Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 59146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
“You did.” My voice sounded gruff. “Did you call 9-1-1?”
She shook her head, vehemently. “No. I just…” She swallowed, looking up at me almost helplessly. “I didn’t think to call anyone but you.” I don’t think she’d even realized until that moment what she’d done. And I knew better than to acknowledge the fact that, under extreme stress, she hadn’t thought to call anyone but me.
I crouched slowly on the asphalt in front of her and reached for her hands. She let me take them. Turned them palm-up in mine. The gravel had bitten deep in a couple of places, small stones still embedded in the fleshy part of her palm. I brushed them out gently, trying to give her a moment to get her composure back. “Are you hurt anywhere else? Did they hit you?”
“No. Just where I hit the ground. And the one guy grabbed me over the other bruise.” She flexed her fingers in mine. “I’m fine, Inferno. Really. It’s just…” She gestured at the empty lot. “What the fuck was that?”
I didn’t have an answer for her. An offer on the building. I knew what it sounded like, but surely to God the man wasn’t that stupid. Then again, narcissistic assholes often thought they were above the law.
“I called you,” she said again, quieter. “I didn’t even think about the police. I just called you.”
“Yeah,” I said, not looking up at her. Instead, I continued to check her over.
She leaned against her car. The late sun caught the copper in her hair and turned it to fire. She looked small and furious. This Juniper I liked much better. I liked her fire. Her spirit. Knowing she had fight and hadn’t given up made me proud.
I stood up. Her keys were in my hand now. I unlocked her car and opened the passenger-side door. “Get in. I’m taking you to the compound.” She didn’t argue. That told me all I needed to know.
I crouched on the asphalt one more time, directly in front of her where she sat in the passenger seat, and I looked at her knees through the torn denim. I put my hand on her calf, just below the knee, and felt the muscle tight and trembling under my palm. She put her hand on top of mine. Her fingers were cold.
It wasn’t long until Tiny pulled around the corner in his big F-150. Zero got out and I tossed him the keys to my bike. Then I got in Juniper’s car and drove her back to the compound.
The second we got inside my apartment, Juniper locked herself in the bathroom. She was in there an hour before coming out, her hair still damp from a shower, wearing one of my T-shirts.
“I hope you don’t mind,” she said softly. “I just didn’t want to wear those clothes anymore.”
“You know I don’t mind, honey.” I stood from where I sat on the couch. I could see the bathroom door from there and I wanted to give her space.
“I don’t want to go back to my apartment tonight.” She glanced up at me before fidgeting and looking away. “And I don’t really want to stay with Darby or Hannah.”
“I can get you your own room, or you can stay with me. I’ll take the couch.”
She nodded. “Thanks.” Again, she seemed like she wanted to say more but hesitated. Then, she sighed. “Thanks for coming after me.”
“Juniper, honey. I’ll always come for you. Always.” She must have seen the truth in my eyes because she nodded once, then, without a word, walked to my bed. I let out a breath I’d been holding and rubbed the back of my neck. I’d need to check on her in a while. She needed some time, but by her going to my bedroom I knew she expected I’d join her at some point for any number of reasons.
My phone buzzed. I glanced at the screen to see Knight’s text. Apparently, Tiny and his crew found Juniper’s attacker two counties over, holed up in a motel outside Lebanon. He now had a face that wouldn’t stop bleeding.
By the time I got to the old warehouse deep inside our territory, the bastard was already tied to the chair. Looked like someone had gotten in a few love taps to the guy if the swollen eye and fat lip were any indication.
The overheads were off and someone had rigged a work light on an extension cord above the man’s head. Knuckles stood against the far wall with his arms crossed. Hawk was closer, one boot propped on the seat of another chair turned backward. Zero stood by the door keeping watch.
The man in the chair was maybe thirty, thin through the shoulders and going soft at the middle. The left side of his face was opened from temple to jaw in a ragged line where Juniper’s keys had caught him. Someone had taped a gauze pad over it, but blood had soaked through and dried brown at the edges. His hands were zip-tied to the chair arms.