Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 108709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Giddiness blooms in my chest, and with a newfound confidence, I head back out to the car and grab the bags of crap I’d bought from the gas station and take them inside. Fishing through it, I find everything I need to give myself a decent shower before searching through the cupboards and finding a towel and a change of clothes. Sure, they’re men’s clothes and look as though they’ve been well-worn for the better part of fifty years, but they beat the blood-stained clothes I’ve got.
Heading into the shower, I turn on the taps and have to wait a good few minutes for the water to warm. Then, not knowing just how long that water will last, I scrub myself until my skin is raw. I even go as far as to use the soap in my hair. It’s not something I’ve ever had to do, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
The hot water lasts remarkably long, and when I step out of the shower, I feel like a brand-new woman, even more so when I step into a brand-new pair of panties. There’s no denying how good it feels to have that layer of protection looking after my little cookie, and it makes me realize how badly I’ve taken the little things for granted.
Fuck, I love clean underwear. There’s nothing quite like it.
Having been away from Stone for long enough, I head back to the car to check on him, and finding him still sound asleep, I open the car door wide, letting fresh air flow through the cabin. I check his pulse for the billionth time, and with nothing more to do but wait, I collapse onto the thick grass beside the open car door, not wanting to wait inside and rest while Stone is out here alone.
Soon, the exhaustion claims me, and I fall into a deep sleep in the grass, my arms shoved under my head as a pillow.
A soft gasp wakes me, and my eyes spring open to find my back burning in the midday sun. I push myself up, finding Stone awake and alert, trying to roll his stupid ass out of the car.
“Menace?” he calls, a hint of fear in his tone.
“Down here,” I tell him, my body cramping up after lying on the ground for so long. Or hell, maybe it’s cramping up because I had the shit beat out of me with a metal bar no less than twelve hours ago. I start pushing up, desperate to get to him before he manages to pull at the bandaging around the gunshot wound, tear it open, and spring a leak.
“Where are we?” he asks, taking in the small cottage.
“We’re safe,” I tell him, hovering on my knees inside the open door as I drop my hands to his strong thighs. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I don’t know how the fuck I’m alive.”
I grin. “I wasn’t about to let you die,” I tease. “You haven’t even claimed my ass yet, and apparently you’re not allowed to be whisked away into the dark pits of hell without experiencing Heaven first.”
His lips twitch, the corners pulling into a smirk, and he tries to pull it back, not prepared to admit that I’m the funniest person he’s ever had the pleasure of knowing. Eventually, the laughter wins out, and a wide grin stretches across his lips. “Fucking hell,” he mutters. “I wasn’t kidding when I said that.”
“And I wasn’t kidding when I said that I’d make your life a living hell if you tried to die on me.”
He sits up and spins around, his feet coming down on the grass on either side of my knees as he takes my chin in his hand and lifts it until his eyes are locked on mine. “I love you, Menace. I don’t know what the hell you’ve had to do to save my life—or how fucking scared you must have been.”
I push up higher on my knees and press my lips to his. “Don’t ever do that to me again.”
“I won’t,” he vows. “But tell me one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Where the fuck did all of these bandages come from?”
Ahhh shit.
I cringe, and he immediately pulls back, his sharp gaze not missing a thing.
“You left me no choice,” I say, already on the defensive as I get to my feet and move away from the car, knowing he’s about ready to explode. When that happens, I don’t want to be near him, because I can guarantee that this time, he probably will spring a leak.
He gets out of the car, tracking me like a hunter stalking his prey, not even caring that every step he takes is probably filled with excruciating agony. “What did you do?”
“Well, ummm . . .” I cringe again and cautiously look at the ground as though the lack of eye contact is somehow going to make this easier. “You kinda passed out and were all like, oh noooo, I’m dying. Save me, Menace, and so I pulled off the highway and found a town that has a very bustling nightlife. I parked between two buildings that were kinda hidden away, stole some drunk girl’s purse, and went on a shopping spree in the local gas station, but before you yell at me—”