Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 111(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 111(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
“Please…” She whimpers, and I sigh loudly, annoyance burning through me. She scrambles backward on the bed until her head is touching the headboard. I hate that she is so scared of me and that she still doesn’t believe a word that I’ve said to her, so instead of assuring her again, I don’t say anything at all.
Taking the heavy down comforter from the edge of the bed, I pull it up and over her body, covering her all the way up to her chin. She glances at me in confusion but then relaxes, sliding back down a bit. With her head resting against the pillows and her shiny blonde hair fanning against it, she looks like an angel with a halo.
“Are you hungry? Thirsty?” I ask, wanting to get her to eat something. She’s tiny, and I’m not sure the last time she even ate. Drake is not the kind of man that gives a fuck about anyone but himself.
“Uhm, I’m really thirsty,” she whispers quietly, almost like she is telling me a secret.
“I’ll get you something to drink. Stay in bed, and don’t try to get up,” I order, and she nods gently. Walking down to the kitchen, I grab a few bottles of cold water and pour her a glass of orange juice. It should help bring her sugars up.
When I get back to the room, she is still lying under the covers in the same exact position that I left her. Pleased with that knowledge, I smile. Good, she can follow directions. Placing the two bottles of water on the nightstand, I hand her the glass of orange juice, which she takes with trembling hands.
“Have I given you a reason to be afraid of me?” I ask, trying not to sound annoyed. She sits up, keeping the blanket in place, so she doesn’t flash me a tit or anything.
“No, but… the way you acted back there like you…” she trails off. “I don’t know what you want from me. What you’re going to do to me. I’m afraid of what’s going to happen next.” She finishes speaking and takes a greedy sip of the juice, watching me closely like I’m some big bad wolf that will take a bite out of her the second she turns her back.
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do with you yet, but hurting you in any way is not on the agenda. I do know that I will not continue to reassure you that you’re safe. I told you already, and more than once, my actions will prove it, but until then, you’re just going to have to take my word on it.”
Her eyes go impossibly wide as she takes in my words. Then she says something I didn’t expect at all. “I believe you… that you won’t hurt me.”
“Good.”
“So, what’s going to happen next?”
“For now, I need to know a couple of things. Where do you live? Who will be looking for you?”
“No one will be looking for me,” she says, looking away from me. “I have no family and no place to go.”
No family, and no place to go? “What do you mean?”
“I was in foster care most of my life. The day I turned eighteen, they kicked me out. I’ve been homeless since then.” Anger roars with the fierceness of a lion inside of me. What kind of person would just kick her out and make her live on the street? No one I fucking care to know about, by the time I’m done with them, they’ll be dead.
“That doesn’t matter anymore. You’re not homeless now. From here on out, you will stay with me, with a roof over your head and food in your belly.” The look she gives me is a cross between disbelief and relief.
“What do I need to do in return?” Her small, timid voice vibrates through my body and straight to my cock. I want her, crave her, but I know I can’t have her… not yet. She’s too fragile, and the last thing I want to do is break her.
“Nothing you don’t want to,” I assure her. “For tonight, we’re just going to sleep. I will sleep in the bed with you, but that’s all we’ll be doing. Before we do that though, I need to know if Drake hurt you? If he touched you, I will make him pay…”
I swear to god if she says yes, I’ll have Nick bring him to the house right now, and I’ll kill him right here in front of her just to prove that I’m not fucking around with how important she is to me.
“I-I don’t think so.”
“And you don’t remember how you ended up with him?”
Her forehead wrinkles like she is thinking hard. “No, I’m sorry… I remember staying at the women’s shelter last night and then… nothing.”