Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
After changing back into his clothes, he met Beast and Caleb on the street.
“Are you guys ready to go? Charity wants me to pick out some flowers next.” He pulled out his cell phone and saw there wasn’t a message from his woman. She wanted to meet him at the florist.
Glancing up he saw Caleb and Beast looking a little worried.
“What’s up with you two? I’ve not killed anyone today or when that guy was taking forever!”
Beast turned his cell phone around, and Dwayne’s world shattered.
****
An hour earlier
“Are you sure you don’t want company?” Hope asked.
Charity smiled as she crossed the road. She knew it wouldn’t be long before it was Dwayne’s birthday, and she had sneaked out of the apartment, hoping to get something that he wouldn’t know about. She still didn’t know where her guard was nor could she spot him in a crowd, but she knew without a doubt he was there. Dwayne didn’t say stuff he didn’t mean, and she liked that about him.
There was no bullshit when it came to him.
“Nah, you told me when his birthday was, and I don’t get why he doesn’t celebrate it.”
“I know. He’s a pain in the ass when he wants to be, but Beast always buys him a present. He doesn’t like his day to be a big deal. I’ll make him a cake, and he always stops by for dinner.”
“I better go. I’ll talk soon.”
“Okay.”
She was going to make Dwayne like his birthday. There was no way that she wasn’t going to celebrate his day. He meant a great deal to her, and that meant birthdays were really important.
“Take care,” she said, disconnecting the call.
Walking down the street, she hummed to herself, glancing at a couple of the windows to see if there was anything that screamed for it to be Dwayne’s.
As she passed an alleyway, she glanced down at her cell phone, and someone covered her mouth. His hold was so tight that it scared her instantly. Dropping her cell phone to the ground, she tried to fight, but whoever had taken her had shocked her. She did everything Dwayne told her not to do. There was no one else in sight, and the man pulled her into the alleyway.
Screaming against his hand, she tried to fight him, clawing at his hands, but he wouldn’t let go. She tried to fling her head back to stop him from taking her.
Dwayne’s warnings in her head, and as she stamped her foot down on her assailant’s, he released her long enough to get away. Just as she was about to scream, her hair was pulled, and she whimpered. She was thrown against the car, her face slammed against the hood. She felt a little dizzy, and as she was dumped inside the trunk of a car, he punched her in the face, stopping her from attacking him as she covered her head.
Pain exploded behind her ears, and suddenly she was in the dark. She didn’t know how much time had passed before she realized she was in the trunk of a car and that it was moving. She whimpered and started to attack the hood. It was so dark and so tight. Her heart raced as she kept slamming her hand to the hood.
“Let me out. Let me out. He’ll come for you if something happens to me. He’ll come and he’ll kill you. Dwayne! Dwayne!” She screamed his name, hoping that he’d come for her, that he’d save her.
She cried out as they moved over a bump in the road.
She curled up into a ball, and sobs tore from her throat as she realized that Dwayne was at a fitting for his tux. She covered her face with her hands.
“Please, Dwayne. Please, come for me.”
She didn’t know who this man was or why he’d taken her. She didn’t care either. Dwayne would come. She knew he would. There was no way he wouldn’t. He loved her, and if anything was to happen to her, he wouldn’t stop until his kind of justice had been served.
They were supposed to be checking flowers today.
Their wedding was only a couple of weeks away. Beast’s yard was already getting transformed so they could get married there.
Dwayne had told her how much he’d come to love Beast’s yard when his uncle first took him. For hours at a time, he’d lie on the grass staring up at the stars. The love in his words had made it clear to her that Beast’s yard was where they were going to start the rest of their life.
Closing her eyes, time passed, and throughout it all, she thought about Dwayne. She wanted to be with him more than anything. Her parents thought he was too old for her. To her, Dwayne was everything.
The car suddenly came to a stop.