Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
But I decided in this case, just for their protection, I wanted them to keep it in case Madman miraculously managed to get up after being shot several times.
Me:
She’s okay. Nastya is okay. Madman was shot. Throat and chest. I told them to wait in the car. Also, Maven’s water broke.
It was Hollis’s words that had me giggling despite the situation.
Hollis:
Glad I’m already here, then!
Ellodie:
I love babies!
Shayne:
Auntie Shayne times a million!
Pepper:
Someone better come pick me up and not forget about me!
Gable:
I’m here, and she’s very wet. Someone better be willing to clean my truck after this. **Cough, cough** Auden **cough**
Pepper:
Aren’t you at work, Gable?
Gable:
I was, but I got off, and I was heading to get someone a celebratory cake from a certain baker who was supposed to be at her shop, not playing hooky.
“Gable’s here.” Maven breathed out a sigh of relief. “He’s moved me and Nastya into his truck.”
My lungs could finally draw in a breath of air.
“Okay, I’m going to hang up then since there are officers on scene,” I tried for professional.
“He looks so hot in his uniform, Attie. Do you want me to take a picture of him?” she teased.
I scoffed. “Of course.”
We hung up, and I finished up my notes for the call.
Fuck.
Madman had been at my brother’s place?
And now he was shot.
Jesus Christ.
My mind was spinning as I went through four more calls.
Maven:
All right, best friend. I need you here. I’m officially five centimeters. Time to play hooky. **Image attached**
My heart thumped in my chest as I pulled up the photo she’d attached of Gable.
He was once again in his tactical pants, black polo, and combat boots.
He had a holster wrapped around his right thigh, and it did wonderful things to his package. Almost framing it for my viewing pleasure.
His arms were crossed tight over his chest, and his muscles were bulging, and I could just see the hint of a tattoo from underneath his shirt.
Grinning, I put my calls on pause, and then went to my boss’s office.
“Hey,” I said. “Do you mind if I take off an hour early? My best friend is in labor.”
Cameron looked up from his desk and said, “Sure thing. I’ll take over until your relief gets here.”
I clapped my hands happily, then hurried back to my desk to gather my things.
Since I assumed the threat was no longer active, I didn’t bother to call anyone to tell them where I was going.
I cannot brain today. I has the dumb.
—Text from Athena to Gable
ATHENA
Maybe I should’ve waited.
Maybe I should have also not walked to the hospital.
But my first thought was the walk was only eight blocks.
My second was that I didn’t have a car, and I was fairly sure everyone I would normally call would be busy either driving to the hospital themselves, or already there.
I also didn’t give a second thought to the fact that the person in the house who Maven and Nastya had shot might not have been Madman.
I’d just assumed… and you know what they say about making assumptions.
I was lost in thought, my pace quick, as I rushed to the hospital from the station.
In fact, I was so lost in thought that I didn’t expect anyone to be in my path until they suddenly were.
I could see the hospital in the distance.
It was maybe a block and a half away.
That was the first thing that caught my attention when I felt like I bounced off a brick wall.
“Well, hello there.” A man chuckled.
His words sent my heart pounding, and not in a good way.
I knew that voice.
I knew that body.
I backed away or tried to.
He wouldn’t let me go.
I struggled, and was definitely drawing people’s attention, but it wasn’t enough to get him to let me go.
“Let me go!” I screamed.
“I think I won’t,” Darryl Horton whispered darkly. “How about we go into this alley right here and…”
A truck screeched to a stop inches away from us.
I gasped, unsure which direction to protect myself from, and struggled harder.
The instant relief in my body upon hearing Gable’s angry, “Let her go now,” was enough to cause my heart to stop beating.
Relief coursed through me, and Madman laughed and let me go.
“Just the man I wanted to see,” he said as he threw me away from him.
I landed against a trash can, partially standing, partially on top of it.
I got up, determined to do something, anything, when Gable hit Madman in the stomach with his shoulder.
The two of them went to the ground, and I didn’t want to admit this, but it took me an embarrassingly long time to pull my phone out of my purse and call 911.
After relaying everything that was happening, and where we were, I stuffed the phone back into my purse still on the call.
I pulled the cross body strap over my right shoulder, and watched the fight ensue.