Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
I hand Paisley to Tate. I won’t let Cairstina walk in the snow in her bare feet. I pick her up and thank her.
“May not have found her without you.”
We make it back to the car, and Fran’s waiting on the side of the road.
“My God!” she shouts. “I was afraid if I left the cars someone’d call the police or nick them so I stayed. Is she okay? Paisley?”
Paisley nods. “I’m fine. Little banged up.”
Fran’s eyes flash. “And I hope your prick of a boyfriend’s more than a little banged up,” she says, her eyes flashing at me.
“You could say that,” Paisley says with a wince.
“Go home, Fran. Thanks for your help. We’ll take it from here,” Tate mutters.
“Just let me come, make sure she’s alright?”
Tate’s gentler than I am. “No, lass, but thanks very much. You’ve been tremendously helpful. Come by tomorrow and we’ll have a wee visit, eh?”
She smiles at him and waves goodbye, driving along the road that takes her home.
Paisley hangs her head when we reach the car. “Can I sit with Cairstina?”
Her voice is little, like her, and I wish I could make this all go away. I wish she hadn’t seen firsthand what pricks a bunch of men can be.
“Of course,” I tell her. “Why don’t you sit with her in the back?”
So Mac takes the passenger seat and I drive, and Paisley sits between Tate and Cairstina. We drive along the road that takes us home for long minutes before anyone speaks, but after a minute or two, I have questions that I want answered.
“What happened?” She looks at me in the rearview mirror and bites her lip. “Paisley, we need to know.”
“If I tell you, you’ll go back and finish the job. I don’t want you to kill him, Leith, and you will.”
I don’t even bother to lie. “Likely. So what happened?”
She blows out a shaking breath. “Well… I met Jack at a concert a few weeks back.” I give Mac and Tate looks in the rearview mirror but don’t say anything. “And I thought I really liked him. I hadn’t spent much time with him, though, but we talked on the phone nearly every night. He invited me out last night, I’d never been to his place. And sure enough, he doesn’t have his own flat like he said, but he’s got flatmates.”
“Clearly,” Mac mutters. “Go on.”
She releases a shuddering breath. “And I—he wanted to let his friends do things to me. Said he thought I’d be into it.”
“Mother of God,” Mac mutters. “Should’ve fucking killed him.”
“I said no, and he hit me. Knocked my phone out of my hand and it shattered, so I couldn’t call or text.” She sighs. “Now, Leith, you don’t need to growl like an animal. You already kicked his bloody arse, didn’t you?”
“Not good enough,” I grunt. “God.”
“I know, I know,” she says. “I can’t believe he was such a loser. He seemed a right sort.”
“Most men are pricks,” I tell her, frowning at her in the mirror. “Assume all of them are until they prove you otherwise. Did he rape you?”
She shakes her head. “No, but not a doubt in my mind if you hadn’t come when you did…” I count slowly in my head to calm myself.
One, two, three, four, fivesixseven fuck! It isn’t working. I go to turn the car back around.
“No, brother,” Tate says from the back. “Take her home. We’ll do what we need to later, not now. Not with the girls with us.”
I grumble, but do as he says for I know he’s right.
“What do we have to tell Mum and Dad?” she asks in a little voice.
I sigh. “Let me take care of that.” I shake my head. I take the blame for this, for pushing her to rebel by being such a tight-arse. God.
“I won’t lecture you, lass, I think you learned your lesson here. But I will ask that if we’re not going to trouble Mum and Dad, you give me the courtesy of telling me where you’re going and when. And for my part, I won’t be so bloody rigid. Alright?”
She nods. “Aye. Thank you.”
She speaks in a hushed voice to Cairstina, and when I look, Cairstina’s holding her hand, gently stroking it as if to soothe her. It’s good to see the two of them enjoying each other’s company. It feels oddly like Cairstina belongs here with us.
We reach home after dark.
“Leith, Mum will see me, and if she does—”
I shake my head. “Come to my place. I’ll ring Islan and we’ll get you fixed up, alright?”
She nods, and as we park the car, she smiles at Cairstina. “You should stick around,” she says. “I think he’s a lot softer when you’re here.”
Cairstina shoots me a furtive look, then quickly averts her eyes. She isn’t here to stay, and we both know it.