Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 97195 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97195 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
“He’ll notice something is wrong,” I quietly told Axel. “He says my eyes shine when I’m happy, when I’m okay.” I shook my head. “His moon won’t glow,” I whispered, hiccuping, more tears burning in my eyes.
“He’s such a fucking smooth ass,” Axel laughed. I couldn’t help it; I laughed with him, though it sounded watery and pained. Axel squeezed me to him. “Do what makes you feel comfortable. Boundaries, Ally,” he reminded me. “Even if you might hurt someone else, love yourself enough to put yourself first.”
We sat in silence for a minute, the only sound in the room being Lana’s coos as she explored what was under the bathroom sink. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this,” I said quietly.
“Nothing ever happens the way we plan it to,” he gently reminded me.
I yawned, resting my head on his shoulder. “Crying is exhausting,” I whispered.
Axel laughed. “Yeah, I know.” He looked up when the bathroom door opened, Meghan poking her head in. She frowned at my tear-stained face. “Christian is fucking going nuts with worry down there,” she quietly informed us.
My bottom lip trembled, and I squeezed my eyes shut. I hated that he worried so much about me—hated that he even had a reason to, to begin with. “Hey, just breathe,” Axel soothed. He looked up at Meghan. “Can you take Lana downstairs? And keep Christian down there—Caiden, too. She needs a nap, and she doesn’t need to be disturbed.”
Meghan ran her worried eyes over my face but nodded her head and lifted Lana up into her arms. “Whatever is going on, Ally, you have a family. Don’t ever forget that.”
I nodded at her as a tear ran down my cheek. Axel stood up from the floor with me cradled in his arms. “I’m going to put you in our room.” I scrunched my face up in disgust. He laughed. “We just cleaned the sheets a little while ago, Sis. They’re clean.”
He gently laid me down on the bed and pulled my shoes off of my feet, setting them by the bed. He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Get some sleep. You need it.”
I nodded. “Axel,” I softly called as he was getting ready to close the door; he turned to face me, “thank you.”
He gave me a small smile. “Love you, Sis.”
I smiled. “Love you, too, Big Bro.”
As soon as the door was shut behind him, I cried. And I cried until the only thing I was capable of doing was sleeping.
Christian
Axel stepped outside where I was pacing back and forth on the porch, too anxious to sit down. I knew in my gut something was wrong with Ally, but Meghan asked me to respect her wishes to not come to her.
And that didn’t sit right with me. I didn’t allow my woman to suffer by herself.
“Don’t fucking tell me you left her alone,” I growled at him when he stepped outside.
He arched a single eyebrow at me, clearly not appreciating the way I just spoke to him, but I didn’t give a shit. “She needs some time to sleep.”
I clenched my jaw, my hand fisting at my side. I forced myself to stretch my fingers back out. Punching my girlfriend’s brother—my boss—in the face, wouldn’t do me any bit of fucking good.
“She’s fucking hurting, and you left her alone,” I snapped at him. “What fucking sense does that even begin to make in your goddamn head?”
Axel sighed. “Christian—”
I shook my head, moving past him to go into the house to find her. I made a promise that I would always be there for her. She didn’t have to tell me what was wrong. I respected her enough to not force her to open up to me when she wasn’t ready. But I would not let her suffer alone. Even if the only thing I could do was hold her through her pain, then I fucking would.
Axel stepped in front of me, preventing me from entering the house. “Leave her be, Christian.”
“Goddammit, Axel!” I barked. “My fucking woman is upstairs, probably crying her fucking eyes out, and you think you’re going to stop me from holding her and reminding her that she’s not fucking alone?” I growled. “Get the fuck out of my way. She’s scared of the dark, Axel, and I promised her I would always be her goddamn light. So fucking move.”
I barged my way past him and rushed up the stairs. It was easy to find her since it was the only closed door upstairs. She was asleep, but tears were running down her cheeks. I quickly kicked my shoes off and moved toward the bed, sliding in behind her, my heart bleeding for her.
I drew her into my arms, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. Her eyes slowly fluttered open. They were dim. Her light was gone.