Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Both of them were fast asleep, Remy curled up in a ball and Scout tossed out on his back like a starfish.
Relief heaved from my lungs, and I dropped my head between my shoulders so I could get it together.
You’re just freaking the fuck out, Milo. Conjuring things because your kids are here.
Blowing out a sigh, I shuffled back out into the main room, on my way back to my girl.
Only I stalled out when I saw the flicker of light through the windows out back.
An icy dread slipped down my spine.
I crept forward and squinted into the darkness. Bare moonlight floated down from the heavens, scarcely enough to cast the earth in shadows, the trees mere silhouettes and the lake a blackened pond.
“Fuck.”
I was losing it.
Making shit up.
I started to move when I saw it.
A flash, flash, flash that strobed through the trees.
I was out the door and barreling that way, my feet taking the path down the middle of the lawn in the direction of the lake.
I sprinted across the cool, damp grass.
The only thing I had on was a pair of shorts and a tee.
Barefoot.
Wasn’t exactly prepared, but there was no time to hesitate. I wasn’t about to give this fucker a chance to get away.
Knew it the second the bastard sensed me. The way he suddenly changed course and darted back into the forest.
Violence erupted from where I held it chained. A straight shot injected into my veins.
He was here.
Here at my home.
Where my children were.
Where Tessa was.
Rage blurred my sight, and I hustled faster, tossing myself right over the top of the fence in one leap. I landed hard on the other side, nearly tripping as I was set off balance, but I righted myself quickly and hurtled into the thick.
The forest rose up on all sides.
It cloaked the faint rays of moonlight. Dimmed them to nearly nothing.
I was surrounded by grisly shadows on each side, spindly branches and fallen trees and the sharp pricks of pinecones and needles beneath my feet.
But I didn’t slow.
I ran.
I fucking ran through the forest, an arm coming up to guard my face as branches whipped and lashed at my flesh.
The tangled gnarl of roots below tried to slow my path.
A rock cut into the sole of my foot.
I didn’t give.
Didn’t slow.
Adrenaline sloshed through my veins, fueling the aggression that seethed.
With all of me, I hunted the light.
Still, it grew farther away with each step.
Fuck.
My heart hammered as I raced through the maze of trees.
The darkness disorienting.
My breaths too shallow.
I suddenly broke out of the forest.
Confused, I looked around, realizing it had landed me halfway down my gravel drive that ran for more than a mile.
The asshole had made a big loop around my property.
Ragged breaths jutted from my lungs as I searched for which direction he’d gone, then I shielded my eyes when headlights suddenly speared through the darkness.
An SUV peeled out from where it’d been hidden just off the drive about a hundred yards in front of me, whipping around and heading in the opposite direction toward the main road.
Gravel spewed as his tires spun, and the fucker gunned it.
I chased him like it might be of use.
Like it wasn’t fruitless.
Like I could catch up. Head it off. Stop it before the horrors of my past were the ones catching up to me.
Taillights disappeared around a corner, and I kept lumbering forward before I bent in two, gasping for air that I couldn’t find.
A guttural roar ripped from my lungs, rage blustering beneath my skin.
Motherfucker.
He wanted to come here? I was going to find him first.
Fear roiled with the desperation.
I knew it. Knew how this would end.
I glared down the road where he’d escaped until everything settled.
The dust.
The scream of his engine as he took off down the main road.
My breaths that I couldn’t control.
But it did nothing to settle the chaos.
No peace found in the middle of the mayhem.
Swiping my forearm over the sweat drenching my face, I turned and walked back up the drive, not giving a shit that the soles of my feet were shredded, barely registering I was leaving a trail of blood behind me before I caught sight of Tessa, who was on the front porch freaking out, her arms hugged across her chest as she paced.
She gasped when she saw me in the distance, and she fumbled down the steps and came running my way, wearing shorts and a tank and unlaced tennis shoes she’d clearly stuffed her feet into.
All that red flew around her beneath the pale moonlight, and my chest panged so hard, clutched in this love and this fight.
This girl.
The sun who’d risen on a darkened day.
But how could I ever stand in the light when wickedness still enshrouded?
She threw herself against me with a hard thud, grasping my shoulders when we made contact. “Oh my God, Milo, what happened? I heard the back door burst open, and I went running out there. I couldn’t find you. I called and called. I…I wanted to get in the car and come find you, but the kids are still sleeping, and I didn’t know what to do.”