Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 40362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 202(@200wpm)___ 161(@250wpm)___ 135(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 202(@200wpm)___ 161(@250wpm)___ 135(@300wpm)
She slowly opened her glassy eyes, locking them on mine. “I’m sorry this club failed you, baby girl.” Her lips trembled again, breaking my fucking heart. “I’m sorry that I failed you. I won’t fucking fail you again.”
She shook her head, but I silenced her with another kiss. She flinched when my arm brushed her back. With every bit of my restraint, I kept myself from leading her to bed. Her back would still be too sore. If she got as cut up as I thought she had, she would need at least another month to fully recover and for the pain to mostly recede.
“Let me see your back,” I coaxed.
She stepped back from me, fear sparking in her pretty eyes. I reached out and grabbed her arms, holding her still. She wanted to run, but I wasn’t going to let her. I needed to see the damage. I couldn’t keep trying to picture it in my mind. I needed to know how bad it was because what they did to her, I was going to do to them tenfold.
You didn’t fuck with my baby girl and live to tell the goddamn story of it.
They thought they were fucking with River.
Nah; they were fucking with me, and I was the deadliest monster of them all.
“Reina, baby, I love you.” She sucked in a sharp breath of air, her eyes widening in response to my words. I knew they were the last things she’d been expecting to hear, but I knew they were true. And I didn’t want to go another day without her knowing that. She needed to know that she was the center of my entire fucking universe. I’d burn this world to the ground for her. I’d kill for her, slaughter for her. I’d go to goddamn war over this woman. “I know I made a shit ton of mistakes in the past, but I won’t ever be making those again,” I swore. “And I’m not pushing you away just because you’re a marked woman.” More tears slid down her cheeks. “Just let me see them, baby girl.”
She stared at me for a good minute. I waited patiently. I knew she’d give in. Normally, she always eventually gave in for me, and right now, I was using that shit to my advantage.
Finally, she grabbed the hem of her shirt in her trembling fingers. I released her, watching as she slowly slipped her shirt over her head, her body tensing with the movement as it pulled at the skin and muscles on her back.
She wasn’t wearing a bra—didn’t think she would be—but that just meant that the damage would be extensive. Reina hated going around without a bra. After what happened to her, she liked to keep her assets covered.
Slowly, she dropped her shirt to the floor and then turned around to give me her back.
My eyes widened in horror, and I was thankful as fuck that she couldn’t see my face. It would make her feel worse.
I’d known it was going to be bad. But this bad?
Fuck.
Her entire fucking back was marked with the Angels of Hell’s emblem. Most of it was still healing. My hands trembled. I wanted to touch her, remove whatever they’d done to her from her skin, but I couldn’t. I knew both physically and mentally, she wouldn’t be able to handle my touch there yet.
I swallowed vomit. They had cut deep. I didn’t even want to know the amount of blood she had lost, how much blood had been covering her when she’d been tossed back at the clubhouse like garbage.
“Baby,” I breathed. She didn’t move. “Baby, look at me.”
She slowly turned back around to face me. I grabbed her face in my hands, my thumbs brushing her damp cheeks. “They’ll pay. You fucking hear me?” I gently shook her, my soul so fucking enraged that I could barely contain it. “They’ll fucking pay for this, baby girl. I swear that to you right fucking now. And I’ll be the one making those fuckers pay. They fucked with what’s mine.”
Then, I tugged her back to me and held her as she continued to cry.
And inside, my soul silently fucking wept for her all through its anger.
I felt like I was at fault for this shit. I’d gotten shot. I hadn’t been there to protect her. For years now, I’d made sure no one put their fucking hands on her. Even the club bunnies knew not to let their bodies even graze Reina’s, because I’d take that as an act of fucking defiance.
The one fucking time I wasn’t around, not awake to protect her, this shit happened.
“Come on. Let’s lay down,” I coaxed.
She silently followed me to her bed. I pulled the blankets back and watched as she eased onto it, laying on her stomach. I slid in beside her and draped my arm across her ass, my hand wrapping around her hip. She turned her head on her folded arms to look at me, so much pain residing in the depths of her pretty eyes.