Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Pain shattered through my body.
I was hit so hard my footing failed, and the ground came up quick under me. My face impacted the pavement before the rod struck my ribs.
Agony flash-fired up my side.
I clawed to get up, to get to my feet, to face this piece-of-shit who lurked in the darkness.
The voice was at my ear. “It’s the only warning you’ll get.”
Then he shoved off and ran into the cover of the forest.
I managed to climb to my feet. The sky and ground spun. A whorl that became one. The pain almost dropped me to my knees again, but I forced myself to stand, swiped the blood from my mouth, and shouted into the distance, “Pussy. Next time, show your face.”
I felt the hatred that blistered back.
I bottled it. Took it down. Made it mine.
Then I stormed back to my car and got inside.
TWELVE
ASTER
I stared out at the endless winter night through the frosted panes of my bedroom window. My fingers reached out, tracing the cold. My finger looked so odd without the ring that I’d removed.
Everything felt foreign. The crush of emotions and the tangling of need. A contrast of sensations that’d left me up pacing half the night.
There was a time in my life I’d dreamed in color.
In vivid hues and lush textures. In laughter and song.
I used to believe in truth and light. In faith and beauty and the goodness of humanity.
I’d once dared to trust in love. Dared to believe that we would end up where we were destined. Our paths leading us to the exact point we were meant to be.
I’d dared hope for a family.
All of it had been sparked by a connection that was real and true and had stolen the breath from my lungs every time he came into the room.
Until one day those colors went dim. It was the day joy was sucked out and darkness set in.
I’d exchanged the safety of his arms for the torment of everything I had lost.
Exchanged a blossoming of hope for a lifetime of loneliness.
I’d done my best to shut it off because it was too painful to experience each day.
I attempted to harden myself to stone, but as far as I’d gotten was a hollowed-out numbness. For years, I’d drifted through memories that never quite felt real.
As if I’d conjured them as a way to survive the hand I’d been dealt.
And there those dreams were—sparked to life.
Lit by a touch. A glance. A whisper.
I was a fool, but there was no way to stop the way my blood pounded. The way my nerves sizzled every time he was near.
Blowing out a frustrated sigh, I turned from the window and paced the room, hugging my arms across my chest as if it could guard me from it. Block it the way I’d learned to do because if I kept up this way, I was going to get crushed, and this time I doubted I’d be able to make my way back to that dented form of comfort.
Comfort.
I almost wanted to laugh because I’d never been so uncomfortable in my life.
I ached.
My body shaky and trembling.
Caught in a wash of old desires.
Alive, something vital I could physically take into my grasp.
I was just terrified of what reaching for it might mean.
Turning, I paced the opposite direction of the room. Through the dimness, my reflection again caught in the panes of glass that overlooked the frozen earth.
My skin was flushed. My eyes wild. My stomach in knots.
Logan had been gone for a couple hours, and the reaction he’d left me with hadn’t waned.
Want.
I wanted to be touched.
The truth of it rushed like slippery warmth down my spine and poured like flames into my belly. A hot, boiling river that throbbed between my thighs.
God, I was a fool.
A fool, but there was no stopping the visions that flashed. Every memory I’d suppressed rushed to the surface, rising so high I thought it would suck me under.
Where I’d drown in the dark, toiling waters of temptation.
He’d ruin me there.
I knew he would because there was no changing the finish-line. I might one day be rid of Jarek, but I would never be free of my name.
Blowing out a sigh, I forced myself to move to the massive bed where I crawled under the heavy, plush covers, and sank down into the over-the-top luxury that hugged me like a dream.
I pressed my eyes closed tight.
I prayed for sleep to consume me.
For the memories to fade.
No such luck.
Malachite eyes.
They flashed like strobes behind my lids.
Brighter than life.
Darker than destruction.
There was no escaping the vision of him, either.
His body pressed against mine. His hand on my breast. His kiss on my mouth. The words he’d whispered.
If only for one night…
Another roll of desire whisked beneath my skin, a drip of honey on my tongue.