Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Legacy steps to the side when I pull open the door.
“Could we get a ride to the bank?”
He nods and tells me that he’ll let one of the guys in the lobby know we’re coming.
I feel helpless once again. The fact that I have nothing hits me hard in the elevator ride down. No car, no apartment, no fucking hope.
One of the other guys, wearing that same leather vest, walks toward us, but my attention is on the man trying to stand from the small sofa in the lobby.
Nash.
He gives me a little wave as if he’s feeling awkward and is unsure about how I’ll feel that he’s there.
“Ayla,” my sister hisses when I start to walk in his direction.
I told her everything because she demanded that of me. I didn’t skip the parts about what Nash was forced to do or what I was forced to do with him. She told me last night that she felt like it wasn’t right for me to be getting help from him, but she has no idea what we went through. She knows the details. She heard it all from me, but experiencing it firsthand is completely different from just hearing about it.
The air thickens the distance between us. The Cerberus member who was walking in our direction looks back at Nash and stops in his tracks. It’s as if he knows he’s going to waste his time if he approaches me.
How many times will I let him slip away? How many times in my life will I feel the same sort of unexplainable connection that I feel with him? The thought of watching him walk away even once more makes my heart seize in my chest.
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he says as he stops a foot in front of me.
He doesn’t make excuses for being here. He doesn’t lie and say it’s a coincidence that we’re both here. He knew this is where I ended up last night. He’s here for me and me alone.
“Alani is on my bank account, so we’re going to go get some money.”
“It’s good that you have her,” he says, reminding me that not all is lost. My reason for fighting as hard as I have is safe, and none of the material shit matters.
“Can you give us a ride?”
He takes a step to the side, the move letting me know that he has no problem getting us to the bank.
Alani silently follows us out of the hotel, and I’m grateful that she doesn’t voice her opinion for the very first time in her life. She’s normally a very vocal person.
It doesn’t keep her from huffing in irritation, but I’ll take the win where I can get it.
“Weren’t we going to ride with one of those leather-wearing guys?” Alani asks, as the front doors slide open so we can leave the hotel.
“They’re going to stop showing up for you if you keep leaving them high and dry,” Nash says, but his tone is more joking than anything.
I’m not under the illusion that Cerberus was there for either me or Alani last night. It just so happens that Donavan’s crazy ass abducted people close to them. It was happenstance more than anything.
“That motherfucker,” my sister spits, her path changing as she spots someone across the parking lot.
“What the hell? Alani, where are you going?” I yell at her back.
“Donavan is over there,” Nash explains, but he clasps my arm, keeping me from moving when Alani goes to the passenger side of his truck. She pulls open the door and climbs inside like the psychopath didn’t abduct her the night before and tie her to a damn chair.
I can’t hear what’s being said between the two of them but Alani is screaming at the man, her hands animated as she yells. Donavan turns his head, only a few words on his lips.
Alani reaches across the cab of the truck and slaps him right across the face, hard enough to turn his head.
Terror fills my blood as I watch. Donavan tightens his jaw muscles and looks straight ahead. He doesn’t hit her back or grip a handful of her hair.
I stand there waiting for Alani to get out of his truck, but she stubbornly crosses her arms over her chest.
“She’s fine,” Nash assures me, holding my hand and guiding me to his truck on the other side of the parking lot.
I’m questioning whether she is or not, but when Donavan pulls out of the parking lot, he drives it straight to the bank.
Chapter 36
Nash
It’s very clear that Ayla isn’t happy about whatever it is that we just witnessed between Alani and Donavan. She doesn’t say a word as we follow his truck to the bank.
The second we arrive, Alani is bolting from the man’s truck, and Ayla is climbing out of mine.