Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
“You’re staying with me?” I asked, surprised and almost giddy at the thought of being held like this by Micah Abe.
“Seems there is no place else I’d rather be,” he replied. He pressed his face into my hair, then inhaled deeply. “Go to sleep, Tink. I’ll be here.”
19
Micah
I didn’t normally drink before noon, but I’d barely slept. The deep-seated need to punish someone had slowly built inside me until I felt as if I was going to explode. The only thing that had kept me sane was holding Dolly. Her body tucked against me, safe where no one could hurt her.
“What? It’s too damn early for phone calls,” Pepper grumbled into the phone as I gripped the glass of whiskey in my hand, glaring at shelves of books in front of me.
“Tell me why Dolly would hurt herself,” I demanded, knowing that if anyone knew the answer to what had happened last night, it would be my sister.
She’d known Dolly since they had been seven years old. All I knew of her was the little girl who would come over to play when I was visiting. I realized last night that I was clueless to her past. I knew she had a momma who was overprotective, but that was it.
“Shit.” Pepper’s muttered curse made my chest tighten. “What did she do?” she asked.
The anxiousness in her tone wasn’t lost on me. She knew. She was worried.
“Dug her nails so fucking deep into her thigh that she’s gonna have scars. She bled, Pepper. And she didn’t even wince when I cleaned it. She seemed almost numb.”
And it was fucked up. Something in her eyes last night had hit me so deep that it was hard to control myself. I’d wanted to go destroy whatever it was that had caused this. I hated seeing the misery in her amber depths. Dolly was all that was good in this world, and knowing there was something that dark that had gotten to her once enraged me.
“Where is she now?” Pepper asked.
“In my bed.”
“WHAT?! Please tell me that is a fucking joke. I swear to God, Micah, I will cut off your damn dick if you fucked her. I trusted you—”
“Calm down. I didn’t fuck her. I held her. She was…she was broken. I can’t…” I stopped, unable to explain to my sister just how unstable I felt, seeing her like that. It was more than she or anyone needed to know.
Pepper let out a long, relieved sigh. “That’s probably going to be an issue, too, but not as devastating,” she said. “I’m getting dressed and heading over there if I can. I don’t know what the roads look like yet. Have you seen the news?”
I hadn’t done anything but remove myself from the bed before my raging hard-on scared the shit out of Dolly. Then, I’d come in the library to drink.
“Tell me what happened to her.”
I didn’t need Pepper coming to the rescue, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to allow her to take Dolly from me. She was staying her ass in my room. Under my protection.
“I can’t. It’s…it’s not my story to tell,” Pepper replied. “Just please, Micah, don’t mess with her head. This bullshit with Canyon clearly affected her more than she let on. I should have known. She’s a pro at hiding her shit and internalizing her pain.”
Fury rolled through me as I slammed the glass in my hand onto the table. “This is because of Canyon?”
“What else could it be? Dolly has come a long way. She’s overcome so much, and I let myself believe that the past was finally behind her. Canyon has messed with her head, and she isn’t strong enough to deal with that.”
I was going to kill him.
“The roads aren’t safe yet. Stay there. I’ll take care of Dolly.”
“Micah, you have no idea what—”
“I will take care of Dolly. I don’t need to know what happened in the past to take care of her.”
“Micah—”
I ended the call before my sister could say one more word about fucking Canyon Acree. I’d never hated anyone more than I did that man right now. If he came near Dolly again, I would need Blaise Hughes’s pull to keep me out of prison.
I stalked toward the door. I was going back to my room. Back to Tink. Leaving her there in my bed, curled up and alone, had been painful, but I’d needed to know why last night had happened. If I wasn’t going to know the why, then I was going to be the one to stop it. I wasn’t sure I could breathe normally again until I knew my Tink was happy and secure.
Tex was leaving his room and headed for the stairs when I walked back into the hallway.
“Tree is down right outside the gate. We’re heading out to cut it up and remove it. You coming?” he asked as I walked past him without a glance.