Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 169(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 113(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 169(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 113(@300wpm)
“Cecilia? You good? I’ll stay if you want.” I looked up to find Apple standing over us. She had a concerned look on her face, but I could tell she knew I was OK. She just wanted verbal conformation.
“Yeah. I’m all good now.” I gave her a watery smile. “Thank you both for staying with me. I’m not sure my sanity would have survived otherwise.”
“We’ll always have your back, Cecilia.” Apple smiled and leaned in to kiss the top of my head. Then she spoke to Bullet. “You take care of her.”
“It’ll be my privilege and pleasure to take care of her, Apple. Thank you. You and Lemon are perfect for this club.”
Lemon snorted. “Of course, we are. We’re fuckin’ awesome.”
That got a laugh out of me. Which seemed to be what the sisters were waiting for because they both left.
“Are you really OK? You didn’t get hurt?”
“No one laid a finger on me, honey.”
I hugged him tight. “I was so worried!”
“I’m sorry I had to leave you, Cecilia. We had them both in a place we could control and had to take it while we could.”
“I’m just thankful you’re home safe.”
“You’re safe now, Cecilia. I’ll give you this one chance to…” He cleared his throat and shook his head. “Fuck.”
“What?” I pulled back, needing to look at him. What was he thinking? “What is it?”
“I was gonna say I’d give you this one chance to leave so you could have a normal life, but I can’t.”
“Can’t what?”
“Let you go. Last thing I want to do is keep you against your will, but I swear to you, Cecilia. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy and wanting to stay with me.”
I just looked at him, not sure what to think or say. “Why would you think I didn’t want to stay with you?”
“I’m not going back to the hospital. In fact, I doubt I’ll even have a private practice anymore. We’d be here most of the time. As a rule, I’m the only one who travels much into the city and I usually stay at my house, only coming here when the guys need me.” He shook his head. “Not anymore. Grim Road is a safe place. The rest of the world ain’t. I want you protected.”
“As long as I’m with you, I know I’m safe, but that’s not why I want to stay with you, Bullet.” I took a breath. “You’re the first person to make me feel like I actually matter. I’m selfish enough to not want to give that up. So, I’m holding you to your promise not to let me go.”
“Just try to get away from me.” Bullet smiled and something inside me… eased. It was like a band that had been tightening around my chest over time. I hadn’t realized it was smothering me until the pressure was gone. I took in a big gulp of air and let it out. Then I wrapped my arms around him and sobbed against his neck.
Bullet rubbed my back, murmuring softly while the dam broke. He didn’t try to hush me or stop sobbing my heart out. Once the storm had passed, he handed me some tissues. His smile was kind and so full of an emotion I was afraid to name, I wanted to cry all over again. Never had a man looked at me like Bullet did.
He leaned in, pressing his lips to mine tenderly. His tongue darted out to lick my lower lip and I opened for him. Bullet kissed me until my head was spinning before he pulled back and pressed his forehead to mine.
“I love you, Cecilia. I swear I’ll make you happy.”
“You already do, Atticus. I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but I fell in love with you the first time we talked at that café. You never treated me like a whore even though you had to know what I was.”
“Like I told you before, honey. You’re a beautiful, intelligent, wonderful woman. And now you’re all mine.”
I smiled. “I love the sound of that.”
Bullet took me to bed then. As he promised before he’d left, he spent the next two days worshiping my body. We came out for meals and for him to parade me around the common room where the club girls could see us together. Chyna was noticeably absent, and the other women kept their distance from both Bullet and Rocket. I wanted to ask, but honestly, I could give two shits as long as they stayed away from him.
* * *
“Things are startin’ to shake up, prez.” Crush had been in his office since we came back from killing the mafia men who controlled the lower Eastern seaboard. He’d been monitoring shit and keeping an eye on this section of the Italian mafia in case there was blowback.