Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 103356 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103356 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
She wiped at her cheeks. Fuck. He hated that she was crying.
“I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
Her brother had so much to answer for. Tanner was going to find that fucker, and then he would make him pay for all the pain and sorrow he’d caused Tanner’s girl.
Fucker would pay in blood.
And he knew his brothers would help. They might be ranchers now, but they’d come from the same world it sounded like her brother was in. And they knew how to fight hard and dirty.
“It’s time to take a break, baby. To let someone else take over for a while. You’ve worn yourself out. However, lucky for you, you’ve got someone willing and able to take the reins for a while.”
“A cowboy metaphor?” she asked dryly as he wiped her tears away.
“Hey! There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“You don’t think it’s cliched?”
“I think it’s inspired. Like most things I say.”
She rolled her eyes at him.
“What do you say? Stop worrying about me, about everyone else and just concentrate on you for a while. On letting me help you.”
He could see her thinking and then, to his surprise, she nodded. “All right. I’ll try. For a short while.”
He figured it was as good as he was going to get.
“Good girl.”
Her eyes lit up at his words.
“Right, you need to eat something and then have a nap. How about I tell you about some stories from when I was a kid? That will cheer you up.”
Tanner lifted the cover off the plate of food that Abby had brought her. He grabbed the fork and picked up a piece of strawberry. To his relief, she opened her mouth and took it.
“All of my brothers are idiots, who got themselves into some real scrapes. Well, not Alec or West. Alec, because he’s the head of the family. And West, well, because he’s a dick. And boring.”
“You’re so mean to him,” she scolded.
“It’s not mean when it’s the truth,” he protested. “He’s always been an asshole.”
“Is he mean to you?” she asked.
He shot his gaze to her, reading her expertly. “Nothing like what you’re thinking. West is West. And he’d never harm you. None of us would. Here, have a bit of melon. That’s it. You’re doing so well, pretty girl.”
Oh yeah.
She definitely liked hearing him praise her.
Such a good girl.
30
“Hello? Who is this?” Opal asked.
“Opal,” she answered. “It’s me. Lilac. I’m on Tanner’s phone.” Her phone battery was dead.
“Fuck. Lilac, are you all right? What happened? Linc said you were okay, and that Tanner was with you, but Ryleigh nearly took his balls off for leaving you at the hospital.”
“She did? She shouldn’t do that.” What if he got upset and kicked them out? They could end up on the streets.
Shit. Fuck.
Anxiety filled her.
She glanced over at the closed bathroom door. Tanner had given up trying to feed her anymore lunch. She’d managed to eat some fruit and drink some of the protein drink the doctor had sent for her to try.
It was actually not too bad.
He’d agreed to let her use his phone if she promised to take a nap after he finished showering. Alec had brought him a bag with some clothes.
Lilac still couldn’t believe he was insisting on staying the night.
“Lilac, chill. He’s not going to kick us out. Not with the way he looks at Ryleigh. It’s like she’s a triple layer chocolate cake with whipped cream. Yum. I could do with some of that right now.” Opal sighed.
“Opal, I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“What do you have to be sorry about?” Opal asked. “You didn’t ask to faint and end up in the hospital.”
“No, but I shouldn’t have been out running at that time of the morning. I can only imagine how worried you were when you woke up to find me gone. You were supposed to start your new job today. I ruined that.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Opal replied. “News around this place travels really fast, and before I could even contact Laken, she’d left me as message not to worry about working today. Also, Ryleigh reckons she’s fine now to look after Kye. I’ll start my new job tomorrow. That’s no big deal. Your health is. Lilac, you have to start taking care of yourself. What would we do without you?”
“I know, I know,” she said hastily. “I’ll get back to work as soon as I can. We can’t afford for me to be off—”
“I’m not talking about the money, Lilac!” Opal yelled.
Lilac paused, shocked.
“I’m talking about you running yourself into an early grave. I . . . I’m terrified that something is going to happen to you, Lilac. You scared me. I don’t want to be without my best friend.”
Shit.
Lilac sniffled. “Nothing is going to happen to me.”
“Something already did,” Opal replied quietly.
Ouch. Okay, she got it. She wasn’t feeling the greatest and she’d done a dumb thing. Plus, she was struggling with anxiety and all of her worries. About not being able to take care of anyone.