Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72895 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72895 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Colm. It was such a fantastically Irish name that I couldn’t help but smile as I put my hand in his and gave it what I hoped was a confident squeeze. “Sadie. Sadie Rose Malone.”
He frowned. “That can’t be your real name.”
I giggled and took a big gulp of the whiskey that was much better than the cheap stuff Uncle Seamus ordered. “It is. What’s wrong with my name?”
“Nothing at all,” he said with a smirk. “Just that you’re much prettier than a rose.”
“I’m not,” I insisted with a shake of my head. Even though I’d started to make my world right by taking care of Owen, I didn’t have the confidence to match it. Not yet.
“Bullshit. You’re pretty as hell, Sadie Rose. So pretty that I’m tryin’ really hard to remember you’re only sixteen.”
I took another sip and another until my glass was empty. Colm refilled it quickly. Soon I felt tipsy and tingly, giggling at his stories and flirting with him.
It was easy to fall for Colm Ashby. He was funny and charming, and he made me feel like a beautiful woman, not just some dirty, worthless girl. Being around him was addictive.
It was a feeling I couldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams. After that night, I didn’t want to be without him. I liked who I was when I was with Colm, and I liked how he looked at me and made me feel.
Like I mattered.
After that night, Colm and I were inseparable. We were only apart to sleep because I still had a curfew, but that didn’t mean we weren’t fucking, because we fucked as often as we could.
Colm was insatiable, and he taught me so many things about how to please him, about what pleased me. I suspected early on that what I felt for Colm was more than a crush, more than a teenage girl sprung because of good dick, but one night just before Christmas 1982, I knew for sure.
I was flat on my back, sucking hard to catch my breath after Colm fucked me so good I thought I pissed myself. “That’s never happened to me before.”
Colm laughed and turned to face me, his finger sliding in and out of my pussy, making an outrageous squishy sound. “Can’t say I’ve ever made a girl squirt like that before. It was fucking hot.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “Fuck yeah. You know how good it makes a man feel to know he can pull that from his woman? I’m hard again just talking about it.”
I reached down and felt his cock, hard and pulsing with need already. Again. “Am I? Your woman, I mean?”
Colm nodded; his black brows dipped into a frown. “You’ve been my woman since that first night at The Oak Barrel, Sadie Rose.”
Yeah, I was in love with this man who was a real man. He had a lot of money, a big dick that he knew how to use, and best of all, he treated me like a queen.
Even though he had enough confidence and swagger for ten men, I found his mile-wide protective streak even more appealing. He cared about me. “I love you, Colm.”
He grinned at my words and pressed a soft kiss to my collarbone. “Love you too, Sadie Rose.”
My eyes fluttered shut at his words, and I let my fingers tangle in his hair as I arched up into his touch. He fucked me slowly and tenderly, but so deep it was like he fucked my soul.
That changed everything. I left for school that morning as usual, but when Mom left to do the day’s grocery shopping, Colm and I returned to get my things. The plan was that I’d never go back to school.
“What’s this?” He held up the bloody bag I kept in the back of my closet, and I felt my heart drop.
“Um, just some clothes I need to get rid of.” I just told this man that I loved him, but I wasn’t sure that I could tell him all of my secrets.
Colm looked at the bag and then back at me. “Wanna try that again, Sadie Rose?”
I sucked in a deep breath, slammed my eyes shut, knowing that this moment was inevitable. “There was this guy, Owen.” Once I started talking, I couldn’t stop. I shared every detail, from the rape to the shame to the need for revenge. “Those are the clothes I wore that night. And the knife.”
Colm was quiet for so long that I started to plan what I would do without him. How would I explain today’s absence from school to my mom to avoid trouble? How would I go back to life without Colm?
“That’s all?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“This,” he held up the bag and grinned. “This is no big deal. We’ll make a quick stop and burn it.”
“Really?”
“Really. You’re my woman, Sadie Rose. I’ll make sure no one ever finds out what happened to that motherfucker. I promise.”