Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 164459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 822(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 822(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
“Fucking wild,” I sigh.
Dex chuckles.
When we reach the top floor, I make way for my penthouse suite. Preach is standing in front of the door with his arms folded. When he sees me coming, he drops his arms immediately, and his shoulders slump.
Something about the look he gives me lets me know one thing.
Something’s not right.
I open the door hurriedly, rushing in, scanning the room. I have the perfect view of Las Vegas through the wall-to-wall window across from me. Everything is in place.
All is accounted for, except one important person.
She’s not here.
I turn around just as Preach steps in. “Where’d she go?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. She just left.”
“Well, why the fuck did you let her leave?” I bark.
“I couldn’t hold her against her will, boss. You know we can’t.”
“Fuck. I know.” Shit.
My nostrils flare, fists clenching. I pace the room, back and forth. Fuck, I wish I had her number. I wish I knew where she was staying. Why the fuck didn’t I think to ask?
I stop my pacing.
I pick up my phone, but I can still feel Preach watching me. Preach and I are close. I trust him a lot more than my other guards, though I don’t tell them that.
I can talk about my private matters around him. Doesn’t matter if the twins are around—doesn’t matter if I’m boning some broad I met at a party.
He’s around.
I get why he’s looking at me funny, but he won’t ask or speak on it unless I do.
And I won’t.
He won’t get it.
Jenny is… different. I have felt this hole in my chest ever since leaving. I thought for sure it was because Grandma Marie was gone, but no.
I realized that being away from Jenny—the only girl that could take my mind off of the dread—was what was making me hurt.
Making me ache.
I was so fucking stupid.
So young, so rash, but most of all… afraid.
I was afraid of letting her in too deep, but only because I feared losing her too.
I swear I wish I could go back.
I wish things were different.
She ran off because she doesn’t trust me, and she doesn’t want to be put in that situation again. I hurt her, cut her deep, and she has every reason to stay away.
The last thing she said to me was that I broke her heart. Well, I’m here to fix it. And I won’t leave this fucking city until I am given the opportunity.
Those will not be the last words I hear her say to me.
Chapter 30
Jenny
I barge into my hotel room, breathing way too heavily. It took everything in me not to leave Drake’s hotel room.
I sat there. I waited. I wanted to talk things through, but then a small slice of fear interrupted and shredded all of that.
I feared the past.
I feared what he’d done to me, and what he could still do to me, if I let him in again. Drake is my weakness, even now, after so many years. I want nothing but him, but I know I shouldn’t be with someone like him.
Someone who broke my heart.
Someone who failed me.
Someone who hurt me so badly.
Someone who is world famous for fighting and winning.
Yeah, that still astounds me. Imagine the complications that could arise now, knowing millions of women in this world want him. They imagine him up close, in their beds, or even between their legs.
I can’t deal with being let down again.
I can’t put my heart in his hands. Actually, wait. I really shouldn’t say that because my heart has been in his hands since I was eighteen. I never got it back.
He held it tight in his clutches. He protected it, but when I needed his care the most, he crushed it. Right in his large hands, he crushed my already-fragile heart.
I don’t know how to stop thinking about that. I know I should give him a chance, but he can’t just barge back into my life, making demands or expecting me to be one hundred percent lenient on this thing.
I am not the same girl he knew. I have changed completely. Honestly, I don’t even know who I am anymore, and that scares the ever-loving shit out of me.
I drop Mitchell’s cross on the nightstand and then make my way to the shower. Shane isn’t here and I’m a little surprised. I thought he’d be a hound, sitting in the room, waiting for me.
I won’t call him. I need a little time to myself. Jesus. My first night in Vegas and people aren’t kidding when they talk about this place. There is so much going on. It’s kind of hard to keep up.
After my much-needed shower, I blow-dry my hair with the hotel dryer. My phone rings on the counter.
I ignore the call, but then it chirps minutes later.
Jennifer. It’s your mother. I need to talk to you.