Total pages in book: 167
Estimated words: 157162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
I wasn’t surprised to see him striding from the front door with purpose as I got into the car, yelling at me as I started the car and pulled out of the driveway. I watched him in my rearview mirror as he threw himself into his truck. The truck I’d already disabled.
Elliot was not hobbled by male pride; his next course of action would be calling for help. Which was why his smashed phone was sitting on the passenger seat of his truck. It gave me time. Not enough, but enough for a head start. And if he did manage to raise some kind of calvary to follow me, by the time they got there, my job would already be done.
Or I’d be dead.
ELLIOT
Pounding on the door of Rowan and Nora’s place when they had a new baby was an asshole thing to do. But I figured the worst that could happen was waking a baby, and if I didn’t go there, the worst that would happen would be Calliope.
Not an option.
I’d walked there.
Because Calliope had been so fucking determined to do things on her own, intent on saving me yet not letting me save her back. Because I had never wanted to save her. I knew she was capable of that. But fuck if I would let her fight alone anymore.
She took that choice from me.
To protect me.
Sure, it was respectable, but it was also infuriating and terrifying as all hell. I thought I’d mastered being okay with powerlessness. In the middle of the ocean, in a storm with waves ten feet high, you had no choice but to come to grips with how little power you had over your own life, your own survival. I used to find it comforting.
Not right then.
Naomi was dead. She’d known for months. The sting of that betrayal hurt. My body revolted at the knowledge of Clara’s mother being dead at the hands of Calliope’s ex, her being used as a pawn in his sick game. It put an ugly smear on my feelings for Calliope, but it didn’t change them. Didn’t kill them as I knew she’d intended. I wasn’t so fickle.
Rowan answered the door, jaw tight, which made sense since someone was pounding on his door like the sky was caving in. His eyes did a quick scan over me, and though we didn’t know each other all that well, he seemed to read everything in my posture. He likely deduced that there would be only one reason for me to be pounding on his door, covered in sweat, and what I assumed was a grimace on my face.
“Fuck,” he muttered, the single word heavy with dread and grief.
“Come in.” He stepped aside. “I’ll call Kip.”
His voice scared the shit out of me. As did his expression. Because it was grim. But it was also expectant, like he knew this was going to happen at some point. That he was grieving Calliope before she was even gone.
And she wasn’t gone.
She wasn’t.
I would not lose her. To that world.
To herself.
I recited that like a vow as I stepped into the house that smelled of cinnamon and baby powder.
A home.
I’d get one with Calliope.
This would not be our end.
This would not be her end.
Despite how much it felt like it was.
Kip arrived within less than fifteen minutes. Not surprising if you were just going by the size of the town. But Kip had a family. And he dropped everything, hearing Calliope was in trouble. It was a testament to how much those men loved Calliope but also proof that they had been expecting this, waiting for it.
Nora had been in the kitchen when I arrived, offering me refreshments though it was obvious she was confused about the reason for my visit. She had a baby strapped to her and a toddler at her ankles. Rowan had hoisted the little girl up with a delighted scream, murmured something to his wife, then she’d nodded and left the kitchen with the children. I wasn’t sure what Rowan had told her, but I didn’t have the mental capacity to think about that.
My priority was Calliope. And these were two fucking badass men who loved her, who had training. According to Calliope, they could do something. At the very least, they could arm me to the teeth and give me a fucking plan.
What I didn’t expect was the exact opposite.
“What do you mean we can’t help her?” I ground out, my hands fisted on my knees, fury bubbling up inside me with nowhere to go but toward the two men in front of me.
The two men trained in battlefield warfare, who had experience with things I had never even dreamed of. All things that could be of use to Calliope.
And things they were refusing to utilize.
“I mean, we’ve called in whatever favors we have to track her phone, her vehicle, but she’s too smart for that.” Rowan’s mouth formed a stern line.