Total pages in book: 13
Estimated words: 12781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 64(@200wpm)___ 51(@250wpm)___ 43(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 12781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 64(@200wpm)___ 51(@250wpm)___ 43(@300wpm)
He’s still holding on to me, not letting me go. I know I shouldn’t push it. Most women would have gone off in a huff by now. But not me. There’s something about Keeper, something that makes me vulnerable, wanting to give any and everything to him. I know he wants me. I know he does.
I lean my head into him, but instead of touching my lips to his, I press them against his cheek. His skin is soft, but his jaw is firm and pulled tight. I pull away from him when he doesn’t move. There’s only so much I can do. I don’t want him to disobey my brother. I don’t want to cause him any more problems than I already have. As soon as I’m safe on my feet, he releases me.
I don’t look at him. I can’t. I walk away and push myself to make it to the head of the trail in record time. I look behind me at one point and sure enough, he’s following me. He looks like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders and I don’t know what I can do to help him at this point.
When I reach the top, my lungs are burning and I’m gasping for breath, but the view before me makes it all worth it. It’s breathtaking.
Keeper walks up, still not out of breath, and his husky voice tells me, “You wanted to see the town. You can see all of it from here.”
And he’s right. I simply nod at him and try to control my breathing. You can see the whole town from here. It’s spectacular and I wish I could see it at night under the lighted sky.
He sits down on a fallen tree and I sit down too, leaving plenty of space between us.
I ask him the question I’ve been wanting to. “Why are you a part of the Exiled Guardians, Keeper?”
He just shrugs his shoulders. “When I got out of the Army, I couldn’t fit into my old life. My parents had passed. I didn’t have any brothers or sisters. Well, I met Sniper through a friend of a friend. He took one look at me where I was serving beer at a bar and offered me a job. I was at a low point in my life and I didn’t even question it. I’ve been here ever since.”
I start to ask him another question, but he interrupts me with one of his own. “What are you going to college for?”
I shrug my shoulders. I don’t want to go to school. I would be happy just starting a family, something I’ve known I wanted since I was a little girl. But I don’t tell him that. I don’t want him running away and leaving me here on the hillside. “I’m going to take some business courses. Sniper’s deadset on wanting me to go to college. He feels guilty for everything, and no matter how many times I tell him it’s not his fault, he didn’t know about me, he doesn’t care. Anyway, we agreed on me going for two years. If I give it two years, and still don’t want that, I can do something else.”
“Are you okay with that?” he asks me. His perception is keen.
“Yeah.” I lift my shoulders up. “I don’t know else I would be doing if I didn’t do that. The only thing I hate is that well, I finally have family and he’s pushing me away.”
“Lilly…” he starts.
“No, no,” I say, holding my hands up. “I get it. I know that’s not what he’s doing. He just wants what’s best for me. Even if I think he’s wrong.”
I look into his eyes, wanting to tell him that I know what I want, and I know exactly what I need. Even with these several feet between us, I can feel the heat from his gaze burning into me. He looks away then at the view in front of us. “I’m sorry, Keeper.”
He wipes his hands down his pant legs. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”
I shrug my shoulders. “I could talk to Sniper. He would be okay with this,” I tell him, gesturing between the two of us. Yeah, I only found out I had a half brother a few months ago and only just met him two weeks ago, but he seems like a reasonable man.
3
Keeper
“No,” I grunt at her. I stand up and walk to the edge. With my hands in the front of my jean pockets, I turn back to her, fighting with myself not to give in to her. I don’t know what to do, how to handle this, so I lie to her. “Lilly, I don’t know what you think, but what are you going to do? I don’t want a relationship. You going to give it to me just because you want to try it out with a man from the wrong side of the tracks? That’s why Sniper’s sending you to school. He knows you’re too good for this life. You need to go do whatever it is that teenage girls do and quit playing around here.”