Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
“Of course, Lizzy-bit,” he murmured soothingly. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
She flattened her palms against his chest and pushed at it. He reluctantly allowed his arms to fall and she stepped away from him. He figured—from the way she’d simply opened her door—that there probably wasn’t a murderous intruder in her house. It was likely an intruder of a different ilk—a rat, or a snake maybe.
“Follow me,” she said, throwing back her shoulders much like someone preparing to step into battle. She led him to the closed bathroom door in the short corridor and stood staring at it for a moment.
“It’s in there,” she whispered, and pointed toward the door.
Gideon’s brow lowered. “What is it? Snake? Rat?”
He couldn’t imagine what else it could be. They’d had a few puff adders and cape cobras stray into gardens over the summer and—even though it was a bit late in the year for snakes—it wasn’t inconceivable that one might have found its way into a home. Especially after the unseasonably warm week they’d just experienced.
Still, he needed to know exactly what he dealing with. He for damned sure couldn’t catch a snake, they’d need to call in a professional for that.
“It’s much wuh-worse.”
He couldn’t imagine what could be worse than a snake, but the return of her stutter, definitely reinforced the urgency.
“Please,” she whispered, wringing her hands while her lovely eyes pleaded with his.
“Right, okay.” He put some iron into his back and shoulders and clenched his fists. He took a hesitant step forward before stopping and asking again, “It’s definitely not a snake?”
Beth shook her head vigorously, words seeming to have completely deserted her by now.
Beth watched as Gideon, with only the slightest of hesitations, opened her bathroom door and strode in confidently.
He left the door open as he stepped inside and she scuttled forward to grab hold of the handle. The knob slipped out of her nervous, sweaty palm, and she sucked in a breath as she stepped over the threshold to take firm hold of the elusive, round handle. This time it stayed in her grasp, and she dragged the door shut with a bang.
“Fuck!” She heard Gideon’s muffled expletive and she felt a moment’s regret for leaving him trapped in such a small, enclosed space with a monster.
“Do you see it?” she whisper-shouted through the wood.
“What?” he yelled back, sounding frustrated. “Speak up. You scared the hell out of me, slamming the door like that.”
Oh, so the swearing hadn’t been in response to the otherworldly, demonic creature lurking in the bathroom.
“What am I supposed to be looking for?” he asked. Annoyance was starting to leech into the frustration now.
“On the wall,” she shouted. Her palms were planted, at face height, against the wooden paneling of the door. “Above the bath.”
There was a long, fraught silence, during which she was almost certain she heard the harsh intake of his breath.
After another interminable length of time—possibly thirty, to forty, seconds or so—she heard the squeak of his sneakers on the tiled floor and then his familiar tread approaching the door.
She stood well away as he tugged the door inward and then joined her in the hallway. This time he shut the door behind him and leaned back against it.
He folded his arms over his chest and stared at her for a long, thoughtful moment.
“Right,” he said in a quiet, measured voice. “Here’s what I’m going to need you to do—”
Beth nodded, her eyes wide, as she stared up into his grim face, willing to assist him in any way if it meant no direct interaction with that thing in her bathroom.
“Go to your room,” he continued, still in that same, somber voice. “Pack a bag. Essentials only. I think you’re going to have to move out. Maybe live with me for a while. At least until you can find a new place to stay. Your house belongs to him now.”
“What?” The word emerged on an incredulous laugh. “Don’t be ridiculous, Gideon. Stop joking around. How do we—you—get rid of it? What do you need? A shoebox? A glass jar? You can release it into the Delfino yard. The boys love creepy crawlies. They won’t mind having it live there.”
“Let me get this straight,” Gideon said, his brow dipping into a frown. “You expect me to forcibly evict that thing?” He shuddered dramatically. “That would mean getting really fucking close to it, Beth!”
“Surely you’re not afraid of spiders?” She couldn’t quite wrap her head around that possibility and he glared at her.
“Why not? You are. I told you it was a common phobia.”
“Yes, but you didn’t tell me it was common between us.”
“No mind. The fact is, I’m not going anywhere near that malevolent, wee bastard. It’s fucking massive!”
“You just called it wee,” she pointed out, folding her arms across her chest in challenge.