Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 114793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 574(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 574(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
His face pinched tighter like he was debating the risk of arming someone who’d recently threatened someone’s manhood via raccoon. Before he could respond, the bushes rustled violently, and Webb came tearing through them like a freight train, breath short and eyes sharp.
“Get ready,” he clipped, already scanning the area as he reached me. “Company incoming!”
Without missing a beat, he dropped a kiss on my cheek, scooped me up—ant spray, cast, and all—and carried me inside like I weighed nothing. Before I could even process it, he’d gently laid me on the couch, ripped off two cushions, dropped them in the corner of the room, and scooped me back up again.
“This is humiliating,” I muttered, clinging to his neck. “I’m not a duffel bag.”
“You’re the only thing I’d pack first,” he murmured, carefully placing me down on the makeshift floor bed. Tucking a cushion behind my head, Webb's fingers brushed the tender side where the worst of my injuries still pulsed. He traced a line over my temple as he looked me over.
“You stay here, no moving. Protect that head.”
I grabbed the front of his t-shirt before he could get up. “Weapon. Now!”
With a smirk, he jogged off and returned seconds later, placing my little gun—Tinkerbell—and a small can of pepper spray in my lap with reverence.
I stared at them for a second. “Thank you. Also...we need to talk about the bathroom.”
He laughed quietly. “I knew you’d make life an adventure, so I added to it. One day, we’ll laugh about how our relationship began with raccoons, traps, and you pooping in the woods when you didn’t have to.”
I glared, but he ignored it and leaned in, kissed my forehead gently, and smiled. “It’ll be a great story to tell. Trust me.”
I wanted to say something snarky, but then his hand cradled the back of my head like it was made of glass. “I love you, Gabby.” He kissed me and was gone before I could even blink.
I stared at the door, jaw slack, heart slamming against my ribs. He’d said it. Webb actually said he loved me. Out loud, like it was just fact. And the worst part was, I didn’t get to say it back. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel it—God, I did. The love I felt for him had already taken root, growing faster and deeper than I ever could have prepared for. But in that moment, I'd frozen.
Before I had a chance to snap out of it, the popping started outside—sharp, distant, and unmistakably gunfire. My heart surged, panic rising fast, but not for myself. It was for him. For Ira. For Jesse and Remy. For every reckless, brave, brilliant man out there who might get hurt trying to protect me.
My fingers trembled as I tightened my grip on Tinkerbell, the weight of it grounding me. Let Barris come. I was ready, and he had no idea what kind of hell he’d just walked into.
Chapter 33
Webb
We spotted them just past the tree line—eight figures moving in the moonlight with enough tactical gear to make a Navy SEAL feel underdressed. Head-to-toe black, vests cinched too tight, weapons that looked freshly polished, and that stiff, overcompensating kind of posture that screamed, “I watched too many action movies in my mom’s basement.”
Jesse leaned closer to me and murmured, “I hate LARPers.”
“God,” I muttered back, “they really think they’re starring in some low-budget military film, don’t they?”
We both snorted under our breath, crouched in the shadows, our eyes trained on the group as they spread out. Barris was front and center, swaggering like a bad decision made flesh.
Behind us, Ira’s gravelly whisper cut through the dark like a dry twig snapping. “What’s really pathetic is that people are still kidnapping in this day and age. Especially after how many times it’s happened to your family. And don’t even get me started on the rattlesnake.”
Jesse rolled his eyes, whispering, “Oh my God, not again.”
I clenched my jaw. “He didn’t see it in the car where it was planted. Who the hell does that? You're right, though, people have grudges, sure, but this whole kidnap-the-witness routine is tired.”
Jesse made a noise in the back of his throat. “There’s a whole world of crime out there. Maybe they could try credit card fraud or art theft. Something classy.”
Remy, crouched nearby with his rifle drawn, turned just enough to glare over his shoulder and made a sharp slashing motion with his hand. “Really? You wanna argue this right now while we’re eyeballing eight heavily armed assholes trying to commit the most uninspired crime imaginable?”
We shut up immediately.
The woods went quiet for a breath, then Barris raised his hand, and his men split off like chess pieces being moved across a board. One broke right, stepping too close to the path that circled the cabin.