Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 102335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
I rest my head back against the chair, watching as the trees pass my window. “All this time?”
He reaches over, unclips my belt, and pulls me in close under his arm. “Until the end of time. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you earlier. I didn’t know what the fuck to do.”
“When did you change your plan of stealing me and using me as one of your victims?” I ask softly, running the palm of my hand over his thigh. His muscles bounce against it.
“The day I let you go in the maze. I wasn’t supposed to.” His eyes squeeze closed.
“Wait.” I push up from the car, searching his eyes. “You were locked up in that den because you let me go?”
“It was you or me, and because K Diamond didn’t have a beef or need for you, I knew I could negotiate so long as it happened before Skully came back. Only he never came back…” He frowns, looking out the window as if lost in thought.
“I’m sorry—” The tears fall down my cheeks and the emotion that I’ve tried so hard to keep on track releases. It’s as though the floodgates tear through me, and I can’t do anything to stop them. “I was such a brat too.”
He chuckles, pressing my head against his chest. “Just how I like you.”
We stay in silence all the way back to the clubhouse. I can feel the tension rolling off of him, and by the time we pull up, he’s agitated to the point that I can see it.
“What’s wrong?” He takes my hand gently and slides me out the back of the car.
“Nothing. Come, Betty has Wolf asleep in her room so that he doesn’t get to see any of this.”
I let him direct me through the clubhouse, upstairs and into our room. I don’t waste time heading straight for the shower. Wicked turns it on for me before his fingers graze the edges of my spine. I step under the water, letting it turn red as it washes over my body. Over the last couple of months, I’ve lost my mother and who I thought was my father, and gained yet another, but this time, I feel he’s much worse. How could someone raise a child that long as their own and not share any compassion or care at all? Everything he told me. The act. A lie. I know I’ll have to take this to the Commission this coming week and tell them what has happened, which is going to leave the La Rosa family in a volatile position.
The thing is, I don’t want it.
This was Victor’s world. I don’t want anything to do with it anymore.
I scrub up, get dressed, and once I’ve reentered back into the bedroom, I see Wicked placing a still sleeping Wolf down onto his bed.
He walks over to me, wrapping an arm around my back and pulling me in close. “I have to go down for church with the brothers. You okay here?”
I nod, resting my head beneath his chin. “I don’t want it, Wicked.”
The silence stretches between us, and I know he understands what I mean. “I know, baby. We’ll figure it out.”
I push away from him, bringing my eyes up to his.
“We’ll figure it out—together,” he confirms and my stomach twists.
“I almost killed you tonight.” Guilt is a fickle emotion. It’s relentless.
He laughs, flashing his pearly whites. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
I lean up on my tippy toes, pressing my lips to his. Warmth fills my body until it turns to fire and ripples down my legs and settles in my stomach. He picks me up from the backs of my thighs and walks me back into the bathroom.
“I thought you had to go downstairs.”
“They can wait,” he growls over my lips, kicking the bathroom door closed to shut off from Wolf. Flicking the silk strap off my shoulder, he bites down on the curve of my jaw, his hand coming to my breast. He flicks my nipple before sucking my tongue into his mouth. Wrapping my legs around his waist, he turns me over to the back, wrapping my long hair around his wrist and tugging backward on it until I come face-to-face with both of us in the mirror.
The lighting hits the outline of his jaw, displaying the rose tattoo on his neck. “What’s with the rose, and be honest.”
“Oh, you mean the Ruby Rose tattoo?” His eyes turn gentle on mine, but his grip tightens.
My heart fractures in my chest, this time to let him in. Can’t believe he did that. He enters me from behind and I moan out a yelp. His hand slams over my mouth as he takes me from behind. Hard, fast, his grip around my waist enough to leave a bruise. Two seconds later, I crash around him and release, collapsing into his arms when he tucks himself back into his jeans. Spinning me around, he moves my hair away from my face and presses a kiss onto my lips.