Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75323 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75323 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
“Can I help you with this?” he asked, holding out the cover-up. “I don’t think twisting is a good idea until we know your ribs aren’t broken.”
Keeping my gaze down so I didn’t catch sight of myself in the mirror, I nodded and let him help.
“Alright. Do you want us to grab anything for you before we go? Phone? Blanket?”
“No.”
“Okay. Then let’s get you down to Teddy’s car.”
I followed him out, seeing a group of men I didn’t know in the bedroom, mostly blocking my view of the body as I moved past.
When I was in the hallway, I heard Dixon’s familiar voice say to the group, “Raff is going to be so fucking pissed.”
York held the front door open for me, and I approached the fancy-looking town car with blackout windows.
Standing beside it was, I assumed, Teddy.
Theodore Kane.
Billionaire.
Owner of the house.
Wearer of a jaunty scally cap with his three-piece suit.
Teddy was a little person with keen, but soft eyes, and a gentle smile.
“Lula,” he said, pressing a hand to his heart. “I’ve heard so much about you. I’m sorry we have to meet in these circumstances,” he said as he pulled open the door for me.
“Lula,” Velle interjected. “If it’s okay, York and I are going to follow on the bikes while you go with Teddy and his driver. But I can stay with you if you want.”
“No, it’s okay,” I said as I lowered into my seat.
“Raff is going to meet us at the clinic,” York told me before he closed the door.
The men shared a few more words before Teddy climbed into the front seat and the others got on their bikes.
“Thanks for letting us stay in your house,” I said when the silence in the car felt awkward.
“It’s nothing,” Teddy assured me. “I only regret it wasn’t more secure. The clinic is only about ten minutes away, but would you like us to stop for something? Do you need anything?”
“No, I’m okay.”
I was far, far from okay.
But someone was going to fix my face.
Now I just needed someone to fix the ache in my chest at the idea that Raff left me to spend his time with someone else.
But I wasn’t holding my breath for that one.
So I settled into my seat and wallowed.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Raff
It was the longest goddamn drive of my life.
And all I could think about was that I should have been there, that I never should have left her.
Did that mean some bastard wouldn’t still break in? No. But I would have been there for her. She wouldn’t have been alone with a bunch of strangers after. Hurt. Afraid. Confused.
My spit tasted acidic each time I thought of her curled up on the ground, bloody, in pain, with no one familiar to reach out to.
Stupid.
It was so fucking stupid to leave her.
Arty could have waited.
Or I could have woken her and brought her with me.
There was no undoing any of that, though.
So I did the only thing I could—peeled into the lot of the strip mall that held the clinic run by Seeley’s wife, Ama.
I spotted a few bikes as well as Teddy’s town car parked right beside the curb and the lights on inside.
But, as far as I could tell, Ama hadn’t arrived yet.
I barely remembered to cut the engine before I flew out and ran toward the doors, finding them locked, and yanking them hard over and over before slamming my fist into the metal frame.
York appeared from the back, brows raised. But he made his way toward me and unlocked the doors.
“Where is she?”
I knew how I must have looked right then: wild-eyed, panicked, borderline insane.
“I think you need to calm down first,” Velle said, appearing out of nowhere. “Lula is pretty shut down right now. She doesn’t need your crazy.”
They were blocking my way to the exam rooms, making me have to resort to pacing to get some of the frantic energy out.
“I know head-shrinking is your thing, Velle. But with all due respect, you don’t know a fucking thing about Lula or what she needs.”
Because she needed me. Whether she even realized that yet or not.
Teddy moved forward, nodding at me.
“I think he’s right,” he said. “She shouldn’t be alone. And she doesn’t know any of us.”
Velle and York shared a look before parting and letting me pass.
“Room Two,” Teddy called as I beelined toward the exam rooms.
I wanted to see her.
But the guys’ words weren’t lost on me, either.
I paused outside the door, taking a few slow, deep breaths, trying to smooth the sharp edges of my panic and anger. Only then did I reach for and turn the knob.
Lula’s whole body jolted as the door opened, making my stomach clench.
But then it dropped to the floor as I looked at her.
There were deep black rings around each eye that I knew from experience would only darken over the next few hours.