Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Emotion clogged the description.
Love and grief.
I might only get to see her once a week, but she and I shared a special connection. A bond that would never break.
A soft smile touched the edge of Tessa’s mouth. “Remington’s a beautiful name.”
“Yeah. Her mother named her.”
The admission cracked at the end, and before I lost the nerve, I forced myself to continue. “Scout, he’s five. A handful like nothin’ you’ve ever seen.”
My own smile was fighting for dominance, plucking at the edges of where everything had gone dim, my tongue locked on all the painful parts.
“Well, I’m a teacher, so I’ve seen some wild ones.” Her voice was a soft tease as she watched me, like she was searching for clues in my expression. Or hell, maybe she could already read every single thing inside me, and she knew she was traipsing into a minefield.
A place riddled with darkness and ghosts and destruction. The place I would be forever chained.
Maybe Paula was right. Maybe I should give up.
At the thought, a spike of agony speared me so deeply I nearly buckled, a gasp coming up my throat before I could stop it. My hands curled into fists as I tried to force all the shit back down where it belonged.
Tessa caught it, anyway. “I’m so sorry, Milo. I realize I don’t know the circumstances, but I can feel what’s here…”
Her gaze moved around the room, taking in every emotion and intonation.
“Yeah, and what’s that?” Didn’t mean to sound like a jerk, but anger came ripping out.
Anger at what I’d done.
Anger at what I couldn’t stop or change.
It was too late.
Too fuckin’ late.
She watched me without judgment, without disgust, and when she spoke, her voice was both a plea and understanding. “It’s your life. Your hopes and your dreams and where your love lives. And it’s locked behind a closed door in your house.”
Felt like I’d been kicked in the gut.
My teeth ground, pain splitting through my head.
Turmoil spun, everything dense, too tight, too narrow.
“What happened to their mother?” Tessa pushed beyond the boundaries.
I was moving before I even knew it.
Her eyes went wide as I backed her against the wall.
I towered over her where I caged her in, and the woman stared up at me in quiet ferocity.
In fierce care.
While I glared down at her stunning form that made me feel like I was going to lose it.
“I didn’t invite you here for you to try to crawl into my head, Tessa.” The words were shards.
“I know,” she said, unwilling to look away from the agony that had me crushing my teeth. “But sometimes, friends need to go there, anyway.”
My head angled down, my nose so close to the cut of her jaw.
Her scent invaded logic.
Strawberries and cream.
The sweetest temptation.
Tiny Tease.
I inhaled deep, and the words I exhaled scruffed against her cheek. “Not a safe place to be, Tessa. I’d suggest you stay away.”
I started to pull back, but she fisted her hand in my shirt, keeping us nose-to-nose.
“What if I don’t want to?” she whispered, those eyes rushing all over my face.
Penetrating.
Tempting.
Destroying.
Everything clutched.
Urges slammed me from all sides, this need to stand in the light.
To feel her tight little body against mine.
To kiss and fuck and take.
Before I did something stupid, I uncurled her fingers from my shirt and pushed away.
I could feel myself slipping.
Getting sucked into a trap.
The foot of space separating us came alive.
Boiling with that energy.
“Milo,” she almost begged.
“Just don’t, Tessa.”
Without saying anything else, I had my feet pounding out the door because I couldn’t spend a second longer with her in that room.
Not with her grace, and sure as fuck not with her understanding.
Because I already ruined my chance. Destroyed. And I’d never fucking spoil beauty again.
SEVEN
MILO
Rocks flew up from his back tires as he barreled down the dirt road. Sweat streamed from his temple and blood pooled on his shirt at his side.
His hands gripped the steering wheel like it might keep him chained to sanity as he struggled to see through the blur of fear.
Rushing ahead to meet it.
To cut it off.
To stop it.
“You failed.” The memory of the venomous voice played in his ear like the tolling of the dead. “Your betrayal won’t go unnoticed.”
It was said one second before the shearing pain had impaled him.
Darkness had sucked him under.
How many hours had passed, he didn’t know. Night had possessed the earth, crawling through the trees and sinking into the crevices.
He shoved the gas pedal to the floorboards, the tail of the truck fishtailing as he whipped around the curves.
It was little relief when the building finally came into view, his headlights illuminating the trailer. The tires skidded as he rammed on the brakes and threw the truck into park.
He didn’t shut it off.
He jumped out and ran.
Searched.
Shouted.
“Autumn? Autumn?”
Only the vacancy echoed back.
A sickly awareness that sank into his flesh.