Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 182075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
“Be good for Spencer. I’ll see you in the morning.” Quaid nodded at her.
Be good for Spencer? What did that mean? She glanced over at Spencer. But her gaze was caught by Rock who’d moved to the end of the bed. She tensed. This was the closest he’d gotten to her since they’d entered the hospital room.
Was he going to say something? He didn’t talk much and when he did, he spoke slowly and quietly. As though he was measuring each word.
Was he going to speak or just stare at her?
What was going on here? Why wouldn’t he look at her?
Maybe he can’t stand the sight of you.
Do not get upset.
Do not cry.
You are better than this. You do not need their approval or caring or . . . love.
“I’ve still got your money.” She didn’t know what possessed her to say it. To just blurt it out like that. But it came out without her being able to stop it.
Once she’d said the words she couldn’t exactly take them back, could she?
Rock moved back a step as though she had physically hurt him.
Had she?
She hadn’t meant to. She’d just . . . she’d wondered if he was thinking about the money. If he’d been wondering why she’d taken it if she wasn’t guilty.
“Money?” Slade asked. “What money?”
Oh. They hadn’t known?
Looking at the other three, she could see that they hadn’t.
“Nothing,” she muttered.
A squeeze on her foot had her looking up. Rock drew his hand back quickly, and she caught his gaze for a moment.
It was filled with such utter misery. A terrible sadness that went soul deep. And her breath caught.
No.
She didn’t want Rock to feel like that.
“Rock,” she murmured.
He grabbed out his phone and tapped on it. Suddenly, they all checked their phones. He must have sent them a message.
Slade frowned. “Rock gave you cash to help you? When?”
“And why didn’t you use it?” Spencer asked incredulously. “Didn’t you need it?”
She shot him a look. “Need it? Of course I needed it. I’ve been working at a local café doing dishes and cleaning. I had to be paid under the table so Billy didn’t find me.”
All of them made these low, rumbly noises.
It was like she was in the middle of a pack of wolves or something.
“What?” she asked.
“You shouldn’t have been working a job like that,” Slade told her.
“Why not?”
“On your feet all the time, it must have been exhausting,” Spencer said worriedly.
Oh.
Well. That was true. They really had no idea of exactly how exhausting it had been. She’d get up and vomit until there was only bile in her stomach. Then she’d get dressed and head into work. She wouldn’t be able to eat until around the middle of the afternoon by which stage she’d be lightheaded and ravenous.
She should call her boss. She’d sent him a text to tell him that she was ill, but she hadn’t read his reply.
She couldn’t face the news that she’d lost her job.
“Why not use the cash, Boo?” Slade asked. “Why not stay at home and rest?”
“Um, because I’ll need to do that when the baby comes. I was trying to earn as much money as I could before that happened. It’s surprising how much I remembered from when I was younger about cutting corners to save money. I don’t really need that much to eat. Plus, I was always given one meal at the café. Usually, I’d only eat half of it and take the other half home. The bakery down the road from the café always sold stuff off cheap at the end of the day so I could often get something there as well.”
Another strange noise erupted from all of them.
Slade started swearing and pacing. He turned to the wall, his hand curled into a fist.
“Do not punch the wall!” she said urgently. “I cannot afford that bill.”
Slade turned and pointed at her, his finger trembling. She thought he was about to let loose on her and she braced herself.
This was it.
The moment that would sever any ties left.
However, he simply took a deep breath.
Then another.
“You have been living on one meal a day and old bread?” he said in a hoarse voice.
“Um, not always.” Sometimes she’d eat noodles too.
“Jesus, no wonder you’ve lost weight,” Spencer said.
She glanced over at him with an eyebrow raised.
“Not that you aren’t beautiful,” he said hastily. “You’re always beautiful. Most gorgeous woman in the world and we are lucky to be able to look at you.”
Even for him that was ridiculously over-the-top and she should have scoffed at him. Instead, she found herself sitting a bit taller.
She knew it wasn’t true, but it was just what she needed to feel . . . soothed.
Settled.
“But a lot thinner,” Quaid added.
Sheesh. He always had a way of bringing things crashing down to reality.