Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 134598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
“So you’re planning on staying up all night?” she asked.
“Most of it anyway.”
“You need your sleep, though. You’re not in your twenties anymore. Pulling an all-nighter isn’t something you can do without consequences.”
“Um. Thanks for the insight, baby. But I’ll be fine. I’ll nap and keep an eye on security. I don’t want to keep you awake though. So perhaps I should stay out in the living room.”
“No!” She reached for him and he sat on the mattress, facing her.
Wrapping her arms around him, she held on tight. “Please don’t leave me, Daddy. I don’t want to be all alone! I’m scared.”
“Hey, listen to me,” he said firmly. “I’m not going to let this asshole get to you or hurt you.”
She shook with fear. “What about ghosts?”
There was a moment of silence. “Ghosts?”
“Uh-huh. Who will stop the ghosts from getting to me?”
“You believe in ghosts?” he asked skeptically.
Well, no, of course she didn’t. Or Big Cate didn’t. But Little Catie-pie?
Yeah, ghosts were really, really scary. And if that meant that Daddy had to stay with her all night . . . well, she thought she might just believe in ghosts.
“Uh-huh. And then there’s the Oogie-Boogie man.”
“There’s an Oogie-Boogie man?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Do you mean the Boogeyman?” he asked.
“No!” she wailed. “That’s a completely different scary monster!”
“Oh, right. My apologies. I didn’t mean to get them confused.”
“Daddy, I thought you’d be up-to-date with your scary monsters.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Because you’re a Daddy. Don’t all Daddies go through ‘getting rid of scary monsters’ courses before they’re officially allowed to call themselves a Daddy?”
“Of course we do. But the, uh, instructor on our course said that the Boogeyman and Oogie-Boogie man were the same person.”
“They aren’t,” she told him solemnly. “And what about your normal types of scary monsters?”
“There are normal types?” he asked.
“Honestly, Daddy, I don’t think your instructor was very good.”
“I’m beginning to see that. What do you think normal monsters are?”
“Your standard ones . . . like wizards, witches, vampires, demons.”
“Ahh, right. Of course. Your standard monsters. How could I have forgotten?”
“Your instructor was definitely not very knowledgeable.” There was still a part of her, deep inside, that was amazed at what she was saying.
Monsters? Ghosts? Vampires?
All silly nonsense.
That her Little was using to keep Daddy with her.
“Of course I’ll stay here and fight off the monsters, baby. I’ll protect you.”
“Thank you, Daddy. You are the bestest. Will you lie in bed with me? You know, because that would be the best way to protect me.”
“Nice try, baby girl. But Daddy is going to sit in the chair. I can’t afford to fall into a deep sleep.”
She pouted and he tapped her lower lip. “Put that away before it gets you into trouble.”
Well, all right.
But maybe trouble was what she wanted.
Seriously. Who was she now? She wasn’t sure . . . but she thought she might like this person.
A lot.
42
Ethan’s phone rang the next morning as they were finishing up breakfast. He frowned as he stared down at it.
“Unknown number. Be back in a minute, baby.”
She nodded and watched him walk off. Where was her phone? It must still be in her handbag.
Where was that? She was never this careless with her stuff. Was it still in the car? She moved to the foyer and saw it sitting on the hall table. Ethan must have brought it in for her.
Getting it out, she saw it was nearly dead and she had a lot of missed calls and texts. Most were from Rhodes. But there were a couple from Oliver who wanted to know how the meeting went. When she didn’t answer, he must have called and then sent another text asking if she was all right.
That was nice.
She sent him a quick text back to explain everything about the meeting. Then another to explain that the stalker had nearly run them off the road, but her phone died, so she wasn’t sure if it went through, and she walked into her office to plug it into the charger.
“Baby? Where are you?” Ethan called out.
“In here.”
He frowned as he walked into the office. “You weren’t trying to work, were you?”
“No. My phone is dead, so I plugged it in. I was replying to Oliver. Everything okay?”
“That was the police. They found the car that tried to run us off the road. It had been abandoned and set on fire. They’re going to go back through the traffic cams to see if they can get a view of the driver. Brody will do the same.”
She sighed. Another dead end.
Ethan drew her into his arms. “We’ll find this bastard, baby. I promise. And I’ll keep you safe.”
She knew he would. She just wanted this over. It seemed like the stalker was escalating and she was worried about what he might do next.
“Rhodes is back, baby.”
It was midday Sunday and it seemed their brief interlude was over. She had to go back to being Big Cate.