Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 75240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Over my scars.
My breath lodged in my chest, and I stared at him as he kept his eyes focused on mine, pressing kisses to each and every scar before he moved up my body and pressed a single kiss to my lips.
“They aren’t ugly.”
My breathing hitched.
“They’re not pretty,” I whispered brokenly.
He smiled.
“They’re freakin’ beautiful, because they are a part of you.” He stared into my eyes. “The story behind them is ugly, but that’s a part of life. You sometimes have to go through ugly to get beautiful.”
His words meant more than he knew, and in that instant, I knew that I loved him.
This man hovering over my body had the power to absolutely wreck me. And he had no idea of the power he held.
Had no clue that he had my heart in the palm of his hand.
And suddenly I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I had to tell him everything.
I had to tell him how much he meant to me.
But before I could get a word out edgewise, everything in his entire demeanor changed.
One second he was being sweet, and the next there was nothing sweet about him.
“What. The. Fuck.”
Startled, I looked at his face, looked to where his face was pointing, and gasped.
“What the fuck?” I cried. “Troy, go the fuck away!”
Troy didn’t go away.
“I need to talk to you. But, apparently, our child isn’t as important as fucking on the kitchen table,” Troy hissed from the other side of the kitchen door.
Our child, as he liked to call her, wasn’t in any danger.
In fact, she was safely tucked in her bed, with a camera pointing on her in her little crib.
I could see her from here. And she was blissfully asleep.
Bowe growled and ripped the tablecloth off the table, literally throwing it over me as he backed up, reached for his jeans, and pulled them on commando.
I sat up and clutched the table cloth—a pretty black one with sunflowers embroidered on it—and stared blankly as Troy stared smugly at me through the glass panes.
Chapter 15
It’s all about his personality. Yeah, I’m not kidding me either. It’s about his beard and everyone knows it.
-Angie’s secret thoughts
Angie
Bowe opened the door and stared at Troy.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
“I’d like to speak with Angel,” Troy said, not sounding intimidated in the least.
I gritted my teeth at the use of that god-awful nickname, and chose to grab my clothes.
I’d just started to walk out of the kitchen to hurry to my room, which would’ve meant me passing by the door, but one look from Bowe had me freezing along the wall that connected the front entrance to the kitchen.
My back hit the wall and I listened carefully to what the two men were saying.
“I’ll be sure to relay that message,” Bowe lied. “Have a nice night.”
I almost expected Troy to get the door slammed into his face, but Bowe surprised me and waited.
“You know,” Troy said almost as an afterthought. “I haven’t seen my daughter in a while.”
My heart clutched.
“That’s too bad,” Bowe said with complete calm. “She’s a good kid. Angie has done a wonderful job raising her. It’s been a privilege getting to know her. She’s definitely got me wrapped around her little finger.”
I could practically see the steam rising off of Troy’s head and it made me want to laugh.
I didn’t though, for fear that Troy would do something stupid.
He’d already pulled a freakin’ gun on me, and hurt Bowe so badly that he’d had to have freakin’ brain surgery, for Christ’s sake. The man was capable of just about anything at this point.
“Tell Angie that I’ll be speaking with my lawyer,” Troy snapped.
I could hear Troy’s stomps as he made his way back down my driveway, and then the loud roar of his truck as he started it up and sped away.
“Do you think he coasted here so we wouldn’t hear him arrive?” Bowe asked, sounding amused.
“You find this funny?” I asked.
“Hell no, I don’t find it funny,” he admitted. “And I still can’t believe how that fucker was able to get away with hitting me upside the head.”
“He was just trying to ‘catch’ you,” I put that statement in air quotes to help the irony that I’d let leach into my voice.
Bowe tossed me a look that clearly said what he thought about the explanation Troy had given the police. They had chosen to accept that as the truth.
Despite having the signed explanations by not one, but five freakin’ firefighters.
Troy had also been suspended from coaching, and had been off work for the last few months just like Bowe had been. Although Troy hadn’t been suffering like Bowe; no, he’d been enjoying his vacation, which blew my fucking mind.
How he got away with having a gun pointed at someone, and “accidentally” hitting someone—a firefighter responding to a call no less—upside the head with a goddamn pry bar, was beyond me.