Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 101864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
She pulled away. “You’re being really considerate.”
“I’m your best friend, Robin. You should know by now, I’ve got your back.”
She licked her lips. “Then … come with me to the nursery.”
“Robin?”
“What?”
“I’m not going to the nursery. I don’t need to. You’re the one who needs to go and deal with it. Not me.” He stroked her cheek. “There will be other babies. When we’re ready to start a family, I’ll give them to you.”
He took her hands, kissing the tips of her fingers.
She noticed the gold band she’d presented to him on their rushed wedding.
“You’re wearing your wedding ring.”
“I want you to know I’m serious, and I’m not going to let you go. I’m going to take this fresh start.” He kissed her again, and she smiled but she didn’t feel it.
He was being attentive, loving, nice. Everything she could ever want, but it wasn’t enough.
“I need to use the bathroom.”
“I’ll be waiting for you. I’ll warm up some more popcorn.”
She walked slowly to the stairs, taking them two at a time. Rushing into her room, she went straight to the bathroom. Gripping the edge of the sink, she took deep breaths.
Closing her eyes, she rested her head on the rim as her heart pounded.
“I’m fine. I’m fine.”
She really wasn’t fine.
Squeezing her eyes tightly, she tried to push out the pain. If she didn’t think of Preacher with another woman, she was safe.
As she rubbed at her chest, the pain only stayed.
Minutes passed, and finally, she lifted her head, staring at her reflection. Her face bright red. She touched her cheeks.
“I’m fine.”
They were all lies. She hadn’t been fine for a long time. She didn’t think she’d ever be fine again.
Bishop wore his wedding band, and for the first time since she’d gotten married to him, she felt trapped. Staring down at her arm, she frowned, seeing the scar that had never fully healed from when he’d taken her out of the classroom.
That one memory seemed a million miles away.
They’d grown apart in the past couple of months.
Was it her fault? Had she pushed him away?
She’d been so consumed by the baby, and Bishop, he’d been so caught up in who the baby’s father was.
She touched her stomach only to immediately pull her hand away. She hated touching her stomach more than anything. It was a cold reminder of what she didn’t have.
She splashed water on her face, trying to clear her head, but nothing worked. If anything, since losing her baby, she’d felt so much more confused than ever before.
When she joined Bishop on the sofa, he’d put on another scary movie.
That was Bishop all over, doing what he wanted without a care for anyone else. At least some things didn’t change.
****
The men who’d ran him and Robin off the road had been a little tricky to find. For the most part, he hadn’t been able to get a good look at the car, or the people. Everything had happened so fast.
Preacher had no choice but to call in a few favors. One of those coming from Billy. It had set him back a couple of grand, but Billy had given him access to the tapes that showed cars going in the same direction as he had been. It was a dark night, and it hadn’t been clear.
He had a computer guy who’d been all too ready to help him out, for a price. So with some money and drugs thrown at his computer guy, he’d gotten the license plate number. Of course, the car had been rented and the names had been aliases but the men couldn’t hide their faces from the camera. All it took was a little backtracking and he’d been able to find the men who were currently chained up with rats surrounding them.
For the last two days, he’d been torturing them. They were two addicts who told him they’d been paid to put him in the ground. They really thought they’d killed him, and in return, O’Klaren wouldn’t throw their asses in jail on drug charges.
It was sad, really. O’Klaren liked to get a couple of assholes to do his ugly work for him.
He didn’t know why he was even surprised. Grave and Frost stood beside him as they listened to the men’s screams. Only two men had been in the car that day, but they’d wanted to put as many people away with them.
Preacher intended to kill every single person who’d helped O’Klaren. Their deaths would be long and slow.
The rats were a nice touch, but it worked for him that Cheeky liked to work with rats and so was currently grabbing the rats and putting them away in their cage. He never asked about the men’s extracurricular activities, and he really didn’t care unless it helped him.
Staring at the men now, with little bite marks on their bodies, he stepped closer.