Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 74749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 374(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 374(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
I lock eyes with her, wanting to kill Dixon all over again at the sight of the bruises on her face and the swelling around her left eye.
“Lennox,” I whisper.
She shakes her head in response and then buries her face in my neck. The tears falling from her eyes are warmer than her skin as I wrap my arms around her and hold her as she cries.
Her pain is silent, her body shaking as if she’s been conditioned not to make noise when she’s upset. It makes me wonder what her childhood was like after Elle’s death. The loss of someone in such a brutal way has the ability to make families grow closer together, but it can also rip them apart at the seams. She never discussed what life was like after, but from the way she lives her life, I don’t think it was a great experience.
Her crying eases as we pull out of the hospital parking lot, and after watching Kincaid drive past the solid row of motorcycles, I turn and press my nose into her hair, unconcerned of the dried blood in the tangled strands.
She killed an evil man tonight, but not before that man injected Bishop with what we were told could quite possibly be a lethal dose of what they suspect to be some back-alley form of GHB. He was found unresponsive around the back side of the house, having parked the SUV on the block behind her house and was injected in her backyard. They’re not hopeful that he’s even going to wake up. Kincaid will return to the hospital right after dropping us off.
I meet my boss’s eyes in the rearview mirror as he pulls into the Cerberus parking lot. He isn’t judging me for being here instead of there, but some of that guilt swims inside of me. He told me it was an impossible choice before she was discharged, so he took it from me, insisting I came back with her.
That’s an order, he had said, his voice a little broken from the night’s events.
Lennox still has her head tucked into my chest when he puts the SUV in park, and he climbs out when I nod at him.
My boss throws his leg over his bike and leaves. He’s prepared just like everyone else to escort Bishop’s body to the morgue if it comes to that.
It’s another couple of minutes before her shoulders stop shaking, and a couple more after that before she pulls her head back, wincing in pain when she attempts to wipe the wetness from her face.
“Dixon,” she whispers, and just the sound of his name on her lips makes me see red.
I’ve hated a lot of people in my lifetime. I’ve done exactly what she did tonight more times than I care to count, but the bone-deep hatred I feel for that man will never fade.
“Did she save him?”
My brow creases in confusion.
“Rachel,” she whispers, making me think her head injury is worse than the doctors realized. “She was trying to save his life when they were taking me to the ambulance.”
Realization strikes hard and fast. The female medic who was helping her was called to help when they found Bishop.
“Every shot you made was true, Lennox. Dixon is dead.”
Relief washes over her face, her body growing a little less tense at my side. Now is not the time to explain who Rachel was helping. Plus, I don’t think I could get through it and stay in the headspace she needs me to be in right now.
“I made so many mistakes,” she says. “I spoke with Dixon At Jake’s. I was distracted. I didn’t give him the attention he deserved.”
I watched her speak with him that night. It was quick, and she didn’t take many notes. That’s the night I met her at her car.
“I spoke with him, too,” I say, knowing she’s blaming herself for missing it. I need her to know she isn’t alone, that he didn’t throw up any real flags for me either. “I never suspected him either.”
I watch her face transform several times as she struggles with her own thoughts.
“Let’s go inside,” I offer, opening my door. By the time I get the keys out of the cup holder and turn off the vehicle, she’s already out of the SUV and walking toward the front door of the clubhouse. She holds her hands up when I offer my assistance. As close as she was inside the vehicle, she has no interest in being that close to me now.
I give her some distance, opening the front door for her and waiting until she walks past to close and lock it.
She was in my room once before, but she doesn’t immediately start in that direction.
“It’s so quiet.”
“We’re the only ones here,” I tell her, but then think maybe she won’t be comfortable knowing that. “Ivy and Gigi are across the street if you’d prefer to go over there.”