Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 92668 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92668 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
That was a bit rude.
It needed a lick of paint or two, but it wasn’t that bad.
“You two stopped it. She started to see a place here, and it’s all your fault.” He ground his teeth together. “And now you know the truth.”
“Yeah, uh, about that,” I said, trying to edge my hand towards the handle of my bag. “Why don’t we pretend this never happened?”
He laughed that hollow, empty laugh again. “Really? You know we can’t do that, Charlotte. You’ll tell her what I did!”
“No, no, I won’t.” I could hear the plea in my voice as my fingers made contact with my bag’s handle. “They won’t arrest me. They would have by now. I don’t care.”
“You’ll tell her!” he yelled, and for the first time, I picked up on his unsteadiness.
He’d been drinking.
That skewed the odds in my favour.
“I—I won’t,” I said, touching my toes to the floor.
I was just going to make a break for it. I had no other choice.
This was literally do or die.
I grabbed the cup of hot coffee and launched it at him, grabbing my bag and running towards the door. I didn’t even care if I got to my car. I would go out there screaming my bloody head off it meant I—
Shane grabbed me, yanking me against him, and we stumbled. I screamed, dropping my bag, and clawed at his arms with my nails.
“Bitch,” he hissed, releasing me only to grab my hands, removing that line of defence.
I screamed again, contorting my body, trying desperately to shake him off. I was strong, but he was far stronger, even being drunk. I knew deep down that I was fighting a losing battle, but that didn’t mean I’d give up.
I was operating on fear, fear, and more fear.
My heart thundered in my ears as we fought, and as he dragged me, I slipped. My ankle twisted beneath me, and I cried out as I fell. Shane stumbled as I collapsed into myself, and I did what any good, terrified woman would do.
I reached out and punched him right in the dick.
He roared out in pain, and I used the counter to pull myself to my feet. My ankle burned with the weight I put on it, and it briefly crossed my mind that I might have just fractured it, but it didn’t matter.
I had to move.
I had to get out of here.
I couldn’t.
Shane was quicker than me, even with his own pain. I wasn’t fast enough thanks to my ankle.
“You’re not going anywhere!” He grabbed me, this time by my hair, and yanked me back.
The room spun as I fell backwards, and there was a searing pain through my head as—
CHAPTER THIRTY
NOAH
I tapped my fingers against my desk, staring dumbly at my computer screen.
What the fuck was I doing? I had no idea. There were twenty-thousand things that needed to be done, yet all I could focus on was the look in Lottie’s eyes when Kayla had told her she was pregnant.
We didn’t even know for sure, for fuck’s sake.
Talk about a pissing contest.
I thought I was the one who was supposed to whip my dick out and mark my territory.
I was still angry she’d done that. I understood why she’d come out. I understood why she was insecure about Lottie being back around, but there was no need for her to speak to her the way she had.
Kayla hadn’t liked hearing that. She hadn’t spoken to me since.
Did I care? I didn’t know.
If she was pregnant, she was pregnant. There was nothing I could do about that. I just wasn’t sure a relationship was the right thing for us, baby or no baby.
Shit, it wasn’t like I was sure before Lottie even came back to Fox Point. Kayla and I hadn’t had that conversation about the future yet, and when she’d hinted about it, it was clear we were on different pages.
We’d only been together five months, and the longer we were together, the more I wondered if it was even the right thing.
And now…
I blew out a breath and looked up as my office door opened. “What’s up?”
Jamie grimaced. “Let’s go. Got a lead.”
“On what?”
“The Tierney case, at least the boss thinks so.”
I sighed, logged out of my computer, and grabbed all my shit to follow him out. “What do we have?”
“Strange car outside the Tierney house,” Jamie said as we walked through the station. “Stephanie isn’t sure who it belongs it, but Declan’s uncle is running the plate as we speak.”
“So, we don’t know who it belongs to yet?”
“No,” he answered, pushing open the front door. “Still, best for us to go over there and check it out. Did you get anywhere with the DNA?”
“Still chasing the lab,” I replied, selecting the key for the car from my keychain and hopping down the steps. “They’re struggling to match it, and everything else we’ve got is about as solid as an alibi for Charlotte.”