Total pages in book: 174
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
To my great misfortune.
“I wike that idea,” she drew out.
I didn’t. I didn’t like that idea a bit, you know, considering it was a terrible one.
Torture.
But I was owed this sentence.
I glanced at where Daisy knelt to help her little boy put his things into a backpack.
The older girl, Addy, who was the fucking spittin’ image of her mom, slung her bag onto her back and proudly stated, “All done.”
“Good job,” Daisy told her, soft encouragement from the woman, while a halo of turmoil whipped around her being every time she peeked over at me.
A disturbance pitched through my spirit, and I tossed the tent bag strap over my shoulder and snatched the blanket from the ground. “We need to go. It’s getting dark.”
Blue eyes going wide, Colin popped onto his feet. His wavy, short hair was lighter than the girls’. A golden brown that emphasized the freckles smattered across his nose and cheeks. “Are there monsters in the forest at night, Mr. Cash? I need to be ready ’cause I gotta take care of my girls.”
He held up two little fists and kicked an awkward foot into the air.
Duke barked, doing a circle around the kid, his tail wagging like he was offering his approval.
What the kid didn’t know was there were monsters everywhere.
Night and day.
Or maybe he did know. Maybe he had seen it. Witnessed it. Bore the ramifications of it, which was why he thought he needed to take care of his family.
Couldn’t fucking stomach the thought. The idea of Daisy falling into jeopardy.
She was supposed to be better off without me. The danger that I was removed from her so she could live without the tragedy I wreaked.
She was supposed to be happy.
“No,” I mumbled, eyes blinking toward the ground for a beat before the words were spilling out. “You’re safe with me.”
“Because you’re a giant, and you got the biggest muscles!” He flexed his skinny arms, grinning with those wavy locks fluttering around his face.
Eva danced on her little feet. “We found a giant! We found a giant!”
Addy rolled her eyes. “He’s not even a giant. You have to be like seven feet tall, and he’s probably only six.”
Was that an insult? I couldn’t tell, and I sure as hell didn’t understand why I had the urge to stand a little straighter so she could tell she was way off.
“Six-five.” Daisy mumbled it under her breath from where she was kneeling on the ground gathering the last of their things.
It was right then that those eyes took a path from my boots and up my legs, dragging all the way up like a slow caress until she was peering into my eyes.
Like she knew me.
Like she remembered me.
She was in for a sore surprise because I wasn’t close to being that same person.
“Well, he’s really big, and I think it’s a good idea to have him on our side. Mommy said he was gonna be,” Colin peeped, tossing a stick from over his shoulder that Duke went blazing after.
Daisy’s gaze softened to a plea. Like she was begging me to be.
On their side.
How the fuck was I supposed to handle this? Didn’t she fuckin’ remember what I’d done? The way I failed? But she didn’t know, did she? Didn’t know the spiral that I’d fallen into. Didn’t know that I was responsible for everything.
But she was here, now.
In need.
I didn’t think it was possible for me to turn my back on that.
It didn’t matter how bad this was going to hurt.
I knew standing right there that I would fight for them. Protect them. Fix whatever had gone bad in their lives.
Whatever it took.
Even if I was tormented every second of it.
FOUR
DAISY
Cash led us through the forest, his big boots clomping through the damp dirt and underbrush.
Twilight hung in the air, filtering the light in a gauzy luminosity that made me feel as if I were wandering through a dream.
That might have been true if I weren’t running from a nightmare.
Well, that and trying to keep up with the giant who stalked through the trees, his long legs eating up the ground floor without effort.
My breaths had turned to shallow pants as I struggled to keep up.
I was at the rear, and my three children were between us, the man a silent guide of bristling muscle and brute strength.
Half our bags were slung over each of his shoulders, his arms full of a ton of our belongings.
I told him I was capable of carrying more than a bag or two, but he only gave me another one of those grunts as he tore the bags out of my hold.
If I was being honest, I totally appreciated it. It had taken me three trips to carry all our things when we crossed into his land from the neighboring campground to find our own secret spot.