Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 76022 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76022 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
“I know that’s not what you want to hear. But the headache will hopefully ease after you get some sleep.”
“I thought you weren’t supposed to sleep,” Este said.
“Old wives’ tale. Rest helps the brain recover. It’s what you need now. So if you can, sleep. I can offer you some cold patches. Some people think they help headaches; others say it makes them worse. But it might be worth a try.”
“Is there anything else I should be looking out for?”
“Well, you know Este better than I do, so if anything seems off, it’s always better to bring her in for a check. We can always run some tests. Or have you head over to the local hospital for a full work-up. But for right now, my prescription is rest and observation.”
Half an hour later, we were pulling into the lot of the clubhouse.
Este was nodding off, her head against the cool glass.
Giving her a minute, I stepped out to meet with Slash.
“Figured you didn’t want to leave her,” he said.
“Is it done?”
“He was halfway there already with the damage you did.”
“He deserved it.”
“No one is denying that.”
“Where is he now?”
“Crow and Saint are handling the body. They know what they’re doing. Better no one else has any idea.”
I nodded at that. “Did you see that fucking place?”
“Looked like he planned to keep her there a long time. How she doing?”
“Concussion. Gotta keep an eye on her, but Dr. Price didn’t seem too worried.”
“Good. Seems like you managed to get to her before anything awful happened.”
Dr. Price had asked those uncomfortable questions too. About needing to go get a kit done. Este was adamant that all they did was talk after she woke up.
“Why don’t you get her all squared away? She can’t be comfortable like that.”
That was exactly what I did.
I carried her upstairs, cleaned her up, helped her out of her clothes, then settled her in bed with an ice pack for her head, promising as I rubbed her hair while she drifted off that I would update her as soon as I knew about Trix.
“I hoped you would save me,” she murmured.
“Every time, honey. I’ll always come for you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Este
I woke up to something tickling my nose.
Then, as if sensing I was back in the world, I felt a long, fat tongue lick up my cheek.
“Trix!” I yelped, my eyes flying open to find her on the bed right next to me. “Hey, baby, hey!”
I threw my arms around her, burying my face in her soft coat. It wasn’t something she generally liked, but she seemed to understand how badly I needed it and let me squeeze her for a minute.
“I was so worried about you.”
“When Colter finally gave me an update, he was already almost out the door,” Saul said, making me look up to find him standing there with a tray of food. “I figured I would just let her wake you up when she got here.”
“Best surprise ever,” I told him, swiping some tears off my cheeks. “She’s okay?”
“Clean bill of health. Seems like she had a couple of Benadryl in her system. She was just having a very deep, allergy-free sleep.”
“Thank God. You scared the heck out of me. But I knew you would find her. I heard you,” I added.
“You heard me?”
“In my house. I tried to scream, but I guess the basement was soundproofed pretty well.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t know you were there sooner.”
“You’re not psychic. And you did find me pretty quickly. How did you know?”
“Rook. Rook found the old restraining order. We pieced it together pretty quickly from there. Detroit said he saw a much fitter version of the guy at the gym in town. I figured that if you’d seen him, you would have been gone. So he had to be laying low. But he’d also want to keep an eye on you. Then I remembered the new neighbor…”
“You put it together a lot faster than I did.”
“You had no reason to suspect the neighbor.”
“His behavior was weird. But, no, you’re right. I’m not going to take on the blame. Your hands,” I said, glancing down at his busted knuckles.
“I had some… feelings about someone putting their hands on my woman.”
I knew I was supposed to be focusing on the whole beating someone up thing, but all I could hear was my woman.
“Your woman?” I asked.
“Yeah, my woman,” he said, shooting me a sexy smirk. “You have a problem with that?”
“Only that I’m just hearing about it now.”
“I was gonna get around to that,” he said, putting down the tray and tossing a treat on the new dog bed for Trix before coming over to the bed.
“Yeah, when?”
“When we talked through you getting kidnapped by the Russians and bribed not to tell me about it.”
“You heard about that, huh?” I asked, wincing. “I guess I have to give the money back.”