Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 98561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
There was a cafe just a little way down the street and it looked like the locals ate there: a silver-haired cop and a woman in janitor’s coveralls were sitting outside, holding hands. I was only planning on grabbing a cup of coffee, but their breakfast smelled so good, I ordered myself some. When it came, it was glorious, nothing like the slop I’d had in prison. Thick, meaty sausages, their skin crispy brown, served with rich, golden scrambled eggs and slices of crunchy wholewheat toast dripping with melted butter. I washed it down with a huge mug of coffee. It occurred to me that I had no idea where I was, other than in Colorado. I turned to the cop at the next table. “Excuse me,” I said. “Could you tell me what the name of this town is?”
He frowned at me, his natural cop suspicion kicking in. “You don’t know which town you’re in?”
But the woman he was with took pity on me. “Mount Mercy. You’re in Mount Mercy.”
The map Kian gave me led me up a dirt road and into the hills. But I decided I must have taken a wrong turn because there was nothing there but a derelict, red-brick industrial building. I was about to double back when I heard a voice from the forest behind me. “No. You got the right place.”
The voice was slow. Not just country-slow, but as if the man speaking was out of practice. Each word felt like a big, heavy chunk of rock that he had to maneuver into place.
I turned towards the voice and…nothing. Just trees. I looked a second time, a third. And then the guy moved and Jesus, he’d been no more than ten feet from me the whole time, leaning up against a tree. He’d just been keeping so incredibly still, I’d looked right past him.
He straightened up and I realized how big he was. I’m not small but this guy towered over me: he must have been six-foot-eight and heavily muscled, too. And he was…wild. Maybe it was the thick, golden beard and the muddy boots that looked like they were at least ten years old. Maybe it was the rifle slung across his back: not some yuppie toy, but a weapon that had seen so much time outdoors, the wood had faded in the sun. Or maybe it was the way he scanned the building, the road, and me, as if even this backwoods place was a little too much like the city for him, and he’d rather be back among the trees.
There was rustling in the undergrowth and then a blur of tan-and-black fur. An enormous German Shepherd with a fluffy coat bounded over to me and started excitedly sniffing at me. I crouched and offered it my hand. I love dogs, and animals are something you don’t get in prisons. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed them.
“He likes you,” said the giant as he ambled over to me. “That’s Rufus. I’m Cal.” He looked behind him and nodded at a woman just emerging from the trees. “Bethany.”
She was pretty, with long black hair and some serious curves. But there was only one woman on my mind. I nodded politely.
The four of us were about to cross the dirt road and check out the building when the roar of a car engine made us freeze. A car slid around the corner, kicking up an enormous cloud of dust and drifting so hard it was almost sideways. We all leapt back but the driver held the skid perfectly: the car glided around the corner like it was on rails. The driver flicked the tail around and the car skidded to a stop parked neatly outside the building.
It was an old Jaguar, with gleaming black paintwork and a polished chrome hood ornament of a leaping big cat. The driver got out and he…matched, in some way I couldn’t quite describe. I’ve never seen anyone suit a car so well. He wore a suit, but it was very different to the businesslike gray one Kian wore. This was jet black and stylishly cut, teamed with a snow-white shirt and a black tie. The man stripped off his black leather driving gloves and grinned at the woman climbing from the passenger seat.
She was giggling uncontrollably and she clung onto the roof of the car as if her legs were a little wobbly. The man swaggered around the car, slid an arm around her waist and pulled her in tight against him. The woman’s giggles died away and she looked up at him, breathy and expectant. Looking at them, I was pretty sure we were about to see their first kiss.
He pushed her long, blonde hair back from her face and kissed her, full-on and filthy. Either he hadn’t noticed we were watching, or he just didn’t care. The woman melted into the kiss, then gasped as his hands found her ass.