Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 123672 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 618(@200wpm)___ 495(@250wpm)___ 412(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123672 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 618(@200wpm)___ 495(@250wpm)___ 412(@300wpm)
“What happened, Mace?”
“We got into a fight. I was yelling at him, just like I’ve done a million times before, but this time was different. He just snapped, and the next thing I knew, I was on the floor,” I tell him, an ugly heaviness resting on my shoulders and weighing me down. “I told him he was dead to me, and ran out of there, but if I knew that was the last time I would ever see him . . . I never would have said that. I wouldn’t have fought with him.”
Alex clenches his jaw, his fingers digging into my hips as he closes his eyes, needing a moment to compose himself. “Why didn’t you come to me, Mace? I hate that you were just across the hall, hurting.”
I shrug my shoulders. “I was so ashamed. I still am,” I admit. “I’ve never wanted to be that girl that people look at with pity—like I’ve already seen people doing today. I couldn’t stand the thought of you looking at me like that too, and if we’re really being honest, I didn’t know if I could come to you. Whatever this is between us is still so new, and I don’t know where we stand. I’m still trying to figure it out.”
“Let me make it clear for you,” Alex rumbles, his arm locking around my waist and pulling me in, our bodies pressed tightly together. I suck in a gasp, that same tension snapping like an elastic band between us, my heart racing. “I’m going to fall in love with you, Kyah. A week from now, a month. I can’t be sure, but it’s happening whether you want it to or not, and I don’t give a shit if that scares the shit out of you.”
I swallow hard, knowing I should be terrified by his admission, only I’ve never felt so at ease. “I’m not an easy person to love,” I warn him.
“I’ll be the judge of that,” he tells me.
“But I don’t even know your last name.”
His brows furrow, and he watches me through a quizzical stare. “Is that important?”
I nod, knowing I had a reason for wanting to know, remembering this morning I felt like it was some kind of big deal, only now it seems so irrelevant. “I . . . maybe. I’m not so sure anymore.”
He grins, his gaze softening. “It’s—” An insistent, thumping knock sounds through my apartment, cutting Alex off, and both our gazes snap toward the door. “Are you expecting anyone?”
I shake my head, unable to figure out why I suddenly feel on edge, and as I climb off Alex’s lap and watch him get up to answer the door, my hands start to shake. Perhaps it has something to do with Viper’s warning this morning, letting on that perhaps Crew wasn’t who I thought he was. But that leaves the question—who the fuck was he then?
Alex glances back at me as he makes his way across my apartment, but when the knocking sounds again followed by Nat’s demand to hurry up and open the damn door, I breathe out a sigh of relief. “You know this chick?” Alex confirms, his fingers hovering on the door handle.
“Yeah, my best friend, Nat,” I tell him. “If you don’t let her in, she’s just going to scale the side of the building and break in through my bedroom window.”
Alex laughs. “Shit. Wouldn’t the fire escape up to your living room window be easier?”
“You’d think,” I tell him. “But Nat doesn’t do anything the easy way.”
Alex smirks then twists the handle and pulls the door wide open. Nat steps forward, expecting to find me in front of her before pulling up short, her eyes going wide. Her gaze trails over him, clearly liking what she sees. “Well, hello, Mr. Sex On Legs,” she says before double-checking the number on the front of my door, making sure she’s barging into the right apartment. “Who the hell are you?”
I roll my eyes and force myself to my feet, bringing my comforter with me and wrapping it over my shoulders. “This is Alex,” I tell her, watching as her sharp gaze shifts to me. “He’s the neighbor I was telling you about.”
“Ahhh, yes. The big-dick energy dude who slams you up against walls and tells you he wants you to beg for it,” she says, assessing him all over again, this time looking at him in a new light, her brows arching with interest as a wicked smirk pulls across her lips. “I approve.”
“Uhhh . . . thanks,” Alex says, his gaze darting between me and Nat.
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
Her expression sobers, and just like that, I realize she knows. “I had a call from Big Jim,” she explains. “He told me what happened and thought you could use the company. Though if I knew you were already busy with your hot neighbor, maybe I would have waited an hour or two and let you get your rocks off first.”