Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69909 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69909 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Hoxton stands still, a choking sound his last breath before his hands close over the hilt of the knife and finally, finally, the goliath topples to the ground.
7
BLUE
I watch in shocked horror as Zeke blinds Hoxton using the stake-like nails he’d hung his whips from. I watch as he calmly stabs one eye, then the other before drawing the hunting knife out of the cross Hoxton managed to embed it in and finishing him off, slicing his stomach open, forcing a rush of blood and guts to the dirt floor.
The giant man stands for a moment, blindly looking down at his stomach. His hands come to the knife, he stumbles, then, finally, crashes with a force that rattles the walls of the room.
A strange silence settles around us. The only sounds are those of Zeke’s panting breaths and the dull ringing in my ears. Zeke watches Hoxton on the ground and I see how the dirt floor darkens as it absorbs his blood. Then Zeke turns to me, slowly, and those gray eyes meet mine. Hoxton was a hulk. Zeke is tall and lean. I know he’s strong but the strength it took to beat and kill Hoxton, I think that was rage.
I lick my lips, swallow. My throat is so dry. And then, the shaking begins, adrenaline and terror making their way out of my body and I just sob.
Zeke blinks, animated, and moves toward me. Wrapping an arm around my waist, he lifts me just enough to relieve the pressure on my wrists as he reaches up to undo the buckles on the leather restraints. He doesn’t speak. He works quietly, and when I’m free, he sets me on the ground but keeps his arm around my middle. He looks down at me and I look up at him. I reach up to touch him. To make sure he’s real. This is real.
“I’ve got you,” he says.
I open my mouth, but I can’t speak just yet.
He came for me. He came for me. He killed the man who hurt me.
He killed for me.
With a shudder, I bury my face in his chest and close my eyes, hugging my arms to myself as he wraps his around me to stop me from shaking.
“It’s over,” he says, pulling away to look down at me. “You’re safe. I’ve got you.”
I’ve got you.
Has anyone ever said those words to me? Has anyone ever had me? Like this? Like him?
I make a sound, try to hug him back to me. I need him to hold me. I never want him to let me go.
“I’m going to get you out of here.” He lifts me up and we move toward the door. I glance back at the dead man. He’s a bloody heap. I look up at Zeke as we step out into the fresh night air. He did that. I knew he was capable of murder. It’s what brought us together, after all. But this brutality, the rage that overtook him, it was something else. To see it, to watch it happen, it’s a different kind of knowing.
I hug myself closer to him, to this violent, angry man. This killer who came for me. Who saved me.
Who killed for me.
For me.
I hear the sound of a car door and a moment later, feel the cool leather of the seat beneath me. I wince with the contact and cling to Zeke when he tries to let me go.
“Shh. It’s okay. I’m just going to get a blanket.”
“Don’t go,” I manage, hands clinging to his shoulders.
He looks at me, his face inches from mine, his eyes seeming to shine like silver coins in the moonlight. His face is bloodied, he has a bruise on his jaw, his cheekbone. His lip is cut and swollen. I touch his face with the tips of my trembling fingers and then I’m kissing him. Kissing those swollen lips.
His hands come to either side of my head, holding me, and he kisses me back momentarily. There is a darkness in his eyes when he looks at me again, then, without a word, he walks away.
Chill air makes me shudder and I hug my arms to myself, but then he’s back and he’s carrying a blanket, unfolding it. He wraps it around my shoulders, then straps me in.
“I’ll be right back,” he says and turns.
“Wait.” I capture his arm. “Where are you going? You can’t go back in there.”
“It’s okay. He’s dead, Blue.”
“His brother is coming.”
Zeke shakes his head. “No, he’s not. They’re both dead.”
That’s right. That’s what he’d said. He’d taunted Wyatt, drawn him away from me. He killed two men tonight.
But wait. The man he was talking to on the phone. “There’s someone else. The man he’s working for. Girard?”
Zeke’s forehead furrows. “I’ll be quick.”
I watch him close the car door and walk back into the house. He returns moments later, shutting the cabin door behind him as best as he can. He’s on his phone. He’s talking to someone. He disconnects and crosses to where Wyatt’s car is parked and opens the passenger side door. I think he’s going through the glove compartment. When he’s finished, he closes the car door and returns, climbing into the driver’s seat. He sets the things he took, Wyatt’s phone and a wallet, on the console between our seats then starts the engine, glances at me.