Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 64910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
His eyes filled with tears.
I tried to lift my hand to catch one from falling off his cheek but realized I couldn’t lift my hand.
“The medics on their way?” KD asked, practically dragging himself out from under the debris covering his legs.
“Yeah,” Bram croaked, sounding as if he’d just been screaming.
Maybe internally was all he would allow himself.
“How long?” KD asked.
“Twenty minutes,” Bram replied, never taking his eyes away from me.
There was another trickle of blood that fell into my ear canal, and it instantly started to tickle.
The baby in my belly moved again.
“Can you move my hand to my belly?” I asked. “I want to feel him.”
One last time.
Bram looked torn, as if he didn’t want to move me at all. Not one body part. Not one single inch.
“No,” he finally decided. “But I’ll feel for you.”
He placed his hand on my belly, at least, it felt like it was on my belly since I couldn’t quite turn my head to see.
“You’re gonna be okay, baby.” Bram sounded a little more in control of himself that time.
Lies.
He was such a bad liar.
How did we ever lie to the cops about my brother?
“Bram?” I questioned.
He moved until he was as close as he could get.
“Yeah?” he asked.
“I want you to run. I want you to run toward whatever makes you happy in life. I want you to run toward what makes you take a deep breath and relish it. Even if your running takes you away from me.”
Was my voice weaker? Or was that just my imagination?
“Just hold on,” Bram cried, his tears disappearing into his mustache. “Just hold on one second longer.”
If I had the energy to cry, I would have.
Except I didn’t. I’d lost too much blood. It was obvious now. My brother’s protégé had seen to that before Bram had shown up. So Bram could watch me die.
“I’ve loved you since the first time I saw you,” I whispered. “Take care of our baby. And maybe tell him about his mom?”
Bram opened his mouth to argue with me, but my rasping breath caused his mouth to close.
“I wasn’t all bad, was I?”
His tears were coming faster now.
“You weren’t bad at all,” he choked. “I was. I was bad. I was bad for you. And I took you anyway.”
I laughed, but it was so breathless that it was nothing more than a sigh.
“One day, you’ll find someone to be good for,” I whispered. “That girl just isn’t me.”
I didn’t feel anything now. I felt like I was floating on air.
“Baby,” Bram croaked.
He sounded as bad as I felt.
“The man’s name that hurt me. Travis Haynes,” I whispered. “That’s his name. He’s the dude you punched in the parking lot of the courthouse the day we found out my brother was being declared mentally insane.”
Then, with that last task taken care of, I passed out and didn’t wake back up.
CHAPTER 25
I won’t cry over you. Mascara is way too expensive.
-Dory to Bram
BRAM
Her body was twisted awkwardly. As in, she lay where she was thrown, not able to realign her limbs. Her leg was folded underneath of her and I couldn’t be sure of her neck’s status, so I wasn’t taking any chances moving her.
And her head. The only thing holding her scalp in place on her head was a few twisted strands of skin. She’d been scalped.
That wasn’t including her arms. They looked like they were sacks of marbles.
Her eyes had been completely bloodshot, and she’d been crying tears of blood.
But the worst? The worst was the fact that she could feel the baby moving, when I damn well hadn’t been able to. Not a single movement had come since she’d said she wanted to feel it.
I hadn’t been sure what she’d been feeling, but it definitely wasn’t Harker’s movement.
Then her words had come to me.
How she’d wanted me to tell the baby about her—maybe.
As if I would ever let a day go by that Harker wouldn’t know his mother.
What a beautiful person she was, inside and out.
If he made it, that was.
I was sitting alone in the emergency room.
They’d taken her upstairs hours ago, yet I hadn’t heard a single word in all that time.
Hell, I didn’t even know where to go.
The door to my right banged open so hard it hit the wall, drawing my attention.
I blinked when I saw Wake.
Followed by my brother, Haggard.
Which didn’t seem right, because I’d had no time to call him to tell him about Dory, let alone give him time to ride here.
Yet, after Haggard burst through the door behind Wake, Shine, Price, Easton, and Tide were on his heels. My dad and Jeremiah followed immediately behind.
Something in my broken heart shivered at the sight of them.
They all looked fierce.
Pissed.
So blazing mad that I knew they knew what had happened to Dory.