Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
I hadn’t been able to do the same. Every time she looked at me, I swore she had taken another piece of my soul until she claimed me entirely. I had wanted her to be the cause of everything that had happened. I’d wanted her to be a fucking gold digger. I had wanted her not to be as perfect on the inside as she was on the outside. Because I had feared this would be the result. Strange how what I’d been so fucking scared of was what brought me back from the edge. She’d given me a reason to live again.
“Since that’s all settled,” Forge said, speaking up from his plate of pancakes, which he’d been eating during all this, “when do you think Saylor is gonna be over her drama? I’m ready to stop having to split up and choose houses like a bunch of kids from divorced parents. Besides, our pool is better here.”
When no one said anything but stared at him, he threw up his hands. “What? I’m just saying if Bane can get over the fact that he’s in love with Crosby’s baby momma, then Saylor can get over the fact that Crosby has a baby momma.”
Oz pushed his stool out and stood up. His eyes swung to mine, and he rolled them. The corner of my lips quirked.
It was okay. They’d all accepted it.
I hope that means you are okay with it too, little brother. Because she owns me.
Forty-One
Halo
When my eyes opened, I smelled him, although the warmth of his body was gone. I stared straight ahead at the window as little insecurities and fears began to inch their way into my thoughts.
Had he changed his mind? Had last night been a mistake?
The shift of the bed and his warm body moving close to me under the blankets had me clutching for his arm in relief as it came around me. He was still here. It was okay.
His lips brushed my shoulder. “You okay this morning, pretty girl? You’ve got ahold of my arm like you need to be saved from a sinking boat.” Underneath the teasing tone was concern. He wasn’t sure if he should be worried or not.
I pressed my mouth to his arm and rubbed my cheek over it. “I’m good.”
Bane rolled me onto my back, and his searching gaze stared down at me as if he needed to see for himself. He ran the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip, then trailed a fingertip along the ridge of my nose. “I love these fucking freckles,” he murmured.
I didn’t want to move or say anything. Watching him explore my face with that admiring gleam in his eyes, as if he thought I was beautiful, wedged out my nagging insecurities that I feared would always be a part of who I was.
His fingertip brushed my jawline, then made its way beneath my chin. He paused as a pained glint flashed in his eyes. I realized I was holding my breath when he began to gently stroke a line back and forth across my neck.
When he swallowed hard, I could see his throat constrict.
“I was eaten up with grief,” he said just above a whisper. “Tormented with his death. I’d always been the darker one. The brother with more than his fair share of demons. But losing him, it sent me to a place mentally I’d never been before.” His eyes lifted to meet mine. “Even then, I don’t know how I was able to hurt this skin.”
He lowered his head and peppered kisses where his knife had once been. Tears burned my eyes, and I closed them tightly while sighing at the sweetness of what he was doing.
“I would rip a man’s heart out for doing to you the things I’ve done,” he said in a hoarse voice. “I was broken. That’s my only excuse. So fucking destroyed that I didn’t think I would ever find myself out of the hell I was in.”
I sank my fingers into his hair, and he buried his face into the curve of my neck. We stayed like that for several moments. Saying nothing. Listening to each other’s hearts beat. If he was looking for forgiveness, then there was no point. I’d forgiven this man without even realizing it weeks ago.
“Thank you,” he said as he lifted his head and stared down at me.
“For what?” I asked, wishing I could say something to make that wounded look in his eyes go away.
He bent his head and kissed the tip of my nose. “For accepting me, wanting me, when I am not worthy of either.”
I reached up, taking his face in both my hands. “Don’t say that,” I told him. “You might be dark and slightly terrifying at times, but you’re also loyal, strong, and kind.”