Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 70162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
I headed to a bar as soon as I could, intending to get wasted enough to block Rogue from my mind. I ended up only having two beers and some dinner while I thought of exactly what I wanted from Rogue that night. There were so many more games we could play. I would love to hunt him in the woods, stalk him, bring him down, and fuck him on the ground like an animal. He would do it. I was sure of that. He’d loved the way I’d toyed with him before, but we needed privacy, somewhere away from the ranch.
My phone buzzed. It was Rogue.
I can’t meet you tonight. We have a mare in labor, and it’s my turn to stay in the barn with her.
I wanted to tell him to find someone else to do it or just show up and take him away, but that was leaning way too close to psychopath. This was his job. I had plenty of nights where I had to sit and watch too.
He cared about the horses. A lot. There was no point in trying to lure him away.
Let me know when you’re done. I don’t care how late it is.
I’ll be exhausted. Can you meet tomorrow?
I’ll let you know.
After leaving the bar, I paced my hotel room. There was no way I was going to be able to fall asleep, and I would go crazy if I stayed there. I grabbed my keys and headed out the door.
It was a night for bad decisions. What was the worst that could happen if someone caught me at the ranch?
They could shoot you before realizing who you were.
I considered that for less than a second before deciding it was worth the risk.
13
ROGUE
It was close to midnight when I was done in the barn. The new foal was beautiful, and more importantly, she was healthy and had been on her feet and ready to nurse right away. I’d cleaned myself up some in the barn, but I wanted a nice, long shower in my room, then I wanted to sleep for a very long time.
I would be able to sleep in a little the next morning but not as long as I needed to. After getting little sleep with Ghost the night before and heading to bed late again, I was going to have to avoid Rhys and Grant as much as possible so they didn’t notice how tired I was. I didn’t want them asking questions I couldn’t answer or starting to pay closer attention to my movements. No matter how little sleep I got, I wasn’t going to turn Ghost down again. Tired as I was, I would have stayed up all night with him if I hadn’t been on foal watch.
Realistically, there was no way I could keep up this schedule, but I’d never been one to accept reasonable limits. It wasn’t like this was going to last forever. He wouldn’t be here long, and once he was gone, I’d catch up on sleep. I might not be as invincible as I was at eighteen, but I could still keep myself going on sheer force of will for quite a while.
My phone buzzed as I was starting to undress. I grabbed it, hoping nothing was wrong with the foal. She’d seemed textbook perfect.
When I saw the name on the screen, my whole body went cold, and I sat down on the bathroom floor.
I didn’t answer the call. I was supposed to have severed all contact with the Carlottis and their minions. Most of them were gone, and the rest were in hiding, so why the hell was this asshole contacting me now?
The phone stopped ringing, but a few seconds later, it started again. The bastard wasn’t going to leave me alone. We’d had a fucking deal. I didn’t have to talk to him, except something told me I actually did.
I accepted the call. “What do you want?”
“Is that any way to talk to an old friend?”
“We’re not friends. We never were. Tell me why you’re calling me.”
“I’ve got a job for you.”
“And we have an agreement. I don’t work for you anymore.”
“That agreement lasted as long as it was the Carlottis I was working for. My family is in charge of this territory now, and my cousin has made me his right-hand man.”
Teddy wasn’t anyone’s right-hand man. He might be the rat they would stomp on if he didn’t bring them what he’d promised but nothing more. He was a distant cousin of the main line of the Russo family, and it was an open secret that his mother had an affair with a man from a rival organization. It was unlikely he was even a Russo.
“There weren’t any stipulations on our agreement.”
Teddy snorted. “My cousin says otherwise.”
I fought to keep my voice steady, but inside, I was having a meltdown. I wasn’t going to get dragged back into his world. I’d worked too hard to get out. “I disagree.”