Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 60848 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60848 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
“No one said you acted childish. Far as I can tell, you’re a pre-teen hanging on to a childhood you never got to enjoy. Now you’re free.” I shrugged. “Laugh and play all you fu -- er -- flippin’ want.”
As we emerged outside, Kira really did let out a laugh. “I’m telling Caleb you said flippin’ instead of the F-bomb.”
I frowned down at her. “Little imp. You do and I’ll tell him you’re the one who put blue food coloring in his body wash the other day.”
Her eyes got wide and her mouth formed an “O” of surprise. “You wouldn’t!”
I smirked. “I might. You know. If you tell him I couldn’t make myself drop the F-bomb in front of you.”
She gave a disgruntled sigh and lay her head against my chest as we approached the rest of the group, including Penny and Zelda. “Fine. I won’t tell. This time.”
“I hear you. Next time, I’ll censor myself at my own peril.”
Some things were worth turning in my man card for. And I’d just found three of them.
* * *
Penny
I watched the door to the back exit, praying to see my daughter and Tiny when I saw Tiny reappearing with Kira in his arms. Riot wrapped his hand around my upper arm gently, holding me back while Violet did the same with Zelda, leaning down to whisper to her. The police were still securing the area, though no one stopped Tiny as he came our way. My heart hammered against my ribs as Tiny approached, Kira’s small frame nestled against his massive chest like she weighed nothing at all, Mr. Hoppers clutched tightly in her hand.
“Wait until he’s through the tape,” Violet murmured, her grip firm but gentle on my arm. “We need to stay a safe distance away. In fact, we should move farther back.”
Every second felt like an eternity. Tiny’s eyes found mine across the distance, and something in his gaze helped me breathe. He said something to Kira that made her smile.
When they finally cleared the police line, Tiny knelt and set Kira on her feet. I broke free from Violet’s hold and rushed forward, Zelda right beside me. We collapsed into a trembling group hug, my fingers tangling in Kira’s hair as I pulled both girls against me.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” Kira whispered against my neck. “I couldn’t leave Mr. Hoppers.”
“Don’t ever do that again,” I choked out, unable to keep the tremor from my voice. “Nothing -- no toy, nothing -- is worth your life, baby.”
“Tiny found him for me,” she said, holding up the ragged rabbit like it was made of gold. “He wasn’t even mad at me.”
I looked up at Tiny, who stood watching us with an expression I couldn’t quite read -- relief mixed with something deeper, something that made my chest tighten. “Thank you,” I mouthed over the girls’ heads.
He nodded, a small smile lifting the corner of his mouth. I wanted to say more, to throw my arms around him like I had yesterday, but Knight approached with a grim expression that made my blood run cold again.
“We found something,” Knight said quietly to Tiny, holding out a tablet. “Front corner of the building. The facial recognition software notified me of the hit a minute after I got the bomb threat, so I didn’t pay attention to it until I knew we had everyone safe.” He looked frustrated. Likely with himself.
“And thank God you did, Knight,” I interjected. “The time it took you to answer an alert might have made a difference in the outcome of this if this thing is real.”
“As it turns out, it wasn’t a bomb.” Knight scrubbed the back of his neck in agitation. “I’m pretty sure he was gauging our response. What we prioritize and which way we moved everyone. Maybe even confirming how many people we had in this building.” He shared a look with Tiny. “Putting Haven this close to the compound was the best thing we could have done for this place. The closer Haven is, the faster our guys can get here in an emergency.”
On impulse, I looked over at the expanse of warehouses about the length of a football field away from us. Standing at the gate were several men from the compound. I recognized all of them, and that’s when I realized they’d likely been doing small errands and showing up for short amounts of time every couple of days to get us all used to seeing them. So we’d know they were safe.
Christ, I felt like I’d fallen down a rabbit hole and into an alternate universe where men weren’t abusive assholes and actually protected people precious to them.
Riot and Violet exchanged quick looks. “We need to move the other residents immediately,” Violet said. “I’ll call our sister shelter in Memphis. They should be able to take Rita and her mother tonight. Andrea’s sister is supposed to meet her at the airport in a couple of hours, so she’ll be safe.”