Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25612 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 128(@200wpm)___ 102(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25612 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 128(@200wpm)___ 102(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
I read the report about her young life two days after I met her. Since my cockblocking brother-in-law didn’t give me the information, I had to get the details from my own contacts. It cost a lot more because of the holidays and I didn’t get everything, but I learned why my girl won’t even give me a chance.
Augustina Solis, born twenty-two years ago in Victoria, Texas. Her father Augustine Reyes was a gangbanger who sentenced twenty-five to life for murder of two people including her mother Maria Solis and her friend, Tomas who was helping her escape back when Tina was five, leaving her essentially an orphan.
Thankfully, she’ll never have to deal with the sick bastard getting released any time soon because he’d been killed in a prison riot; details regarding it are murky though. Tina bounced around from her mother’s family until landing in foster care in Arlington, Texas and then eventually with a nice couple who have some children of their own. She has no other known blood siblings.
I call the detail that I have following Tina. “Keep tabs on her closely tonight. She has a date, and I want them watched like a hawk. Get the restaurant and send it to me.”
The first thing I do is head over to the Steele Riders clubhouse where they have a gym set up for a little workout. I need to fucking hit something and get this tension out of my body. Is it possible that a heart can actually break? At first I was fucking kidding about needing medical assistance, but now I’m not.
I say hi to a couple of the Riders and prospects who are familiar with me already and then I hit the bag, needing no damn gloves or wraps for my hands. No—I need to hit this bag with everything I got because I need to feel something else.
Sweat covers my body and my arms and hands hurt, yet nothing can shake the ache in my chest. I have to do something about this.
Chapter Four
Tina
Why did I say yes to Miguel? He’s a nice guy, but I don’t have any interest in him. My mother wants me to date, so I thought it would be a good idea to help me forget all about Mike. Except it’s stupid, even though we’re going as friends. It’s less than a day since I scheduled and I haven’t forgotten Mike, and now I’m getting ready. Mike looked like I slapped him across the face.
It’s not my fault. Dating a guy like Mike isn’t good for me. He has danger and heartbreak written all over him, and it scares me how easily I want to fall into his arms. When I see Miguel at the store, I feel nothing. He’s my height, not buff at all, so I don’t get fearful that he could hurt me.
Would Mike ever hurt me? In my heart, I don’t believe so, but it’s my head that needs to do the thinking. He beats up men for a living.
I might have been only a small child and don’t remember my birth parents, but I remember when my father killed my mother when she tried to leave him and it still haunts me. I need a beta male, not an alpha like Mike, and he sure is alpha. He might try to play the beta, but if he gets his way, he’ll run right over me. Falling for the wrong man frightens me.
I wish I had brought my car because sleet has started to fall out here. Taking the sidewalk quickly, I rush home with my hood up. As I reach my apartment building, Mike is standing outside in the icy rain. “What are you doing out here?”
“I don’t want you to go on this date.” His voice resonates with vulnerability. Why is he making it so hard for me to fight this? Why am I fighting what I really want?
“That’s not your choice,” I say, holding back the harshness because I don’t want to hurt him.
“I know it’s not, but you can’t tell me this attraction between us isn’t real.” He moves a little closer, and I don’t step back. I allow him to crowd my space because he’s right. There’s no point in lying about it. If I wasn’t afraid he’d break my heart or hurt me, I’d jump into his arms.
With a sigh, I confess, “I am attracted to you, but that’s not enough. You’re just too much for me to handle, Mike. I’m sorry.” I reach up on my tiptoes and kiss his cheek. “I wish things were different.”
Turning on my heels, I leave him standing there and go into my apartment. With my body pressed against the door, I lightly bang my head on it and let the tars fall down my cheeks. I might not be able to be with Mike, but there’s no reason to lead Miguel on. Friends or not, Miguel wants there to be more, so there’s no point because it’s never going to happen.