Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 78231 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78231 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
“Sure,” I agreed.
But I didn’t.
Sleep.
At least, not for a long time.
I just stayed there, awake, enjoying the feel of him beside me, the steady rise and fall of his chest, the spicy smell of him that I was beginning to crave.
And, with my mind racing.
Ideas of safe houses and dog sitting and spending some time with him running through my mind.
I was excited for it.
Even if it was going to take place during a cartel war.
When I woke up in the morning, A was already gone, and a crushing sensation pressed down on my chest.
“Hey there,” a voice said, making my head whip over to find my doctor standing there, giving me a warm smile. “I was told to tell you that your boyfriend will be back in a few hours. He had to let the dogs out,” she added. “And I am supposed to give you a ‘thorough’ work over to make sure, without a shadow of a doubt, that you are ready to leave,” she said with a smile that said she was charmed by A’s overprotectiveness. “That’s quite a man you have there,” she added as she walked over toward me.
Maybe I should have corrected her. Told her that he wasn’t my boyfriend, my man, anything like that.
The thing was, he was really starting to feel that way.
Mine.
What’s more, I wanted him to be that.
It made no sense.
It defied logic.
It defied free-freaking-will.
It was something beyond me.
A pull I had no control over.
So I was going to stop fighting it.
I was going to go with it, see where it led.
I just got to hope I didn’t end up flat on my face with my heart crushed in my chest.
It was just a chance I was willing to take.
After more blood and pee was taken from me, after all my vitals had been gone over, and I got another physical examination, the doctor concluded that all was good with me.
I was warned to be mindful of my concussion, but that I was otherwise ready to go.
“What’s this?” I asked when the nurse brought in a bag.
“Your boyfriend left it here to give to you.”
“Oh, okay. Thanks,” I said, trying not to seem as confused as I felt.
They left me alone then to eat my breakfast and go through the bag.
Where I found a pair of black yoga pants, panties, and a black tee. Slides. And sunglasses.
I rushed through breakfast, then took another whore’s bath because I was pretty sure I would prefer a shower back at A’s safe house instead of the hospital shower. Even if it was luxury, I didn’t know how much I could trust that there weren’t some flesh-eating diseases hiding in the grout or something.
Then I waited.
And waited.
And waited.
It was almost ten in the morning when he finally showed back up, giving me a little once-over that had my belly flip-flopping.
“You ready?”
“Your shower better be clean,” I told him as I followed him out the door.
“Gotta make sure there’s no evidence,” he said casually as we rode the elevator down.
I didn’t need more explanation than that.
Blood evidence from what he’d done the day before.
Which meant there had been an ungodly amount of bleach poured in that shower.
It was clean.
I don’t know what I was expecting of his safe house, but a three-floor brick building wasn’t it.
“The first two floors are empty. But there are two smaller safe rooms there, just in case. Not as nice as the building as a whole, but will work in an extreme situation,” he told me as he pulled his car inside the first floor. “That’s one,” he said, pointing toward a door that looked like a walk-in fridge.
“Okay,” I agreed. “Oh, God,” I grumbled as we walked up to the steps.
“Sorry, ma, the elevator was out when I bought it. And I didn’t do shit around here that I couldn’t fix myself.”
I understood that.
The fewer people who knew about your safe house, the better. Everyone could be bought if your pockets were deep enough. You didn’t want to take those chances.
I made it up to the second floor, checking out the next safe room.
But halfway up the next flight, I let out a whimper that had A ducking low, and hauling me up into his arms.
“Don’t,” he said.
“Don’t what?” I asked.
“Don’t say shit about how you don’t need to be carried,” he told me, taking up the stairs, careful not to jostle me too much.
“That is… quite a door,” I decided when he put me down outside of a giant metal door that looked like it was several inches thick. And whatever way it connected to the wall, it was hidden, so no one could take it off its hinges and let themselves in.
“There are cameras,” I said, pointing at them. “They are all around the building, on each floor, connected to monitors on a computer set up. There are also motion sensors that will go off when you set the system. Which you have to do when I leave.”