Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
“Hey,” I said, framing her face with my hands. “You okay? Too much?” I asked, wiping the tear away.
“Yes. No,” she said, blinking the rest of the wetness out of her pretty eyes.
“Gonna need one answer here, babe,” I said, my stomach twisting in painful knots.
“You asked two questions,” she reminded me with a little smile. “Yes, I’m okay. Sort of. No, it wasn’t too much. But also, a little.”
“Babe…”
“I think my whole system is just a little overwhelmed,” she admitted, leaning her head against my chest, making me feel the aftershocks moving through her. “But not in a bad way,” she added as her arms went around me.
“Thank fuck,” I said, wrapping her up tight, holding on until the shaking stopped and she seemed to get some of her strength back.
“I should probably get in that shower while there’s a little hot water left,” she said, but pressed a kiss to the center of my chest before moving away.
It was such a simple little gesture.
But I swear my heart fucking doubled in size at the feel of it.
It was right then as I released her and turned to watch her disappear behind the shower curtain that I knew it for sure.
I’d had inklings already.
But I knew it with a bone-deep fucking certainty right then.
I was falling for her.
Hard.
I cleaned up as she showered, humming the theme song to the show that had been playing on her TV when we fell asleep the night before, then quickly made my way out before, I hoped, Daph noticed we were both in the bathroom at the same time.
The rest of the day was relatively domestic.
I did the dishes.
Daph didn’t reappear until hours later, eyes blurry from reading her book. And, if I wasn’t mistaken, a little red-rimmed from, I imagined, some plot point that got her all emotional.
We ordered subs in for lunch.
Then Sabrina and I made dinner while Daph finally jumped in the shower.
We ate, watched a movie, then all headed off to bed.
It was all so normal.
There was nothing indicating anything was wrong at all.
Until I woke up just as the sun was rising and was making my way to the kitchen to get some coffee going.
And noticed something that had my stomach flipping.
The bar I’d shoved in the sliding door to the balcony was set up against the wall.
And out on the balcony?
The fire escape ladder was dangling down over the edge.
Sirens went off in my mind for a moment, making thoughts fucking impossible as I rushed out onto the balcony to look down.
But there were no signs of struggle.
The door was locked.
The alarm was still set.
And the only way that bar could have been removed from the track was from the inside.
“Goddamnit, Daphne,” I growled as I rushed through the apartment to knock on Daph’s door. When I got no answer, I opened it, finding a lump on her bed.
I almost relaxed until I walked over to find she’d shoved her pillows under the covers.
“Fuck,” I hissed.
In part because she’d clearly sneaked out when there was some fucking whack job who had it out for her thanks to me and the club. But also in part because I knew Sabrina was just breathing a sigh of relief, thinking her rebellious phase was over.
And I had to be the one to tell her it wasn’t.
I sucked in a deep breath as I moved back to the bedroom, finding Sabrina already starting to sit up, her arms up above her head as she yawned.
“Hey,” she said, all sleepy and sweet.
And all I wanted to do was get back into bed with her and get lost in her, make slow, sweet love for hours.
But I had to break the news to her instead.
“Babe, Daph snuck out,” I told her, watching as she went from shocked to defeated in just a blink. Then, remembering this wasn’t a normal situation, panic grew.
Her hand shot out toward the nightstand, finding her phone, and likely trying to look at Daph’s location.
“Damnit,” she hissed, jumping out of bed, eyes huge. “She turned off her location,” she said, stumbling around in the dark before I flicked on the light so she could see. “She could be anywhere.”
Yeah, she could.
And as the light came up in the morning and she hadn’t made her way home, I had the gut-clenching feeling that wherever she was, she was no longer there willingly.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Sabrina
I should have known not to trust that things were all different and my kid was never going to step out of line again.
I think I’d just been operating under the assumption that she was scared enough from her near-death encounter to calm her down for a while.
I mean, I guess kids always thought they were invincible. I sure as hell did at her age. Going seedy places with sketchy guys. Doing shit that would turn a decent mother’s hair white.