Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
River grunted. “You fuckin’ blacked out, man. Theo thought he was losing you.”
Something vicious streaked across Kane’s face. His voice a blade. “Are they safe? Don’t know what happened once I got on that plane.”
I could feel River’s reticence. The way he glanced at me in speculation and worry before he gritted, “Yeah. Once Theo got you to that airfield, he made his way back to the transport truck with them. They’re secure and on their way.”
Kane breathed out a strained sigh. “Thank fuck. Wasn’t sure we were going to make it out of that one.”
My attention ricocheted between the two of them. Dread so thick I could hardly breathe. What were they talking about?
“And that scumbag who came after them?”
More hesitation from River, then the scraping of words. “He’s down. Permanently.”
Nausea spun, and Kane hugged me closer.
Energy curled between us.
Both disorienting and comforting.
“What’s the status?” River asked, turning his focus to Dr. Reynolds and Charleigh who’d been bustling around on the other side of Kane during the exchange.
“He was stable on the flight. Blood pressure is good. The injury was mostly superficial, and he lost only a small amount of blood, though I have no doubt that it hurt like hell.”
“Like bloody hell.” Kane grinned.
My chest tightened. This wasn’t funny. Wasn’t a joke. Wasn’t something to be written off.
As if he sensed the turmoil, Kane squeezed me tighter, coaxing me to bury my face in the sanctuary of his chest, his voice rough when he muttered, “If I’m all good, then I’m going to need you all to step out.”
I started to straighten.
“Not you, Little Warrior. Need you right here with me.”
“That should be fine,” Dr. Reynolds said as he scribbled something into an old-school chart before he patted Kane’s opposite shoulder. His words turned poignant. “You did well.”
Confusion continued to race, and River hesitated. Charleigh came around the table, her hand brushing across her fiancé’s chest to scoot him back before she ran a tender hand down my arm.
A soft show of encouragement before she ushered everyone out the door. It clicked shut behind them, and the dense air only thickened more the second Kane and I were alone.
A pounding that thudded against the walls. Reverberating. Multiplying the tumult that barreled through me.
“Hey,” Kane murmured.
I peeled my head back enough to look at him.
Intensity blazed from his expression, those magic eyes so full of emotion, lapping and swimming with secrets and truth.
“Who are you?” I finally managed to whisper.
Mournfulness flicked and flashed across his striking face, and he brushed back a lock of hair stuck to my tear-stained cheek and tucked it behind my ear. “Told you I wasn’t a good man. That you weren’t going to get a white knight but a dragon.”
The warning filled the enclosed space.
Ballooning to unbearable.
I sniffled. “You never told me what that really means.”
Severity creased the corners of his eyes. “You want to know, Emery? Do you really want to know me? You want to see inside to the man that I really am?”
My nod was frantic.
A fool.
A fool.
Wanting to dive straight into whoever that was.
“I tell you this, Emery, and I’m letting you into something that can never be revealed to anyone else.” Ferocity underscored the words. “It’s a secret that we carry. One that very few know about. One that I want you to hold and share with me.”
His throat bobbed harshly as he studied me. “And I’m fucking terrified that you might run when I do. Terrified that I’ll lose you. Terrified because I love you so fucking much that I don’t recognize myself any longer.”
Moisture continued to pool, my own emotion cresting. Rising up and overflowing.
His confession sounded so sweet in the middle of the hurricane.
“I love you so much,” he pushed on. “So much that I’m willing to face any consequence for the chance of you loving me back.”
My heart burned.
Burned and blazed as the confession poured from him.
“But if I have any chance of that, then you need to know me. You need to know this.” The last word cracked.
“What is this?” I begged.
Kane inhaled a steeling breath. “You know that I met my crew while living on the streets of LA. I ended up there after my mother was killed. Desperate and alone and trying to find a way to survive. And we did that by falling into a bad crowd. A really bad crowd, and we got involved in really bad things.”
Apprehension expanded, my breaths coming short and haggard while I watched the demons play through Kane’s eyes.
The grief and regret.
The shame and the torment.
My fingers trembled with the urge to reach out and smooth them away.
“Our hands are dirty, Emery. Fucking filthy and tainted. Brutality. Barbarity.” Shadows of shame crawled across his striking, intimidating face. “I’ve done horrible, abhorrent things.”
My throat was so thick I could hardly breathe, and I clutched his hand to keep myself grounded. Tied to his reality that he didn’t want me to face.