Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 100090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
“What in the hell are you doing in Montana, of all places?”
“I came, of course,” she says, frowning. “I knew, when you were at my show in Paris, that you wanted me. So, I came. I had to get rid of that annoying little gnat that was attached to you, but I came. And now we can be together.”
Jesus fucking Christ.
“Ry?”
I turn at the sound of my brother’s voice.
“Chase, get her off of me,” I say grimly, wanting nothing more than to follow that ambulance and find out if Polly’s okay.
“What? No!” Claudia’s gorgeous face turns mutinous as Chase pulls her away. “Ryan, what are you doing?”
“I’m pretty sure she caused the accident,” I say to Chase, ignoring Claudia altogether. I’m so fucking pissed that I’m afraid I’ll do something stupid, like punch her. “Jake will confirm. He saw it all.”
“That rental is in a Claudia DuBois’s name.”
“That’s her,” I reply wearily. “I’ll fill you in later, but I need to get to the hospital. I don’t know how badly Polly’s hurt.”
“What are you talking about?” Claudia demands, her blue eyes wild as she screams. “I’m the one you love. We’re getting married! We’re together, lover. Why are you acting like this?”
Chase’s lips twitch, and I sigh. “I’ll punch you in the face,” I say to him, and he laughs.
“Don’t worry, we’ll take care of her. I’ll want to talk to all three of you, but I’ll come to the hospital after we have this wrapped up.”
I nod and don’t even give Claudia a glance as I walk to my truck and take off to the hospital.
I knew that Claudia wasn’t…right. Based on what I knew of her a couple of years ago, I figured that she most likely had some mental health issues. Hell, she basically stalked me for the better part of a year, and I was not pleased when we ran into her in Paris, but I’d hoped that enough time had passed that she would be mellow about it.
Apparently not.
The fact that she ran the love of my life off the road and tried to kill her means that I have zero sympathy for Claudia, and I’ll make sure that Polly will be pressing charges against her.
Right now, my only focus is Polly and making sure that Jake is okay.
“Polly Allen,” I say immediately when I get to the emergency room. “She was just brought in.”
“Let me check,” the receptionist says and calls back. “I have someone here for Polly. Is she okay to have another visitor? Okay, I’ll send him back.” She hangs up the phone and says to me, “Room seven.”
Before the words are even out of her mouth, I’m rushing through the door that she just buzzed open, looking for room seven, and brush the curtain aside as I step inside.
“Dad,” Jake says quietly. “She’s sleeping again. She has a mild concussion, and we’re waiting to see what the X-ray says about her knee.”
I simply pull Jake into my arms and hug him close. “Thank you for being here with her.”
“Sure, it’s no big deal.”
“It’s a huge deal.” I bump my forehead against his, and then I take Polly’s hand and sit next to her. When Jake starts to leave, I frown up at him. “Where are you going?”
“Well, um, I’m gonna find something to eat.”
With that, he hurries off, and I feel Polly squeeze my hand.
“Hey,” I say and kiss her knuckles. I hate that she has the beginnings of a black eye and a bandage on her head, near her hairline. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay,” she says. “They gave me something for the headache. Bump on the head, and we’re pretty sure the knee is just sprained.”
Relief rushes through me. Jesus, it could have been so much worse.
“Who was in that car?” she asks with a frown. “Was it Melissa?”
“Melissa? No,” I frown over at her. “Why would it be her?”
“I didn’t give her a positive reference for a job.” She swallows hard, as if her mouth is dry. “She’s mad. Left a threatening note on my car.”
I kiss her hand again and make a mental note to have Chase look into Melissa.
“No, it was Claudia DuBois.”
Polly frowns and blinks at me. “What?”
“I know, it’s unbelievable.”
“Ryan, I’ve seen that car all over town. It’s been driving through my neighborhood for a week and was parked down the street from my house. I’ve seen it drive by the shop. I figured a neighbor got a new car.” She tries to sit up straight, obviously agitated, and I lean in to kiss her cheek.
“Hey, easy, babe. I don’t want you to get upset.”
“Too late,” she mutters and closes her eyes. “I wish I had more energy. I want to pace.”
“Stay still. Claudia’s mentally ill,” I tell her. “I told you that I dated her, very briefly, a couple of years ago. Well, after I broke it off, she stalked me for a while. She’d go underground and then pop up, surprising me, showing up in random places all over the world. She’s smart. She was obsessed with me, or, I guess, the idea of me. I’d already upped my security presence because of the other situation, so she didn’t really worry me much. But I alerted the police, and she stopped contacting me and showing up in the same places I would be. I thought she’d moved on.”