Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 74005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
“I’m so sorry,” I say. “I’m getting way ahead of myself.”
“Don’t apologize,” she says. “I can’t lie to you. I’ve thought about what it might be like to have your child. How beautiful he or she would be. Our skin tones are so similar, and those eyes of yours…”
“Are a recessive trait,” I say.
“There’s still a chance,” she says. “Except there’s no chance. I won’t condemn a child to the horrors of Huntington’s.”
“Oh baby…” I pull her to me and our lips meet.
It’s a gentle kiss. Neither one of us is in the mood to be raw and feral like we usually are. Plus, Eagle is in the room. Unresponsive, but still in the room.
Daniela pulls back and breaks the kiss.
“Hawk,” she says.
“Yeah?”
“Whoever sent that bouquet of roses with the barbed wire knew I would be here.”
“Yeah, that hasn’t escaped my notice.”
“And Jordan…”
“Knew about my brother’s overdose.” I step back. “Which is really bizarre. My family is good at keeping our personal business away from the prying eyes of the media. My dad was able to keep Falcon’s incarceration pretty quiet. It was only covered by a few local newspapers. And this? I mean, sure, my brother’s a Bellamy, but people OD every day.”
“How did Jordan know?”
“I don’t know,” I say, “but I’m sure as hell going to find out.”
Daniela shakes her head. “I don’t know Jordan that well. I mean, we spent several classes together. But he doesn’t strike me as the kind of man who could do something like this. Scare me in this way.”
“I don’t know about that, Dani. He sure wasn’t happy that I was at the waterpark with you. And he followed us to…”
“Yeah, I know, but just because he has a crush on me—even is a little jealous, possessive— doesn’t mean that he’s a stalker.”
“What do you call it when you go looking for a woman and her date who are getting it on behind some foliage?”
“I think he was looking for us,” she says. “And yeah, maybe he knew what we were up to, but that doesn’t make him a stalker. Maybe he thought we were lost or something.”
I frown. “I’m not so sure. That sounds like a pretext, not an actual concern he’d have.”
“I really don’t think it’s Jordan,” she says. “Not when there are so many other people in my background more menacing than he is.”
“All right,” I say. “I’ll leave that theory in bed for a while.”
She leans into me, her head on my shoulder.
And it occurs to me how much she has come to mean to me in so short of a time.
I would literally do anything for her.
If that means letting her think I’m keeping Jordan on the back burner for now, I’ll do it.
But I’m still very suspicious of him.
History’s most heinous serial killers—like Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer—also appeared harmless.
As far as I’m concerned, Jordan is my number one suspect.
And if I have to look into him behind Daniela’s back?
So fucking be it.
20
DANIELA
Jordan just doesn’t seem the type.
Then again… Most of the men from my past are dead.
Or are they?
One thing I know for sure is that someone is watching me. And they mean me harm. That grenade could have killed not only me but any number of people within a certain radius of me. This person doesn’t care who he hurts to get what he’s after.
If I didn’t know he were dead, I’d suspect my father.
“I should get you home,” Hawk says.
“No. If you want to stay, I’ll stay with you.”
“I’ve had enough,” he says. “There’s nothing I can do for my brother. I wish there were.”
“You know what,” I say. “Since we’re here anyway, why don’t we go see how your father’s doing?”
Hawk doesn’t say anything for a moment.
Until—
“My mother’s probably up there.”
“So?”
Hawk’s jaw clenches.
Something’s going on with him. With him and his mother, and with him and his father.
“Do you want to talk about anything?” I ask.
“No, it’s just… Last I heard, my father is still aphasic and kind of pathetic. Nothing has changed.”
“Don’t you think you should see him though? Since you’re here anyway? I’m sure he’d appreciate a visit, even if it’s brief.”
Again he doesn’t respond right away.
I don’t know anything about Austin Bellamy except that he’s a billion-dollar rancher and heir to a steel fortune.
Surely he’s not as bad as my father was.
Then again, from Hawk’s reaction, I’m beginning to wonder.
“All right,” Hawk relents. “Let’s go see the old man.”
“If anything, we can relieve your mom,” I say. “She can come back here and stay with Eagle.”
He stares at the ceiling. “Trust me, nothing will keep my mother from her baby.”
We head to the elevators and go down to the fourth floor, where Hawk’s father is.
When we get to his room, we have to show our IDs to the security guard at the door.