Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 48700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
I struggle to my feet, fighting to get to Venom.
I lunge forward, my teeth sinking into his muscular arm as hard as I can.
He howls in pain, his grip on the wheel faltering for a moment. He tries to pry me off with his free hand, but I refuse to let go. I can't.
"Get her off me!" he shouts, struggling to keep control of the vehicle.
"Kylie, let go!" Shelby cries from behind us, her voice thick and uncoordinated. But I won't let go—I can't give up now.
Venom swears viciously, yanking his arm hard to dislodge me. The sudden, violent movement sends me careening across the van. I land in a heap in the passenger floorboard, my head bouncing against the dashboard as the air rushes from my lungs.
Shelby cries out in terror, her panicked voice rising above the chaos. "Venom! Look out!"
He slams on the brakes with a roar of fury.
I look up just in time to see the world tilting as the van flips. Time seems to slow, stretching out the horrifying moment into an eternity.
And then metal screeches and glass shatters in an explosion of sound.
My body tries to lift upward, but I'm wedged between the dashboard and seat. I can't go anywhere. Pain radiates through me at the impact of the van landing. My head cracks against the dashboard. Something warm and wet trickles down the side of my face.
Blood, I realize.
The van tumbles over and over like some unstoppable force.
"Memphis!" His name rips from my throat in a raw, desperate scream as I'm thrown violently into the side wall of the van. Pain explodes through me, and everything goes dark.
Chapter Thirteen
Kylie
Screams echo through the darkness, pulling me from the depths of unconsciousness. My body throbs with pain, every nerve ending on fire. I don't know where I am or what's happening. All I know is pain and anguish.
God, it hurts so bad.
Where am I?
What happened?
"Kylie! Kylie, goddammit, wake up!" I'd know that voice anywhere. It's Memphis—my Memphis—but his voice is choked with a kind of torment I've never heard before. He sounds as if he's burning alive. He's in so much pain. Even his hands on my shoulders shake as if he's in danger of vibrating apart at the seams.
I fight to open my eyes but they're so heavy. My eyes flutter, revealing his haunted blue eyes, wet with tears and brimming with desperation.
"Mem…phis," I mumble, his name slurring on my lips. Something is wrong. I feel it in my bones, as if I'm teetering on the edge of death. God. Am I dying?
I can't. Not before I warn him… What?
"Venom," I gasp, choking on the name. Memphis needs to know; he has to be prepared.
But Memphis shushes me, his voice thick with emotion. "Shh, baby," he murmurs, tears streaming down his rugged face, dripping onto mine. "Shh. You don't have to worry about him anymore. You don't have to worry about him ever again."
Relief floods through me, but it doesn't wash away the exhaustion weighing down my limbs.
Why am I so tired?
Maybe I should just close my eyes for a little while. Just for a little bit.
"I love you," I whisper, the words slipping free without conscious thought.
"Kylie," he chokes, his face a mess of anguish and adoration, his grip tightening as if he's afraid I'll slip away.
I take a shuddering breath, my eyes falling closed.
Memphis sobs my name…and the world goes dark again.
Chapter Fourteen
Memphis
"She won't fuckin' wake up," I whisper to Riley, my throat raw as I sit at Kylie's bedside, my head resting on her stomach. I feel the slow rise and fall of her chest as she breathes, but she still won't wake up.
It's been three goddamn days since my entire world crashed to the ground, and she still hasn't woken up. The doctors keep spouting their bullshit about giving her time to heal, but every day that passes without her opening those pretty emerald eyes has me feeling a little more bleak and hopeless.
I almost lost her.
"Remember holding her like you held her brother, Memphis?" my mind taunts me. As if I'll ever forget the memory of her battered, bleeding body in my arms while I begged for someone to help her. As if I'll ever forget thinking I'd just lost her the same goddamn way we lost him—to violence and hatred that never should have touched her.
If that accident hadn't taken care of Venom, I would have done it myself. But he was dead long before Cash and I showed up. He snapped his miserable fucking neck.
Shelby's barely clinging to life in the ICU. She was thrown from the van. But Kylie…well, Kylie is a fighter, saved from the same fate by her position in the vehicle. I don't know if she put herself there or if it was some kind of divine intervention looking out for her. Either way, it saved her life. And I'll spend the rest of mine on my knees, thanking God.