Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 155775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
Plus, no one had looked twice at them.
They drove up to a shipping container at the back. Cash got out and unlocked it. Ralen turned to the three of them. “You will do exactly what we say. Anyone disobeys us and I’ll spank you myself.”
Monroe sucked in a breath. “You can’t do that.”
“Watch me.”
Cash came back out and stuck his head into the car. “There’s an internal room that looks soundproofed. The girls can wait in the front room while we take him out the back.”
Ralen nodded. “Wait in here. We’ll bring him in first.”
The three of them waited nervously in the backseat until Cash came out for them. He opened the back door and Dotty climbed out.
Then he leaned in and helped Addie get out. He led her to the door of the shipping container. They were all dressed in black and she felt a bit like Catwoman, moving around stealthily. Too bad she didn’t have Catwoman’s grace. Or fighting ability.
Too bad she didn’t have any fighting ability.
Cash stopped her outside the door. He stared down at her. Taking in a deep breath, he let it out slowly. “I don’t like having you here for this.”
“It’s safer here with you, though, than back at the house.”
“It’s not that,” he said. “It’s because I don’t really want you to see this part of me. I don’t want you to think differently of me. Or to be scared of me.”
“I’m not scared of you. And you’re only doing this to get answers for us. To make sure that we’re safe. How could that possibly upset me?”
“Well, I hope it doesn’t,” he said pensively. “I don’t want this shit rubbing off on you. It’s not what you deserve. I wanted to keep this away from you.”
“You can’t keep me safe from who you are. I’m not going to break. I’m strong. I can handle this.”
He gave her a skeptical look. “We’ll see. And just so you know, as soon as this is all over, you’re getting your butt spanked.”
She let out a big gasp. “What? Why?”
“Because I don’t want you here. I don’t want you anywhere near this guy or this situation. You’re only here because I don’t have anywhere safe to stash you. Doesn’t mean that you should have argued with me over this. I’m in charge of safety.”
Sheesh.
So bossy.
But she also knew that he was worried. She’d show him that everything was going to be all right after.
Grabbing hold of her hand, he walked her into the shipping container and left her with her sisters.
“All of you stay out here,” Cash ordered them. “Don’t come in there, and don’t open that door. Understand?”
They all nodded.
“I still want to talk to him,” Monroe said.
“Maybe after,” Ralen said.
After?
Cash and Ralen walked into the room without another word, and now all they could do was wait.
Addie hadn’t realized how long it might take, but after twenty minutes, she was getting antsy. They couldn’t hear a thing. They had no idea what was going on.
“I want to go in there,” Monroe said.
“We should have just taken him to the police,” Dotty said. “They might have got the answers out of him.”
Addie and Monroe shared a look. They weren’t so sure. But she knew why Dotty was getting cold feet. Part of her wondered why she was so relaxed about this. Well, maybe not relaxed. But she knew what needed to be done and she was okay with it. Maybe it was because he’d had his hands around Monroe’s throat. He’d had a knife and had been about to stab her. Yeah, that was probably it.
Dotty hadn’t been there when those things had happened. She hadn’t felt the fear of wondering if she was going to die or if her sister was going to get hurt.
She wished Dotty wasn’t involved, though. This could get her into real trouble. Well, it could get them all into trouble.
The door opened and she jumped. Cash stepped out. He glanced over the three of them.
“What’s going on? Has he told you why he came after us?” Dotty demanded.
Cash nodded. “He’s ready to talk, but I’m not sure you’re ready to see him. We had to knock him around a bit.”
“We know that,” Monroe told him, thrusting her shoulders back. “We’re under no illusions about what you were doing in there. I need to hear this from him.”
They all stepped into the room and Addie winced, but tried to hide it. Cash was standing off to one side. He hadn’t come near her, hadn’t even really looked at her. But part of her wondered if it was just because he was in a certain headspace.
Also, there was blood on his hands, literally. She could see it.
Limpy was slumped over in the chair that he was tied to. He didn’t actually look as bad as she thought he might. There was blood on his face and under his nose, and both of his eyes were swollen.