Total pages in book: 218
Estimated words: 209489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1047(@200wpm)___ 838(@250wpm)___ 698(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 209489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1047(@200wpm)___ 838(@250wpm)___ 698(@300wpm)
I didn’t want him to leave me. Not yet.
So in truth, as much as I needed a break, I wouldn’t admit it. Who knew how far we were from a town, or at least a house. I would take a tree house. A cave. Anything.
And that was when the reality of our situation really hit me.
Not only was my home gone, but so was my wallet. I had no money. No computer. No key to my safe deposit box.
I was missing so much work. Everyone was going to fire me, if they hadn’t already. What day was it? How long had it been?
I fisted my hand as my eyes filled with tears again. I dug my fingernails into my palm just enough to cause pain, to ground me. Another choke hiccupped in my chest, and I dug my nails in just a little harder.
What the hell am I going to do when this is over?
I had no one.
No place to live and be safe in.
No money. No identification.
I might have ruined a career that I’d carefully crafted and enjoyed.
How the hell would I even start going about getting anything back in the first place?
I had nothing.
Just about nothing.
I had this being who was suddenly stuck with me but not by choice. Eventually he was going to dump me somewhere, and I wouldn’t be ungrateful because he’d already done so much. But….
“Stop it, Gracie,” the stern, demanding voice called out.
Another sound cramped in my throat, and I pinched my nose to keep it inside.
“Stop it,” he repeated.
I was trying.
“Stop,” The Defender insisted.
Tears wet my fingers, and I ground down hard on my molars, keeping the breath in my lungs so that I wouldn’t make a peep. It was the same way I’d cried in that damn cell when he’d first told me about the trailer being burned down. The tiniest little sound slipped through my hand though.
“Stop.”
I sucked in a breath, pinched my nose, and tried to remind myself… tried to remind myself that this wasn’t the end of the world.
Things were just things.
Maybe I could explain and beg for forgiveness so that my students would come back.
I was free, and I had no reason to think I wouldn’t have a long life ahead of me. I could hide again. So what if I was technically broke and had no identity?
Home could be anywhere.
The sob exploded out of my mouth.
I was full of shit.
If they had found me once, they could find me again. My cover was blown. What the hell was I going to do? This wasn’t the eighties or the nineties. You couldn’t even rent a hotel room without a credit card.
I cried.
I cried and I cried, silently at least, and my chest shook as even more tears came out of my eyes and out of my soul.
I had nothing, and they had almost killed me in there. I’d thought I was going to die. I really had.
My brain hurt. My nose hurt. My throat felt like it was never going to be the same again because of what they had done. I was so fucking mad at being so damn helpless, my brain instantly hurt even more.
Deep in the back of my head, I heard a growl, and at some point, there was a poke at my side.
Then I heard a super-serious voice ask, “Why are you crying?”
I didn’t answer. I was too busy pressing my hands to my eyes harder.
“Why are you crying?” he asked again, that time in an almost gentle voice that was hard to ignore.
“I’m s-sc…. I’m… scared.” Oh shit, my voice broke. In half. In pieces. I was blubbering.
Another poke came at my side, followed by a “Gracie” that was so deep I couldn’t ignore it. “There’s nothing for you to be afraid of.”
He was right. I knew he was fucking right, but… but….
No. No, I didn’t know that. I was full of shit.
There was another poke to my shoulder, and I wept even more. Wept for the last few weeks. For the last few months, for the last few years since my grandma had died. For the last six since my grandpa had passed away.
I was so alone—so goddamn alone—and so overwhelmed, and I wasn’t sure how the hell I was going to get through this next chapter in my life. I would. I had to, I knew that, but how?
After what might have been a few minutes, but might have been longer than that, there was another poke so hard that I had to lift my head because oww.
Long fingers curled under my chin, and the next thing I knew, he was tilting my face up and Alexander was dipping his. Right there, he was right there. “No one is close by. They won’t find us.”
“Okay,” I said as I cried even harder and it hurt. It fucking hurt.