Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Hayes opened his eyes. “Fuck.”
It felt like there was an emptiness in his gut and it had nothing to do with the fact that he hadn’t eaten for hours.
It was being away from Devi.
From her sweet smile. Her ability to light up a room. Her kindness. Even her sass.
Was Mac making sure that she ate? Drunk some water? Would Mac or Silla stay with her through the night? What if she had a nightmare?
She wasn’t herself right now, what if she got upset and needed comforting?
“You are not the only person who can take care of her,” he said to himself.
But that wasn’t the way it felt.
This all felt wrong. Was Mac right?
Could he risk falling for her?
Or was he already there?
Where was he?
Why wasn’t he here?
Earlier, she’d woken up to find Silla sitting beside her. She’d commenced chatting her ear off. Then Mac had stayed for a few hours. Finally, they both left and Kent, Hayes’ boss, had come in to let her know that he was guarding her tonight while Hayes got some sleep.
Something seemed to be eluding her. Devi rolled to her side, trying to grab her phone off the bedside table. It clattered onto the floor.
Shoot.
The nurse had removed all of her tubes earlier, including her catheter, so she could move around more freely. Although she had warned Devi to call her if she needed to get up.
But Devi wasn’t doing that. She had to get her phone and she also needed to pee.
No one was going to help her once she left here. So she might as well get used to doing it on her own.
She was always on her own.
Sitting up slowly, the room around her spun a bit. All right, she wasn’t expecting that. Maybe this was going to be trickier than she’d thought. But she would have to learn to do it.
Devi wasn’t sure what was going to happen once she left the hospital. Mac and Silla had both offered her a place to stay. But she didn’t want to be a burden and she couldn’t see how she would be anything but that.
And then there was the safety aspect. She didn’t know if the police would find Fury and those other guys. What if they came after her for talking?
There was no way she would ever risk Mac or Silla.
If only Hayes could stay. But that wasn’t going to happen.
And, frankly, Devi was tired of being screwed over. Of everyone loving someone else more than her. Putting others first. Even Rohan, who she adored, had put the gang first. They should have left this town as soon as she turned eighteen, started somewhere else. It would have been safer.
She wouldn’t have ended up in the hospital with a sliced up arm and cheek and no idea of how she was going to continue on.
It was all too much and she could feel herself starting to panic.
Don’t think about it.
It was better to be numb, to withdraw into herself where she couldn’t get hurt.
So she really, really shouldn’t be thinking about Hayes and wondering why he’d left her.
He didn’t leave you. He’s showering and getting a proper night’s sleep.
He hadn’t slept well in two days.
But what if he doesn’t come back?
That panic returned. Threatening to steal her breath and making her stomach roll.
Calm down.
If you start vomiting, you’ll only draw someone’s attention.
And that was the last thing she wanted right now. She knew that Kent was around. He seemed like a nice guy, but she didn’t know him. And she didn’t want him trying to help her to the bathroom.
Mortifying.
Devi managed to get off the bed. She glanced down at her phone with a groan. Bending over was going to suck. Especially since she couldn’t brace herself with one hand and pick up her phone with the other.
Could she pick it up with her toes? Hmm, she guessed she could try. Using her good hand to brace herself on the bed, she attempted to flip the phone onto its side so she could grab it.
In the end it turned out to be impossible.
The phone was too heavy and her toes were too weak.
Darn it. Who knew that you could have weak toes?
There was no other way to do this. She was going to have to bend over. Slowly, she bent at the waist and grabbed her phone with her good arm, her injured arm cradled against her chest. As she stood, the room started spinning.
Shit. She leaned against the bed heavily. Her injured arm gave a protest at the sharp movement and she had to breathe deep to keep away the nausea.
Nope. Not happening. She was about to faint. Using her hand, which was still holding her phone, she grabbed the side of the bed to ease her journey down as she sat on her ass with a thump.