Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 105803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
I swallow thickly. “Exactly how are you going to touch me?”
“Like this.” He takes my hand in his and tangles his fingers through mine. Then runs his knuckles down my cheek. “And like this.”
His lips find mine and the tenderness in his kiss makes me weak behind the knees.
It feels reassuring.
Gentle.
Real.
I pull away, startled by the thought. “What if they don’t think I’m your type. Oh my god, what is your type?”
He runs his thumb across my lower lip. “You, Belle. You’re my type.”
My heart kicks an extra beat.
I’m caught in his spell and I don’t even care.
The way he’s looking at me.
The warmth in his eyes.
The tenderness in his touch.
I want him to touch me.
I know it is crazy to feel this way. But something about this is so…familiar.
He brushes a stray lock of hair from my face. “Just stay by my side, and everything will be all right.”
It’s hard not to believe him when he has unshakable faith in me.
When I nod, he kisses me again, and this time I melt into him, and all my nerves and resistance disappear like a wave pulling away from the shore.
CHAPTER 24
BEAST
The moment we pull into the parking lot of the town park, I know something isn’t right. Usually the barbeque is bustling with families and townspeople, and kids running around with cotton candy and corn dogs.
But tonight very few people have shown up, and the park is almost empty.
“What the hell?” I mutter.
Over by the food tents, I see Mya and the club girls comforting Viking’s wife, Demri, who is visibly upset that no one has shown up to the fundraiser she’s worked hard to put together.
This has Mayor fucking Boney written all over it.
“Where is everyone?” Belle asks, looking around at the empty outdoor tables.
“Someone has scared them off,” I say, feeling the anger unfurl in my chest.
“Who would do that?”
“Mayor Boney, that’s who.”
“Why would the mayor want people to stay away from a fundraiser that benefits the local hospital?”
“Because he’s a slimy politician who is determined to run the Knights out of town.”
God, I want to shoot him in the face.
Belle frowns. “Why?”
“Because he wants our land.”
Since Boney came into power four years ago, he’s had a stick up his ass about the Knights, and he’s campaigned to run us out of town for just as long.
He says we’re holding this town back. Keeping it from prospering so we can get rich off our illegal phantasia trade. He’s made no secret about wanting to tear down the clubhouse to make way for a green space he’s been promising the townsfolk. A park on the hill that overlooks the town and the ocean, where families can grill in summer and walk through quaint snow-capped parklands in winter. And we’re the assholes for stopping it from happening.
Over time, he’s taken the town’s eighty-year appreciation for the Knights and turned it into fear and resentment.
Tonight is a flex. He’s showing us the power he has over this town.
Belle frowns. “What does he want your land for?”
“He says he wants to clear it and give it back to the townsfolk.”
“But why your land?”
“It’s prime real estate. Ocean views. Valley views. Town views. That’s why I know it’s a lie.”
“I’m not following.”
“He’s telling the town one thing, but he’s planning something else entirely.”
“Can you prove it? Because if you can, then we need to start spreading the news,” she says so fiercely it makes me want to kiss her again.
“No, it’s only gut instinct, but my gut is usually right.”
“But if that’s true, then the town won’t put up with it.”
“It’s better to ask for forgiveness than for permission, little one. Whatever he’s got planned, then I think it will be too late once it’s done.”
“If you’re right, then all you need is the proof, right?”
“Of course.”
“Then you find the proof.”
“Which is more than likely behind those impenetrable walls wrapped around his giant mansion.”
“Can’t you blow them up or something?”
I can’t help but chuckle. I love her spunkiness. “Not if we want to stay out of prison.”
She bites her lips as she considers what I just told her, and damn it’s a distraction. “Then you need to figure out a way inside.”
“Like I said, we want to stay on the right side of the prison bars. And until we figure out a way to do that, then we’ll have to keep deflecting his attack on us in other ways.”
A young woman with two little kids at her side approaches us. I recognize her. She used to date Balls a few years back.
Dressed in a short denim skirt and a tight tank, she looks empathetic as she hands me a crumpled flyer. “I thought you should know.”
I look at the flyer.
Together we will make St. Boniface thrive. Choose not to support criminal organizations that plague this town with their illegal drug trade and violence, and every single one of you will benefit. Enjoy this twenty dollar voucher for groceries from The Super Mart. From me to you. Let’s make St. Boniface the best town in America.