately.” There, that was calm, wasn’t it?
“All right. I’ll try to remember.”
“Do better than try, Shortcake.”
She blew out a deep breath. “Crap. You really won’t like this next part.”
“No, I’m guessing I won’t. Tell me about this threat.”
Who the fuck was threatening his baby? He needed to know so he could take care of them.