Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73880 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73880 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
And I haven't even told him the half of it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Starla
One year earlier
"Okay, I’ll take you to the shooting range, but you have to promise to do exactly what I tell you." I nodded my head eagerly because I couldn't wait to get a weapon in my hands.
"Starla," Timeo said with a growl. When he growled, it did all sorts of things to me. I loved it when he got dominant, but I still had to maintain control.
It mattered to me.
"What? I'm listening. Like you said, I have to do what you say."
He blew out a breath, rolled his eyes skyward, and crossed his gorgeous arms across his gorgeous chest. It should have been illegal to be that hot. I looked away from him because I wasn't supposed to be looking at him that way.
"Starla, you say that. You say you're gonna listen to me, but then you don't. I know you're gonna get some wild idea..."
"Timeo, I promise." Before I knew what I was doing, I crossed the distance between us and extended my pinky finger. "Pinky swear. Give me your pinky."
He huffed out a breath but did exactly what I told him. I looked at his finger just before I hooked mine in his.
I knew what happened when I touched him. Electric sparks lit up my body, and my intuition screamed at me.
This one.
A raw, primal need surged through me to cling to him. Seduce him. There was a wide world of men out there, relationships that were sometimes broken and sometimes amazing, children and families and homes, sex and intimacy and…belonging.
I didn’t want the wide world of options. I wanted Timeo.
I pretended I didn't feel the attraction. I pretended I didn't see the longing and, dare I say, lust that mirrored my own. Because if I ever found out that he didn't have any interest in me, it would destroy me.
I'd been through a lot of things that didn't kill me, but that… that would.
"Timeo, I know what I'm asking you to do here. I know that it's not easy learning how to shoot a gun, and I further know that Sergio would lose his mind. And Eden… She probably would too, even though she's not quite as serious as Sergio. But I want to learn. I need to learn. After everything I've been through..." I stopped talking because my throat was doing that weird thing where it got all clogged up.
"Alright," Timeo said seriously. "You know that's the only reason why I'm gonna teach you anyway. This is a dangerous world, Starla. And you know that while we ended most of those men in the fellowship? Some of them are still out there."
Some of the elders were in jail, and some of the men that put them up to the abuse were, too. We knew now that the fellowship cult was funded and controlled by the cartel, under the guise of religious freedom and purity.
The more I talked to Timeo, the more I realized that some of the men in the cult were also some of the men in the cartel. It explained why they never attended meetings and why they lived on the periphery of our compound. They took wives, of course, because why not.
“Let’s go.” I could tell he agreed against his better judgment.
I wouldn’t make him regret it.
I knew how it felt now to have firsts. The first ice cream sundae on the beach. The first movie on the big screen of a movie theater. The first time seeing a Broadway show in person. The first time traveling outside the country. When you'd been raised the way I had, there were many firsts. I looked at Timeo because I knew I wanted him to be my first…in everything.
My thoughts came to a screeching halt when I saw the guns. God, they were beautiful. Powerful and strong. I liked seeing the metal glinting in the overhead light. I liked the idea of holding one in my hand. I liked the sense of…power. But most of all? I liked the idea of being able to protect myself and the people that I loved.
He went over the rules with me, and I paid attention, but I was excited to get that gun in my hand.
He left the gun unloaded, and idly started fiddling with it. He spun the barrel. And my world spun. Nausea swirled in my belly. I fell to my knees and darkness clouded my vision.
"Starla. Starla!" I blinked and stared at Timeo.
What happened? His gun was on the floor, discarded. And he was… holding me.
Timeo was holding me. Against his chest, like I had fallen or something.
"What happened?" My tongue felt too big for my mouth.
Timeo’s eyes were wide and frightened.
"I don't know what happened, but it scared the hell out of me. You didn't faint, but it was like you…weren't there."