Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69610 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69610 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
“How are you?” she asks me.
I smile; it’s small, but it’s genuine. “I’m okay. Missing the freedom being on the road had but glad to be back home.”
Her brows furrow together. “You know what I mean, Amalie. After the attack? Are you okay? Do you still have nightmares about him?”
“Are you?”
She bites her bottom lip. “Stop turning it around.”
“I’m okay. I’m getting better.”
Outside of the injuries to my body, I am okay. I guess. I won’t mention to her how frequent the nightmares have been. Or explain the horror of what it felt like in those few terrifying hours that Treyton had me. I won’t tell her because it’ll only haunt her more, and she doesn’t deserve that. She knows how it feels.
We both know.
We’re just choosing not to say it.
“You’re a terrible liar, but so am I, so I guess we’re even.”
“We’re going to be okay,” I say to her, squeezing her hand. “We’re home now, we have the club watching over us, and we have this amazing ranch to explore and an album to create. Life is a whole lot of sunshine and rainbows, Scar.”
She laughs, and I can only faintly hear the pretty sound, but I like it all the same. I smile at her.
“You make everything sound like a dream, Amalie. And speaking of those bikers looking out for us ...”
My heart slams into my ribcage. I know what she’s asking. She’s seen the way Malakai looks at me—we all have. The last few days that I’ve come around here he smiles at me in that way that makes my tummy feel funny. A way that I haven’t felt for so many years I’ve lost count.
But she doesn’t understand a smile is all he’ll ever be to me.
The darkness of my past still haunts me.
There is no escaping it.
There is no time for love.
Only music.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” I say softly, staring at her.
She grins. “You know what I’m talking about. Mal. He is infatuated with you.”
“I hadn’t noticed. About those horses you have in the barn, when can we ride them?”
I’m not even being obvious about my change of subject, but I don’t know what she wants me to say? I have no way of explaining to her why Malakai and I can never be, without opening up a door and having her ask millions of questions. It’s best if we just don’t talk about it. And I forget about the handsome biker that stares at me like I’m his sunshine.
She chuckles low. “You’re incredible at changing the subject. We can ride them when we’re both better.”
Horses. She’s talking about horses.
I smile.
Then, I roll back to my side, exhaling and closing my eyes. I can’t wait for that freedom, to gallop down the middle of a paddock, the wind in my face, not a care in the world.
It’ll be heaven.
“Yo.”
I only just hear the deep, masculine voice, and that’s purely because it’s rather booming. Scarlett and I both sit up to see Koda striding into the room, brown paper bag in his hand. He stops at the foot of the bed and looks down at us. “You two would be any man’s fantasy right now if it wasn’t for the fact that you’re both spoken for and the repercussions would be deadly.”
Scarlett giggles, and I flush.
I don’t know how to take these men sometimes. They’re so bold. So forward. So intense. And so incredibly beautiful.
“Thank you, Koda,” Scarlett says. “Now, what goods have you got in the bag today?”
“Muffins, cupcakes, and some other girly rubbish Maverick told me to get you. Don’t know how you stay skinny eating that shit all the time.”
Scarlett opens the bag, pulling out a large chocolate muffin. The smell hits me straight away, assaulting my nostrils, and god, it smells incredible. Warm chocolate. Sugar. Heaven.
“It’s called running,” she says, breaking off a piece and sticking it in her mouth, moaning.
I reach for the bag and pluck one out, too.
“You too, huh?” Koda says when I meet his eyes.
They’re all learning to speak directly to me, after I didn’t respond to them a few times. I appreciate it, because it’s extremely embarrassing to have someone speaking to you and think you’re ignorant because you don’t acknowledge them.
It’s even worse having to explain why you didn’t acknowledge them.
“Chocolate is a girl’s best friend.” I smile at him.
He grins at me. “Too sweet you are. Right, ladies, I’m out of here. I did my duty for the day. I have pussy waiting for me at the club.”
My cheeks burn again.
So ... brutal.
“Gross, Koda,” Scarlett mutters, and I laugh at the horrified look on her face.
I glance back at Koda, and he’s grinning wide. “Man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.”
“You’re making the club sound like a giant orgy.”
He winks. “It is.”