Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 139803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 699(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 699(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
I blushed. “I’m not normally like that,” I told him. For some reason, I needed him to know that.
Julian shrugged. “It’s all good, babe. We’ve all got a little bit of a monster locked inside of us. The best of us just learn how to lock it away.”
I tilted my head a tiny bit as I studied him. “Is that what happened that night?” I asked him quietly, making sure our voices didn’t trail beyond the car as he cleaned the blood off my hands. “Did you let the monster inside of you out?”
He looked up from my hands, letting his beautiful, blue eyes lock on mine. “Babe, I didn’t let it out. As soon as I saw you lying on the floor with your own blood splattered around you, beaten and completely naked,” I flinched at the memory, “that beast inside of me released itself, and it wasn’t sated until I killed that son of a bitch with my bare fucking hands.”
I reached up with my now clean hands and cupped his face in my hands. “I love you,” I whispered as I kept my green eyes locked with his. His eyes softened with adoration. “No one has ever cared about me as much as you do,” I admitted.
He turned his head and pressed a tender kiss to my palm. “Someone has, baby.” He turned his eyes back to mine, but the smile fell from his face when he saw my expression turned solemn. “Right, babe?”
I swallowed thickly. “No,” I whispered. “Not before you, no. I mean, Vincent does, but I always felt it was more of an obligation for him since he found me at that party.” My bottom lip trembled as that familiar, aching longing for a mother I never had bloomed in my chest.
“Oh, baby,” he whispered as he cupped my face in his hands. “You’ll never feel that loneliness again, you got me? I’m here—always.”
A tear slipped down my cheek. He leaned forward and brushed his lips over my cheek, catching the tear before it could completely slide down my face. Then, he moved his lips over, brushing them against mine. “Let’s go home.”
14
I slowly opened my eyes, watching as Vincent strode to the seat next to mine. He gave me a small smile before he leaned over and pressed his lips to the top of my head. “How are you feeling?” he asked me. “Heard you throwing up pretty badly this morning.”
I shrugged. “This baby is kicking my ass,” I told him honestly. “I have an appointment in a couple of weeks, so I’ll probably see if there’s some kind of medication I can take if it’s still pretty bad by then.”
Julian stepped into the lecture hall at that moment, drawing my eyes to him immediately. His black curls were messy on the top of his head, and his eyes were just as tired as mine considering he had been up with me since three this morning, and then he still had football practice this morning before his classes started.
This pregnancy was affecting him just as much as it was affecting me. Though I always told him that I could handle being sick on my own, he refused to leave me by myself.
“It’s my fault, too, that you’re suffering, baby girl. I’m not leaving you alone. I’ll be struggling with you every step of the way.”
His eyes landed on me almost instantly, and his lips tilted up into a small smile that warmed every fiber of my soul, every tiny piece of my heart. He moved to come toward his seat beside me when a guy suddenly stepped in his way, stopping him.
“Fuck,” Vincent swore as he got up from his seat. “That’s Connie’s boyfriend.”
I stood up as well, my heart pounding hard in my chest as Vincent rushed toward the two guys. He shoved himself between them and held a hand to Julian’s chest, keeping him back as he spewed angry words at Connie’s boyfriend.
I wrapped my arms around myself, watching with worried eyes as Julian stepped back, a snarl twisting his handsome features. He moved around Vincent and shoulder checked Connie’s boyfriend as he made his way over to me. He dropped his bag by his seat and then wrapped me up in his arms, his body relaxing once I was pressed against him.
“What was that about?” I quietly asked him as I looked up at him, resting my chin on his chest.
“Asshole thought he could try some shit with me over you kicking Connie’s ass a few days ago.” He sighed as he splayed his right hand over my ass, a possessive gesture he always did when he wanted to calm himself down. “Connie had that shit coming for her. He had just better be glad you were the one that confronted her and not me.”