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)
Right at that moment, she didn’t really care what he thought about her or how much of a nuisance she’d been to him. All she knew was that he was safe.
Ink directed them to a door with a keypad next to it. He put a number into the keypad, and the door opened to reveal a small room. There was a bed in the corner with a white comforter on it. The rest of the room was pretty plain. There was a television attached to the wall at the end of the bed. A small couch in front of it and a door that she guessed maybe led to a bathroom. A desk and chair made up the last of the furniture. No pictures, no paintings. Nothing personal.
There were also no windows.
“My advice is to get some sleep,” Ink said. “If you want to try and draw the man’s face or write anything down, I’ve put some paper and pens on the table. There’s tea, coffee, and some snacks in the small kitchen area. If you need anything, there’s an intercom here. You can press it and somebody will answer.”
Addie glanced at the door that she assumed locked behind him, and thought about the fact that there were no windows. This was a nice room, but she couldn’t stay in it.
Her breathing grew faster and faster, and she held on tight to Cash, unable to let go. With her free hand, she tapped her fingers nervously against her thigh.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Cash turned her toward him.
She gestured around the room. She didn’t think that she could use the tablet to write him an explanation.
“You don’t like it here?” he asked. “This room?”
“She might be claustrophobic,” Ink suggested, staring at her knowingly. “Maybe she doesn’t like the fact that there are no windows?”
“I don’t think she’s claustrophobic. She was under that tarp on my pickup.”
That was different, though. She’d known she could pull the tarp back at any moment. She’d been so scared that she hadn’t thought it was possible to be any more frightened. She’d have felt claustrophobic if there hadn’t been something more frightening outside the tarp than under it.
“Yeah, but then she was stressed and hiding,” Ink told him. “I think that’s the problem, isn’t it, Addie?”
Addie nodded.
“All right. There’s a sofa in my office, if you think you can rest in there.”
It was a really nice offer, but she wasn’t sure that she could do that when she didn’t know him that well.
Ink seemed to understand without her saying anything. “There’s also a really comfy sofa in the staff room. Plenty of windows. It will be a lot noisier, though, and Cash will have to stay to keep an eye on you.”
No, she couldn’t ask Cash to do that. That wasn’t fair, especially given everything he’d done for her already.
“Let’s do that then,” Cash said. “Come on, we’ll get the pen and paper. And I assume there’s coffee there?”
“Sable will have made some,” Ink told him.
“Great. Let’s hope it’s as famous as her hot chocolate.”
Ink shook his head. “I wouldn’t hold onto too much hope.”
14
Cash spat the coffee out into the sink. “Christ, I don’t think I’ve ever tasted worse coffee in my life.”
Addie let out a small giggle, which surprised him. Turning, he gazed down at her. She looked so small on the sofa.
They’d found a blanket to wrap around her, and she had her backpack sitting on her lap. He knew that her toy was inside her backpack, but she didn’t seem inclined to get him out. Cash guessed that he couldn’t blame her. There was no way for her to know that no one here would blink twice at her cuddling a stuffed toy.
Should he mention that to her? Should he tell her about Livvy? And about his own sister, Greer, and how they were both Littles with Daddies of their own? That a lot of the people working at Callahan Security were Daddies and wouldn’t say a thing?
That he was a Daddy?
Perhaps this wasn’t quite the right time. She looked like she was about to keel over, and he had to find a way to get her to sleep.
“Can I try?” she asked in a small whisper.
He couldn’t help but feel satisfied that she spoke when it was just the two of them. That had to mean she felt more at ease with him than anyone else. Well, maybe Ralen.
She’d completely given up talking while in the meeting room with the others, using the tablet instead. But he guessed her stress and anxiety were high.
“Nope,” he told her. “That stuff will take your stomach lining off. Besides, you don’t need caffeine, Stowaway. You need sleep.”
There were dark marks under her eyes, and her cheeks looked even more sunken, as though she’d lost weight in just the few hours since he’d met her.