Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
“Leave, now, before you regret it.” Indignation poured from Pruitt. Disbelief that someone would dare stand against him.
“Nah, I’m pretty sure it’s you who’s going to regret it if you don’t get the fuck off Hailey’s property. Now step away from her before things get ugly. Trust me, they’re about to.”
Cody took the last step onto the porch.
The man was enormous where he stood towering in the night.
A massive shadow that vibrated with an aggression that thirsted to be unleashed.
Pruitt wouldn’t stand a chance against him if it got physical. Pruitt’s tactics were always more insidious.
Undercut.
An attack that came out of nowhere, quiet and stealthy, and you were finished before you knew what hit you.
I pleaded with my eyes for Cody to leave, my heart heaving with desperation.
Walk away. Walk away.
I would handle this. I had before. I would find a way…
Cody took another step, his boots thudding on the wood, a low rumble of thunder that promised violence approached.
Rage blistered in Pruitt’s green gaze, though I could feel his reservations, the fear that skittered across his skin.
He knew Cody was about to bring him pain.
Taking a slow step back, he released me.
I sagged against the wall, relief slamming me even though I knew better than to feel it.
This was temporary, one battle in a war that had just begun.
Pruitt’s attention swung between me and Cody, his jaw clenched in outrage and offended disbelief.
“This isn’t over, Hailey.” His words were darts, pinpoint and emphatic.
“Oh, but it is,” Cody said, massive hands in fists where he stood, refusing to back down.
Pruitt hesitated for one second more before he lifted his head like he wasn’t the one cowering, his ego taking a hit, something I knew he wouldn’t forget.
He wound around Cody, clearly trying to maintain a show of dominance when he appeared pathetic next to the man who pulsated power.
“Don’t come back around here,” Cody spouted at his retreating form.
When he stepped down onto the walkway, Pruitt turned, glaring back. The smile that stretched across his face smug and terrifying. “Ignorant fool. You have no fucking clue.”
“That you’re a prick? Yeah, I think I do,” Cody taunted.
Indignation puffed from Pruitt on a heave of air, and he spun and stormed down the walkway and hopped into the black, shiny car that was parked on the street, the tires squealing as he peeled out from the curb.
I knew deep down it was the same car that had been following me the first week I’d been here. When I’d thought I’d found sanctuary and peace. When I’d thought I was letting paranoia settle in when I should have known my ghosts would always catch up to me.
Cody didn’t move until the taillights disappeared down the road. The second the sound of the engine faded in the distance, he turned, a hurricane that flew across the porch.
“Are you okay?” He begged it.
A shiver rolled through my body. “I’m fine.”
I kept saying it, again and again.
I’m fine. I’m fine.
I was desperate to be.
Cody reached out and ran his thumb over the cleft in my chin.
Warmth spread.
A comfort I shouldn’t allow myself to feel. But how could I not when this brute of a man stood over me like a shield?
A tower of safety.
But he couldn’t be. I knew that, even though with him standing there, I wanted to dive into the hope of it.
He studied me, golden eyes flaming beneath the bare light that flooded from the lamp hanging next to the door.
“You’re not okay, Hailey. I can see it.” He whispered it softly, though it was underscored in severity. “He’s hurt you.”
“I’m fine,” I repeated on a shaky exhale, another lie I kept trying to believe.
“Oh, darlin’, I see you’re not. But I promise that you’re going to be.”
Something passed through Cody’s intimidating features.
A steely determination that rumbled the ground beneath my feet.
“Go inside and lock the door. I’ll be back in five minutes. Don’t open it until I return.”
“I—”
His face dropped close to mine, expression fierce. “Just do it, Hailey. For me. Please.”
Warily, I nodded, logic still blurred by the shock of finding Pruitt outside my door.
Cody spun on his heel and strode across the porch, taking my breath with him as he went. I finally got my senses together enough that I pushed myself upright and called his name, trying to stop him from whatever was going through his brain.
He just sent me a smile from over his shoulder and said, “You don’t worry about a thing.”
SEVENTEEN
CODY
Rage blistered my insides, flames fucking eating me alive as I stormed into my house where I went directly into my room and started tossing things into a duffle bag.
Activity was required because if I didn’t do something with my hands, I’d give in to what I really wanted to be doing with them—strangling the life out of that fucking little fucker who’d had Hailey pressed to the wall like he owned her.