Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 72154 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72154 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
The Suburban was in wonderful shape, and I was sure that Cheyenne would appreciate it since she had a love for that model seeing as she still drove hers to this day.
But, I couldn’t appreciate it because something about the man was really rubbing me wrong.
I was extremely thankful that Parker’s corner post signaling his land came into view, and I was glad that we’d walked this trail the other day.
I took off down the trail and became buried in the trees, blocking my view of the road.
When Parker came back to the phone two minutes later, and I was rounding the bend to his house, and my car, I was almost overcome with relief.
“Sorry,” Parker said pitifully. “I think I’m dying.”
I was fairly sure that I was hyperventilating.
“Babe?”
I swallowed and looked behind my shoulder one last time, then sighed.
“Sorry. There’s a weirdo that lives next to you,” I told him. “You’re gonna have to build a privacy fence on that side of your property or something, just in case he thinks you’re friendly.”
He laughed, and it turned into a moan.
“Did you take any meds yet?” I asked. “I left the next dose on your nightstand. You can have both Motrin and Tylenol.”
He grunted something that sounded suspiciously like “damn woman,” but I heard the pills being scraped off the nightstand, followed shortly by the crushing of a water bottle as he drank deeply.
“If I keep it down,” he muttered once he was through.
I stepped over a log, struggling to do it without using my hands, and turned back with a frown when I noticed Carmen was no longer with me.
“Oh, shit,” I moaned.
“What?” Parker barked.
“Carmen’s gone. She was with me, and now she’s not.”
I turned around, backtracking over the same log that I had just climbed over.
“Fuck me,” Parker groaned. Then I heard the bed creak. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
I grunted my own reply, then shoved the phone down into my pocket.
I walked nearly to the property line before I found her. She was standing deathly still, staring through the trees. I glanced in the direction where she was staring, but I couldn’t see a thing. As long as you counted trees as nothing.
I frowned and tried to tug her collar, but she turned on me with a growl.
I lurched back and put some distance between us, not expecting her reaction.
I’d thought we were over this, but apparently, we weren’t.
I pulled out my phone with shaky hands and placed a call to Parker.
He answered on the first ring.
“No rush or anything,” I said. “I found her, but…she won’t let me near her.”
He growled in frustration. “What the fuck? I thought she was okay with you.”
My sentiments exactly.
“I’m at the corner of your property line, hidden by the thicket. I’ll wait for you.”
And I did, nearly laughing when he walked up less than ten minutes later, looking like he’d crawled out of his deathbed.
His face was pale, his eyes were sunken, and he had a fine sheen of sweat covering his forehead.
“Hey,” I said softly. “You made good time.”
He gave me a halfhearted smile. “Drove fast.”
His eyes moved from me to Carmen, and he whistled at her. “Carmen?”
Carmen looked once over her shoulder at him, flattened her ears out, and then took a few steps farther into the trees.
I frowned. Parker’s brows rose.
He called her name again, and this time it wasn’t a few steps she took, but a full ten yards.
Obviously, she wanted us to follow her.
Parker did, and when he caught up to her, Carmen took off through the woods.
When I started to follow, he slowed and held out his hand.
“Don’t get too close to her,” he ordered. “And if I tell you to back off, you do it.”
“What’s going on?” I questioned.
He shrugged. “I haven’t seen her act like this since…before she was tortured.”
Maybe she was having a flashback?
I didn’t know. What I did know was that Parker was following her lead, so I would, too.
I’d follow him anywhere.
My eyes went down to his butt, and my eyes closed. He had a hole in his pants. The poor, poor man.
***
Parker
I felt something touch my ass and looked over my shoulder at the offending person.
“Seriously?”
She shrugged. “I’m telling you. I have no control. None.”
Little did she know that I liked that she had no control.
“Come on,” I ordered with my head. “If I pass out, you’ll have to call Rafe. And control Carmen because she might bite him.”
I nodded my head.
“I thought he was a dog whisperer, though,” she whispered.
I gave her an incredulous look. “Have you met Carmen?”
She pinched her mouth shut and didn’t reply. I was right, though. Carmen didn’t like anyone. Honestly, there were times I was sure that she just barely tolerated me. She did seem to have affection for Kayla, though.
As we walked deeper into the woods, Kayla really started to twitch. The more we moved, the greater the worry on her face became, until suddenly I just stopped.