Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 39689 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 198(@200wpm)___ 159(@250wpm)___ 132(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39689 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 198(@200wpm)___ 159(@250wpm)___ 132(@300wpm)
“Fucking hell!” Miles roared as he jumped to his feet, thrusting his hands through his hair. His muscles bunched in his arms, his back tensing. Miles was normally well composed—one of the reasons that Damien had made Miles his right-hand guy. I had never seen Miles lose his shit, but I knew right then that he was on the verge of destroying something.
“You’re on the fucking run, right?” Miles demanded as he turned to face me, his dark eyes flashing with barely restrained rage.
I nodded at him. “I need you and your men to protect William,” I told him hoarsely. “I don’t want them using him to get to me. He’s just a baby.”
Miles’s face twisted into a snarl as he stormed back over to me, placing his hands on the back of the couch on either side of my head as he leaned into me. My heart began racing in my chest at his proximity, my breathing picking up slightly as my eyes locked on his.
“You don’t think you need fucking protection, too, Hayley?” Miles snarled down at me.
I shook my head. “Damien isn’t here anymore, Miles,” I whispered, my voice trembling slightly. Pain lanced through my heart as I mentioned Damien’s name out loud. “But William is his son. And I know it’s a code for you guys to protect family.”
“And you don’t think you qualify as goddamn family?” Miles snapped at me.
I shook my head. “Damien isn’t here anymore,” I repeated.
With a growl, Miles gripped a handful of my hair and yanked my head towards his. His lips covered mine with an intensity I had never experienced before. The muscles in my stomach clenched as a throb started between my legs. I moaned softly, losing myself in Miles as he deepened the kiss, his tongue tangling with mine as his hand tightened in my hair, making me moan softly in the back of my throat.
He pulled back from me, his eyes meeting mine. “Then you’ll get the protection as my woman, Hayley,” he snarled. He stood back up to his full height, storming away from me as he pulled his phone from his pocket.
I stared after him, a stupefied look on my face.
Fuck. I had just kissed Damien’s best friend—and enjoyed it.
18
Miles
Quinn set his daughter, Isabelle, on the floor of my living room, his eyes moving toward Hayley’s little boy where he was playing with some toys I had gone out and got him while he and Hayley were asleep. Quinn let out a low whistle as he stared at William. “He’s the fucking spitting image of Damien,” he grumbled as he stood back up to his full height.
I nodded in agreement. “We’ve got a problem,” I told him as I ran my hand over my beard. He arched a brow at me. “Hayley is in trouble. She started working for a strip club to try to keep a roof over William’s head, but she didn’t know about her boss’s sex trafficking ring until she was already working for him. He sold her for three million fucking dollars, and she overheard, which is why she’s here now.”
“She’s on the run,” Quinn stated more than asked, but I nodded anyway.
“She came here—I’m guessing in the hopes that she could leave William with me so that he could be protected. That’s all she asked of me when she told me the truth.”
Quinn scoffed. “She needs protection, too, Miles,” he told me like I didn’t already know that.
“I know,” I grumbled. “Which is what I told her, but she was adamant that she wasn’t fucking family.”
“Hope you fucking corrected her,” Quinn said.
I ran a hand over my face with a shrug. “In my own way,” I gruffly admitted.
Quinn barked out a laugh. “Mother fuck, man. Damien is going to come back from the dead and beat your ass for fucking making a move on Hayley.”
I shrugged carelessly. “Don’t get me wrong, man. Damien was the best damn leader our crew ever had, and he was the best damn cousin a guy could have asked for—basically my fucking brother.” I shook my head. “But Damien never treated Hayley like he should have. Yeah, he changed while he was in prison—was nicer to her when he got out—but he still fucked up a lot with her. So, Damien can roll over in his grave right now for all the fucks I give,” I confessed.
Quinn shrugged. “So, are you claiming her?” he asked me.
I grunted. “Working on it.”
We both turned our attention to Hayley as she emerged from my room. She was wearing a pair of my sweats rolled at the waist and one of my t-shirts. Her hair was piled on the top of her head in a messy bun, her eyes still slightly bleary from sleeping.
“Damn girl, you lost a fuck ton of weight,” Quinn commented, not bothering with normal pleasantries.