Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Ezra pointed at him. “Don’t even think about it. Everyone here has been through enough bullshit—enough danger. You all have families to worry about, so don’t go and do something stupid.” Then he cracked a grin. “Though I know with the two of you, not doing something stupid is basically impossible.”
I let go of a chuckle. “You wish, asshole. You just can’t wrap your little head around mine and Ryder’s special brand of brilliance.”
Ryder laughed, and Ezra shook his head as he mumbled, “Dicks. The lot of you.”
Then he was back to studying me in contemplation. “And here you show up with the woman and her little girl. Hand-in-fucking-hand.”
There was a question behind it.
“That’s right.” Exactly where I wanted to be.
Ryder let go of a dark chuckle. “Told you, Ezra…fucker’s whipped.”
“That’s right,” I told him, too.
No longer was denying it.
Flipping a steak, Caleb glanced our way. “Called it Saturday night. Dude was sporting a heart on the entire time.”
My brow shot for the sky. “A heart on?”
“Yup.” He smirked. “For the first time you weren’t just thinking with your dick.”
“Oh, I’ve been thinking with that, too.”
“But it’s that other beating part that counts,” he pushed with a jut of his chin.
And I said the same thing I’d been telling all of them.
“That’s right.”
Darkness rained from the sky, covering the earth in a quiet, stilled peace. Stars were tossed across the expanse, so thick out here in the middle of nowhere that it created a silvered haze that twisted through the heavens, like glittering vapor that swirled and coiled into a beauty unlike any other.
I glanced over at Hailey.
Well, all except for her beauty.
Hers was unrivaled.
It was the kind that kicked me in the gut and knocked me upside the head. The way this woman had infiltrated every fiber of my being.
Shifted it around.
Knitted it into something better.
She had drifted to sleep about ten miles back, which I was pretty sure had a whole ton to do with the fact that I kept her up ’til nearly dawn every night.
Sweet little Maddie had fallen asleep basically the second we’d strapped her into her seat, her day spent playing on the ranch, running and chasing and laughing.
I’d even taken her for a short horseback ride out on the land, Hailey at our side on her own horse, the three of us exploring.
We’d come back and shared the delicious barbecue dinner that Caleb and Paisley had prepared, and my sister had capped the night off with one of her chocolate cake concoctions that had nearly melted my mind it was so damned good.
But this was what really melted my mind.
Obliterated everything I thought I knew.
The two of them with me like this was exactly where they’d always belonged.
At my side.
My family.
The arrow of truth speared through me.
So fucking staggering I struggled to get the next breath into my lungs that felt like they’d just collapsed.
But it was the truth.
That’s what they’d become.
My family.
My reason for breathing which was a complete mindfuck considering it hadn’t been that long ago I’d been promising I’d never give myself to anyone.
Not when my past lurked like phantoms behind me. One misstep, and they’d catch up. That shady agreement I’d made that I’d carried, and here I was, breaking that oath that I’d made to myself.
That time stamp on my chest that was meant as a reminder of where I could never go.
But she was worth it.
She was worth it.
Didn’t care what it cost, even though I was going to give it my all to end the mess I had myself in. To find a way to fully give myself to the two of them because they deserved all of me.
Not the twisted, mangled pieces that at any moment could completely splinter apart.
I made the last turn into Time River, and I pulled into the gas station off Manchester and stopped in front of a pump. There wasn’t a soul around, that stilled quiet hovering.
Hailey stirred when I shut off the engine, and those crystalline eyes flickered open to look across at me, though she was clearly still out of it.
“Just going to fill up before we make the trek to Hendrickson. Go back to sleep.”
She gave a small nod and curled back up, a contented sigh slipping from between her plush, full lips. I couldn’t stop myself from reaching out and tracing them, though I saw no point in resisting when touching her was the only thing I wanted to do.
My spirit clutched.
God, what had she done to me?
Blowing out a sigh, I cracked open my door and pushed out, and I dug into my back pocket to get my wallet when a black car turned into the lot.
Its headlights were blinding as it wound around the pumps and pulled in by the curb near the air compressor.