Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 78631 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78631 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
I don’t know that Dragon will ever cry.
My guess is he hasn’t cried since his parents gave him away.
Things like that harden a person.
Not that I’d know. But I’ve had enough talks with Aunt Melanie over the years—she’s a psychiatrist—to understand how trauma affects a person.
I bet Aunt Melanie could help Dragon a lot.
She’s retired now, but Dragon…
Dragon might be part of our family someday.
We are in love.
That doesn’t mean we’re going to stay together forever, but…
It’s what I want.
I can’t imagine feeling the way I do about anyone else.
It was quick. But it’s funny. Both my brothers and my sister fell hard quickly.
Well, maybe not so much Brianna. She had been worshiping Jesse from afar since she was a teenager.
Our family seems to fall quick and hard. My own parents did.
Dragon continues to talk, and I continue to listen as I stroke his arm, as I hold back my tears.
“That’s it,” he says. “Nothing more.”
I say a quick prayer that I’ll give him the right words in this moment. The words he needs to hear.
“Dragon, I love you,” I say. “Your strength humbles me.”
“It’s not strength, Diana.” He sighs. “You do what you have to do. Obviously it all affected me. Once I got out of the place, I turned to drugs and alcohol.”
“But you’ve kicked that as well. You’ve slayed all your dragons.” I can’t help a smile.
“I have one left to slay,” he says. “I have to find Griffin. I have to find her before that cult does something horrible to her.”
I wish I could promise him that we’ll find her. I open my mouth to say as much, but then I close it. I can’t make that promise. I don’t promise things that I don’t know that I can keep. And right now, we don’t know if we will ever find Griffin.
We don’t know if she’s even alive.
Dragon’s phone rings then, and he jerks upward. He’s still naked, and my God, his ass is so gorgeous. I can’t help staring at the griffin on the back of his thigh.
The griffin that stays with him at all times but that he can never bring himself to look at.
I hope that changes soon.
He grabs his cell phone out of the pocket of his discarded jeans.
“Hey, Alayna,” he says into the phone.
Pause.
He widens his eyes. “Oh my God. You’re kidding me.”
Pause.
“I’ll get over there right away. Thanks so much.” He ends the call.
“What is it?” I ask.
“You’ll never believe this. I can’t believe it myself.”
“I can’t believe it if you don’t tell me.”
“That was Alayna.”
I let out a short laugh. “I gathered.”
“She got the address for the account. The account we sent money through the cash app for. And it’s right here in Taos.”
“That’s great!” I jump off the bed and— “Ouch!”
Dragon grabs me. “Your ankle, Diana.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“You need to rest.”
“How can I rest? We’re going to go find this guy.”
He holds up a hand. “Correction. I’m going to go find the guy. If you want to be walking on that ankle again by tomorrow or the next day, you need to let it rest today.”
“It’s not even a sprain,” she says. “I’m fine.”
“Please, Diana.” He grabs my hands and looks deeply—lovingly—into my eyes. “I can’t risk anything happening to you. Please. I’ve lost everyone I’ve ever loved in my life. I can’t lose you too.”
My heart breaks a little.
And again, as I look at this strong amazing man, I see that sweet little boy he must’ve been. That little boy who only wanted to play on his drum and make his little sister happy.
I can do this for him. I can do it because he’s right. I do need to rest my ankle. I should be able to walk okay by tomorrow, as long as I’m wearing the boot.
But tonight I need the rest.
Besides, someone has to stay here with Teddy.
I sigh. “Okay. You win this time.”
He drops his jaw.
“Does that surprise you? I just let you do whatever you want to me.”
“Sex is one thing,” he says. “But resting your ankle? I’m surprised you went for that.”
“You’re right. And I don’t want to take anything away from you about this. If it’s something you feel you need to do alone, I get it. But know that if you want me there, I will be.”
“I both do and I don’t. I want you here, safe, resting. I also want you by my side.” He caresses my cheek with an unexpected gentleness. “But not just for this. For everything.”
My flesh heats. It’s hardly a proposal of marriage, but he’s thinking of the future. And that makes me happy.
“But you do one thing for me, all right?” I say.
“Anything within my power.”
“You keep yourself safe. You come back to me.”
He flashes me a small smile. “I have something to live for now, Diana. Griffin may be alive. And that’s a lot, but you? You make everything in my life bearable.”