Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36070 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 180(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36070 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 180(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
“I’ll do anything, Chase. Please don’t pull away from me. I know I screwed up, but—”
I sighed and stepped back from her, watching as her arms fell to her sides. “Sophia, you’ve never opened up to me. You always pushed me away, despite my constant pursuit. Why now?”
“Because I realized how much I do want you, Chase. I’ve been afraid—”
“Why?” I barked, losing my temper. I was fucking dying inside, and she wouldn’t just let it the fuck go. I just needed time, and she wouldn’t even give me that. “Why the fuck were you afraid of me, Sophia? I never gave you a reason to be!” I barked.
“Because I’m used to men like you being cruel!” she yelled, sobbing. Her face was flooded with tears, but I didn’t move to wipe them away, despite the urge in me to do so. “I’ve seen what a man wearing that cut can do to a woman. I saw what it did to my mom when he wouldn’t ever choose her—us—over his stupid fucking club. Saw what the stress of club life could make a man do!”
I barked out a cruel laugh. “And now, you think I suddenly will? That I’ll suddenly be different from him?” I demanded.
Her lips trembled. “You already are,” she whispered. “I was just too late to realize it.”
She was right. I had. I always fucking had been. And she was right when she said she was too late to realize it because now we had too much pain between us to easily move past.
“I’m terrified giving you time will make you turn your back on me,” she croaked.
“I’m not your father, Sophia,” I quietly told her. “If you don’t give me time, we’re going to destroy each other, and I never want to do that to you.”
“You’re hurting me now,” she whispered, her voice cracking.
I grabbed her hand in mine, pressing it to my chest where she could feel the rapid beat of my heart. Her watery eyes met mine, her wet lashes clumped together. Gripping her chin, I pressed my lips to hers in a kiss so tender, it brought tears to my own eyes.
“Give me time,” I whispered against her lips.
Then, I moved past her and headed into the clubhouse, leaving her sobbing behind me.
12
Chase
My security alarm was blaring on my phone. I jerked into an upright position and snatched it up, cursing as I squinted at the screen. One of our clients’ businesses had been broken into.
Godfuckingdammit. These fuckers were really working my last nerve.
I lurched to my feet, already forcing my legs through a pair of jeans when Scorpion pounded on the door. “Chase!” he barked.
“I’m already up!” I called. I shoved my feet into my boots and yanked a shirt over my head. I was sliding my arms through my cut when I yanked open the door to the spare room I was staying in while Sophia used my room. Scorpion was still standing outside the room, and when I emerged, we fell into step together. “Was anyone watching the store?” I asked as we quickly made our way down the hall.
“Mark and Tango,” Scorpion informed me. “I’m waiting on word.”
Sophia rushed down the stairs wearing one of my t-shirts and a pair of my boxers, her eyes filled with panic, her hair a wild mess. My heart softened at the sight of her. The past few days hadn’t been easy, but she’d been doing her best to give me the space I needed. And honestly, it was helping. It gave me time to think and sort through the shit in my head.
The red stain on my hands would never go away, but I had to learn to live with that.
“Chase, what’s going on?” she rushed out as Elias slipped past her on the staircase.
“Nothing to worry about,” I told her. And it wasn’t—not for her. She was safe. This was club business. “Go on back to bed, cupcake. Everything is okay.”
She frowned, and I could tell she didn’t believe me, but finally, she nodded and headed back up the staircase.
For two days now, this was how it’d been. That small little talk was the extent of our conversations lately. She didn’t try to force me to talk, and if we did happen to be around each other, she was sweet and kind, pretending for my sake that nothing was off between us.
But I knew we both felt it—the loss of each other and something beautiful we might’ve had before all this shit happened. It was like a coursing river was rushing between us, and the moment we dove into those depths, it would sweep us both away.
The question was, when we jumped in, would we be enough to save each other? Would we be enough to keep each other from drowning?
Scorpion’s phone went off, and he quickly pulled it to his ear. “Got it,” he grunted, ending the call almost as quickly as he answered it. He looked at all of us. “Let’s go. Mark and Tango have both culprits.”