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)
“Let’s get one thing straight, Parrish,” Drake said, looking up at him. “Hayley is not your girl, and you need to get that through your head. She’s my girl.” Damien’s features darkened at his words, and I swallowed hard. Drake was playing with the devil, and he didn’t even know it. “I allowed you to come here because we think you’ll be a good addition to help us, but if you’re going to cause problems, I can show you to the fucking door.”
Damien was silent for a moment, and I could feel his eyes trained on me. I stared at anything but him, afraid that if I looked at him, I would go crawling back to him, begging him to take me with him.
Damien finally just asked, “who are these men?”
I snapped my wide, shocked eyes up to Damien’s face. He seemed calm—relaxed even. That blew my mind because the Damien I knew would have bashed Drake’s face into his knee.
Drake began to explain everything to him as Damien took a seat on the other vacant couch. Miles chose to stand against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest as they both listened. At one point, Miles looked over at me, and a small smile touched his lips that relaxed me.
Miles had been my rock once Damien had gone to prison, and he had been there for me in some of my darkest moments.
Once Drake was done speaking, Damien nodded. “Miles just recently formed an alliance with Mark and his men while I was in prison. So, we have that advantage,” Damien said. He let his eyes meet mine. “Hayley, no one will get their hands on you again, you got that?” he asked.
I nodded, knowing I could trust his word. He stood up. “I’ll keep you guys updated,” Damien told them.
He saw himself to the door. When I heard the front door shut, I breathed a sigh of relief, sagging against the cushions. I hadn’t succumbed to the need to be close to him. I hadn’t gone to him, begging him to take me with him when he left.
I had been strong.
Drake turned to look at me. “Well, you got what you wanted,” Drake muttered.
Not everything, I silently admitted to myself.
Because if I had gotten everything that I wanted, I would have left with Damien.
6
I slid open the sliding glass door and stepped into the house, shivering at the air conditioning that swept over my clammy skin. I jerked to a stop when I looked up and saw Damien sitting on one of the couches, Drake and Tyrone sitting on the other couch across from him.
I quickly wrapped my towel around me, casting my eyes on the floor. “I’m just going to go to my room,” I said quietly. My heart was pounding in my chest. I needed to get away from Damien.
“Nonsense,” Damien stated, and I heard him stand up from the couch. I jerked my eyes up from the floor to stare at him as he walked toward me. I saw Drake move to get up out of the corner of my eye, but Tyrone clamped a hand on his shoulder to hold him in place. I nervously swallowed as I focused my attention back on Damien. “Let me see your hand, darlin’.”
I swallowed hard and slowly held out my hand, unable to deny the man in front of me. Damien wrapped his fingers around my wrist, and with his other hand, he dropped something in my palm, releasing me as quickly as he had grabbed me. “I believe that belongs to you,” he said quietly, his mesmerizing dark eyes locked on mine.
I looked down at my hand. Tears instantly built up in my eyes as I stared down at the large, diamond ring in the center of my palm.
The same exact diamond ring that I had worn on my hand for months after Damien had asked me to marry him.
I hadn’t seen it since I had visited him that one and only time in prison after he had been arrested. I had laid the ring on the tabletop and told him I was leaving, officially ending everything between us.
It had ripped me apart more than he had ever managed to do himself to walk away from him, but I had to do it. I had to find myself again, and I had to heal from the miscarriage of the baby that I had lost.
As if he hadn’t just blown my damn mind away, Damien walked back to the couch and sat down. I rushed off to my room, shutting my door behind me as the tears slid down my cheeks.
Just because Damien had ruined me didn’t mean that I didn’t still love him despite all he had done.
I pulled into the garage, thankful to be home after such a long, exhausting day at work. With a tired sigh, I turned my car off and leaned my head on the steering wheel for a moment, trying to collect myself. It had been an extremely tiring day at work, and it seemed every customer I had come in contact with had some kind of attitude problem.