Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 108563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Shadow slides her ass onto the stool and braces her elbows on the counter before fixing Reaper with a puppy dog stare, trying to break him before he’s even begun, but she should know better than that. Reaper doesn’t break for anyone . . . Well, maybe except for me.
Reaper finally stops pacing before turning his stare on Shadow. “You fucked up, kid.”
“What?” she demands, her eyes widening so fast I fear they’re going to pop right out of her skull. “I saved your asses.”
Woah. Okay. She took that one too far. Reaper and I could have more than taken care of The Texan Reaper without breaking a sweat, but she just had to go and make herself a martyr. It was unnecessary. When I told her to run, she should have done that, and I should have been able to trust that.
Reaper scoffs. “Respectfully, Shadow. You didn’t,” he tells her, not bothering to sugarcoat it for her. “You threw yourself headfirst into a dangerous situation, risking your own fucking life, for something we more than had under control. I get it, Shadow. You’re just a kid and you want to prove yourself, and don’t get me wrong, I’m so fucking grateful that your plan to take him out worked, but it was unnecessary. You could have gotten yourself killed for nothing.”
“It wasn’t for nothing,” she argues back. “You said we’re family. You both said we’re family and this is what families do. We save each other’s asses even if it means sacrificing yourself.”
Reaper shakes his head before letting out a heavy breath. “No Shadow, being family isn’t about sacrificing yourself,” he tells her. “It’s about having each other’s backs and working as a team, but there’s no teamwork when there’s no trust, and tonight for us to be able to take out those brothers, we needed to trust that you were as far away from that amusement park as possible, and you weren’t. You broke our trust when you decided to leave in the middle of the night, thinking you could handle the three of them yourself, and you broke our trust again when you didn’t get the fuck out of there.”
Shadow clenches her jaw, dropping her gaze to her hands on the counter. “I’m sorry,” she murmurs. “I just . . . I wanted everyone to be okay. You, me, and Siren . . . I’ve never had anyone care about me the way you two do, and the idea of losing you both scared me. I thought I could handle it.”
My heart breaks, and I pull myself off the armrest before flying across the living room to the kitchen and pulling her into my arms, holding this sweet girl to my chest. “It’s okay,” I tell her before second-guessing myself. “Well, no actually. It’s not okay. What happened tonight was the furthest thing from okay. But I’m just happy you’re alive. Seeing The Texan Reaper grabbing you like that and not being able to do anything about it . . . Shadow, that was the single most terrifying moment of my life. I’d take a million nights burning in a fiery suite over having to witness that again.”
She nods her head against my shoulder, and I hear as she lets out a shaky breath before deflecting her emotions. “Exaggerating much? Nobody is stupid enough to want to experience that fire again, let alone a million more times,” she murmurs.
I can’t help but laugh as I release her and as she winces, I realize just how tight I was holding her burned skin, and yet she didn’t say a word about it. “Come on,” I say, patting the stool she was just on. “Let’s get you fixed up and then we can figure out where the hell we’re supposed to go from here.”
Reaper fetches the first aid kit and sets it up on the counter. “Are you still mad at me?” she asks Reaper, watching as he grabs things out of the kit.
“I’m furious with you, Shadow,” he tells her. “I’m going to be furious about it for a very long time, but if you’re asking if we’re okay, then yes. We’re okay.”
She nods before letting out a shaky breath. “I can deal with that,” she tells him as I start working on Shadow’s burns and Reaper begins working on mine.
We fall into a comfortable silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts, when Shadow’s head raises, her gaze lifting to mine. “So, what happens now?” she asks. “Am I taking you both out or what? And if so, how do you wanna go?”
I gape at the kid and pull away from her, double-checking there are no weapons in her immediate vicinity. “Ahh, what?”
“I’m going to have to kill you both, right? I’m not saying I want to, but if I have to, I’d prefer to do it in a way you’re comfortable with. Unless,” she continues, glancing between me and Reaper, “you’d prefer to take each other out.”