Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 94716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
“Goddammit.” I said in desperation.
I stayed that way, knees up to my chest for what felt like days, but was more like an hour until the doctor came to get me. “Mr. Stoker?”
My feet brought me to him before my mind even processed the words. “Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. The wound itself isn’t bad. It will, however, be painful until it heals. Being at the inside of her thigh, it missed anything major like an artery, as well as any muscle. The fat that it went through doesn’t make it any less painful, only quicker to heal. She’ll need to take it easy for a few weeks. Light duty once she’s up to it. She’ll know when that is. She’s also been released.”
“Released? Where is she then?”
“She had someone pick her up, but told me to tell you only after twenty minutes had gone by.”
I closed my eyes. That woman was in so much trouble. Not that I didn’t know where she was coming from. She was nursing a broken heart at what she thought she’d witnessed. If I were in her shoes, I wouldn’t be too happy either.
Downy and Luke came up beside me and stopped. “Where would she go?”
“Home.”
I knew she wouldn’t go anywhere else. She may be pissed, and leave me here worrying and waiting, but she wouldn’t run. She was a smart woman, and brave to boot. She wouldn’t put anyone else in danger, and she wouldn’t make me worry about her either. That was just the type of person she was.
Now, that didn’t mean that when I got home she wouldn’t rip me a new one. She would yell, scream, and throw things. She would make sure I was aware of all my faults before she kicked me out.
Payton was coming out of my front door as I parked the bike in front of my house. She gave me a good hard glare before throwing her green highlighted hair back and stomping away.
Building up my defenses, I walked in quietly through the door and closed it just as quietly behind me. Winter wasn’t in the living room, the kitchen, or our bedroom. Sighing in defeat, I found her in Tai’s room, curled into his side.
Tai had an ‘I told you so’ look on his face that just dared me to say something. I didn’t. Instead, I walked to the side of the bed and picked her up gently. She was dead to the world, which was good, because I didn’t want her getting worked up right now. The morning would be early enough.
Laying her down on the bed, I lifted the covers from the floor and laid them gently over her sleeping form, before stripping out of my own clothes. Throwing them down to the ground, I got into bed beside her and gathered her up as gently as I could. I kissed her forehead softly, and breathed a sigh of immense relief at having her in my arms, safe and sound.
“I love you.” I said to her quietly.
“I love you, too.” She whispered, startling me.
“Faker.” I said with a laugh and settled in more deeply, before dropping off to sleep.
***
That fucking song, Here Without Me, played in an endless loop through my head over and over again. It was the only thing that I kept thinking about.
“I’m here without you baby.” I said to Winter’s headstone.
“You fucking promised me. You said you’d wait.” I said with a thick voice.
Choking back my tears, I turned and walked away from the grave.
I was pissed, too. She didn’t want to be buried. She wanted to be cremated. She thought it was weird that her body was rotting away in the ground. She wanted to be free. Wanted her ashes floating away on the river.
Her sister was a heartless bitch though. Her and her boyfriend, who’d acted so fucking concerned, when just a few months ago he’d threatened Winter’s life when I told him to stay the hell away from her.
Even though I was her husband, they buried her without me, because I wasn’t around. I had no choice in the way she was buried. It burned me even more that I was gone in the first place. Maybe if I was here, I could have done something.
A strong hand clasped me on the shoulder, and I turned to see my father. “You know what I think about all of this. It’s time to be strong now. She needs you.”
This was also another problem. My father saying she was here when she wasn’t.
“I need to be alone for a while. I’ll walk home. Just let me get my bag first.” I said, ignoring him.
His tired, haunted eyes looked at me for a long moment before he nodded and turned to walk away. Setting my bag on the ground, he walked around his truck and got in. Stormy left as well, her boyfriend driving a newer model Mercedes, which was definitely something that they couldn’t afford just a few short months ago.
His eyes stayed connected with mine until they exited the cemetery parking lot and pulled out on Hollister. My gut clenched just thinking about that man. Why couldn’t it have been Winter’s sister that died. Why did it have to be my Winter?
Then I admonished myself. I couldn’t keep thinking like that. What the hell was I thinking?
Walking to my bag, I pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels and took a seat next to Winter’s headstone. Leaning my back against it, I started drinking. The burn only lasted for the first five sips. After the sixth, I wasn’t feeling much of anything anymore.
My poor dream catcher. I left her alone, and unprotected. What had I been thinking? Fuck, I might as well have chopped her head off myself. Oh, God. What she must have gone through; I just prayed that her death was quick. The fact that she might have suffered burned me.
Vowing to myself then and there, I told myself that I would find who did this to her. And when I did, I would make them pay. I would make him wish he was dead. Wish that he never laid eyes on Winter. One day. One goddamn, glorious day, I would do it. Make it right.