Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
She turns, giving me a profile view, and smiles at something Alex says to her. It’s a real one. Over the past week, I’ve seen her fake it.
Last night, I woke up in bed alone and found her on the couch. The moment she saw me, she wiped her eyes and put a smile on her face. Like she thinks I don’t know the difference.
I’m not going to call her out on it, though. When I asked her what she was doing, she told me she couldn’t sleep and wanted to watch TV but didn’t want to wake me. I carried her back to our room, laid her in bed, and turned on the TV. She fell asleep in my arms before the movie even started while I ended up staying awake the rest of the night.
I catch sight of Finn walking over to me. “How’s the hand?” he asks so only I can hear.
I look down and stretch out my fingers before making a fist. “Getting better.”
“You okay?” he asks.
“Yeah.” I nod. After Raylee told me she loved me, she passed out almost instantly, crying herself to sleep. I waited for a few minutes, grabbed Nate’s phone out of the drawer, and went downstairs to watch the video.
I don’t know what my sick mind thought I’d see, but I was not prepared.
Afterward, I went a little crazy. Broke some shit and punched a wall. Finn found me sitting in the dark and tried to calm me down, but there was nothing he could do. I still hear the words echo in my head.
“Tell Colt that you’re my dirty fucking slut now.”
“Tell him how much you’re going to enjoy me tying you down and letting my friends fuck you.”
“They’re going to use you like the whore you are, baby.”
“Beg him now!”
“Huh, you fucking whore. Beg Colt to fuck you now.”
It made me sick to my stomach. But Finn was right. She fought hard. I watched it, holding my breath. Even though I knew she was in our bed upstairs asleep, I kept waiting for her to close her eyes and not open them again. I didn’t tell her I watched it, but I think she knew something was up the next morning.
“What happened to your hand?” she asks, looking down at it.
It’s swollen to the point I can’t even make a fist, covered in cuts and bruises.
“Jesus, Colt,” she whispers at my silence. “It looks broken. You should see the doctor.”
“I’m fine.” I brush off her concern. How can she even be worried about me? It’s just a hand. It’ll heal.
“What did you do?” she goes on.
“I did it when I hit Mike,” I lie. The way her brows pull down, I know she’s having a hard time believing it. I’m not going to tell her I watched the video and went ballistic in the living room. She hasn’t even mentioned it to me that Nate was recording them. She doesn’t want me to know a video of that exists. I don’t blame her. “Come on. You need to eat breakfast and take your pain pills.”
“I don’t need them.” She drops her eyes to the floor, and I step into her.
“You need to take them.” I know her. If she doesn’t take the pills and relax, she’ll do too much. Hurt herself even more. Thankfully, Gavin said nothing was broken, but that doesn’t mean she’s not in pain right now. Especially after what I did to her last night when we got back from the Cathedral.
She crosses her arms over her chest. “I’ll take them when you see the doctor about your hand.”
“Doesn’t work that way, princess.”
We make our way downstairs to the kitchen, and all the guys are already at the table. Jenks leans under it and kicks the chair out across from him for her to sit on.
“Aren’t you a gentleman?” Finn laughs.
“I have my moments.” He shrugs.
“I’m going to go use the restroom,” Raylee announces and walks down the hall.
I almost ask if she needs me to go with her but decide against it. She doesn’t like to be coddled. After the way she started a fight with me last night, I know she already thinks I’m treating her differently after what happened. And now that I’ve seen the video, I’m not sure that I can treat her any other way. I declared my love for her. She’s my responsibility. I have to protect her.
She returns, sitting down in the seat next to me. I reach over, gripping one of the legs with my good hand and pull her closer to my side. Reaching forward, I grab the cereal and milk that the guys have out and start to pour her a bowl.
“What happened in the living room?” she asks.
“Alex,” Finn answers quickly before anyone else can rat me out. “He got mad at his ex.”