Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 60576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
“My daughter is innocent. I don’t know anything else.”
His voice, husky and dull, is so familiar that it burns.
How could he do something so horrible to those women?
I just don’t understand.
I don’t realize that I’ve made a loud sound until Kael turns, his eyes narrowing with concern as my hand flies to my chest. Shaking my head, I turn and shove my way out, unable to breathe. I knew seeing him would shock me, but I didn’t expect it to feel like this.
It’s as if everything I’ve ever known has been thrown right out into the open, a hammer to the face, something I can’t avoid. I’ve lived hidden from him for so long that I don’t know how to process seeing him. I don’t know what to feel. It almost makes everything I know seem unbelievable. I can’t see a monster in that man.
And that’s exactly what I feared.
That the man I grew up loving would shine through, and I wouldn’t be able to see past it.
What is wrong with me?
Falling to my knees, I gasp, desperate for air. I can’t get any, even though I’m frantically trying. My head spins, and my heart races, sweat trickling down my forehead as I fight to keep conscious.
“Up.”
The voice belongs to Wolfe, and I don’t get a chance to fight him or even say a single word before he is pulling me up to my feet. I stumble, not getting near enough oxygen to my brain, and I fear I’m going to faint soon.
“I can’t breathe. Wolfe, I can’t breathe.”
“I know.”
He takes me to the closest thing – his bike.
I don’t know how he gets me on it, but, somehow, I find myself with my legs either side, my bottom on the seat, facing the front. Wolfe gets on, only he isn’t facing the handlebars, he is facing me. We are sitting, face to face, on his bike. Reaching out, he takes my chin in his hand and tips my head back.
I’m gasping now, my entire body trembling.
“Need you to look at me, Mera. Right here.”
He points to his eyes, and I attempt to do as he asks, focusing on his face.
“Breathe. I know it feels like you can’t, but you can. Even if it’s just a little bit, I need you to try, yeah?”
I nod, my entire body trembling.
Attempting to suck in a breath, it feels as though it gets trapped in my throat, and I only begin panicking more. My head spins so intensely I fall forward, my forehead slamming against his chest. Instead of pushing me back, he holds me there by putting his hand on the back of my head.
“Keep tryin’, I got you.”
I do as he asks, closing my eyes, tears dripping onto the seat as I slowly try to get my breath a little farther than last time.
“When you breathe out, breathe out with everything you have, put your entire body into it.”
I do.
Breathing in, I exhale as dramatically as I can, letting my entire body sink farther into him. He smells like leather, and man, and a cologne that is so fucking incredible it takes my mind off the panic attack for a small second. Then, I notice his fingers on my head, slowly rubbing through my hair.
He’s comforting me.
Wolfe is comforting me.
It’s enough of a distraction that I’m able to get in a deeper breath, then another, and another, until the panic eases just a little. Wolfe doesn’t move me, he just lets me sit there like I am, until I’m physically able to push myself back into a seated position. When I do, my hair is a mess, sticking to my tear-streaked face, and I know I look like a hot mess.
“Want to tell me what happened in there?”
I wipe my nose with the back of my hand.
Such an attractive moment.
“I haven’t seen him since the night he got arrested,” I croak.
Wolfe’s brows go up. “All these years, you never followed the trial? Never seen what happened to him?”
I shake my head. “I did everything in my power to avoid it. If I saw him on a newspaper cover, or on the television, I would get the hell out. Eventually, his face stopped showing, and I was happy with that.”
“That’s rough.”
Indeed, it is.
“Can I tell you what the worst part is?”
He nods, pulling a cigarette out of his jacket pocket and lighting it, inhaling deeply then exhaling. Here we are, just sitting face to face on his bike, like a couple of old friends. It pings something deep in my chest, a feeling that frightens me. I’m scared of that feeling, because if it grows, I’m in deep shit.
“I still find it so hard to believe he could do it.”
Wolfe breathes the smoke out slowly. God he’s fucking gorgeous.
He offers me the cigarette, and I take it.