Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 95676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 478(@200wpm)___ 383(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 478(@200wpm)___ 383(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
I nod, my heart aching when my answer immediately surfaces. I may be free to leave the jail, but I'm not free to be with Cam. Not now. Maybe not ever. Cops don't get to love whoever they want, not if they want to remain cops. The world just doesn't work that way. They're supposed to be above reproach, untouchable. Being with me makes Cam a target for the media and anyone with an axe to grind. With me, he'll always be a target.
"Why are you letting me go?" I ask, desperate to make sense of something in my life.
"Because Lewis is a stubborn son of a bitch," he says bluntly. "And he isn't the only one who believes you're innocent."
"He's still helping me," I whisper, my heart pulsing at the realization that he's still fighting for me.
Ventura nods.
"Why?"
Why can't he just let it go and look out for himself, dammit?
Doesn't he know he's going to get himself fired?
"I don't know. Perhaps he's found something he wants more than he wants his career," Ventura murmurs and then strides toward the door. He taps the doorframe with a hand. "Someone will be here to escort you out shortly, Miss Kendall. If you have anything you want to take with you, you'd better gather it up."
I glance around at my tiny cell and shake my head. I don't want to take anything from here home with me. They can burn the few personal items I purchased from the commissary for all I care. I'll never touch them again.
As soon as I step through the doors of the jail into the sunlight, I tip my head back and greedily inhale a lungful of fresh air. The city smells exactly the same as it did a week ago…like smog, salt water, and hundreds of thousands of people living in close proximity to one another. It's terrible but I love it. Especially after spending the last week with the scent of industrial strength cleaner and unwashed bodies swirling around me. Those smells clung to everything, following me even on my few short forays out into the yard.
"Ivy!"
I pop my eyes open to see Erin waving madly from the parking lot, a giddy smile stretched across her face.
I begin speed-walking in her direction, only to stop when I notice a small group of reporters clustered together on the far side of the fence surrounding the parking lot. I'm not sure if they're here because of me or for some other reason, but I have a feeling they're going to descend on Erin's car the moment we're through the gates.
The thought isn't appealing in the least.
"Kitten."
Cam's smooth voice rolls over me while I stand there, trying to gather the nerve to keep walking. The sound hits me right in the stomach, unraveling some of the knots that settled there a week ago. My heart rate speeds, racing when his scent wraps around me.
And then another surge of panic flares. He can't be here. Not now.
He steps up behind me and runs a hand down my arm.
I whimper and squeeze my eyes closed, praying for him to disappear like a hallucination or a mirage, but he doesn't. He steps into me, so close I can feel his big body against my back. His warm breath blows across my neck, wrecking me and what little composure I have left.
"I've missed you," he whispers in my ear.
Every cell in my body screams for me to take a tiny step backward into the solid wall of his chest. I want to do exactly that, so badly I sway on my feet, fighting for the control needed to remain in place. I can't lean into him.
I clench my hands into fists, gouging my short nails into my palms. I don't want to do this here. I don't want our final goodbye to happen with the jail at our backs and a cluster of reporters looking on from a distance, waiting to splash his name and face across the papers alongside mine.
"Kitten?"
"Please," I whisper, my voice cracking. A tear leaks from the corner of my eye. "Not here."
"Ivy?" Erin walks toward us, worry plain in her blue eyes. She looks between me and Cam. I know the moment she realizes who he is. She hesitates, clearly torn between giving us a moment of privacy and rushing forward to pull me away. She knows why I've been languishing in jail. I broke down and told her every sad word.
I plead with her silently to rescue me, but I don't think she can. This time, I'm on my own.
"Kitten, talk to me," Cam whispers, turning me around to face him.
I whimper again when I look up at him. He's so handsome with his gray eyes and sharp jawline. He's dressed in jeans and a dark t-shirt, his tattoos on full display. His mouth is partially open, the tip of his tongue running across his bottom lip as he stares at me like he's trying to decide what to do with me. He's devastating, so much so that I have to swallow to work moisture back into my mouth.