Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
That he couldn’t…
My mind raced back to earlier when he confessed how he felt. The professions that bled from his mouth.
He gave me all of him, yet he’d left out that single word.
Love.
Didn’t he know everything he confessed was the culmination of those things?
But I understood trauma. How the neglect of his mother would have scarred him, and whatever had happened with this girl had made him believe his mother’s disgusting accusations could be true.
“You are enough for me. More than enough. More than I ever knew I needed.”
He buried his nose in my hair, and he gripped me tight. “I will protect you with everything I have.”
His heart thrummed manic beneath me.
And I got it. Recognized his grief.
The complete loss that he’d carried as guilt and shame.
Whoever she was had died.
No question as a result of their lifestyle. When they were members of that MC. When they’d…
Horror trembled through me, unable to imagine Theo living that way.
Brutal and cruel.
So different than he’d been last night.
Because that…that was his sacrifice.
His giving.
Pure selflessness.
Putting himself in harm’s way.
In danger, both from the beasts they fought and the law.
I wanted to turn and press my mouth to his thundering heart and beg him to believe that he could love.
Convince him he was capable of it.
That he was worthy of it.
But I wasn’t sure he was ready to hear it.
“I know you will,” I murmured at his hot flesh instead.
His big hand spread out over the middle of my back. “Need you to tell me who you’ve been running from, Piper. Need to understand your situation so I can protect you from it.”
Old fear lashed through my spirit. Visions screamed through my mind.
Part of me wanted to hold it in, but I found myself whispering, “I was young. So naïve and ignorant.”
Theo just waited, holding me until I was ready to talk.
My fingers traced the grim forest tattooed on his chest, the glow of the flames reflecting against his skin. “You wanted to love, Theo, and I just wanted to have some fun.”
He flinched.
“Except I got caught up in it. Swept away by this guy. His name was Justin.”
I’d already told Theo that I’d been running from someone, but I’d given him so few details. So little of my life when it felt like he’d become intrinsic to that life.
“I knew he was trouble,” I continued, “but I had no idea what that really meant. Nelly knew. She tried to warn me, and I just laughed it off.”
“Think she can see right through all of us,” he murmured in low encouragement.
“Yeah, she always has been able to. Like she has a sixth sense about people. I wish I would have listened.”
Theo’s fingers traipsed up and down my back. Soothing. A promise that he could hold whatever I told him.
But how could I admit this?
The secrets that I’d held for so long bellowed from inside me, but they felt too big to expel.
“I was nineteen. He…got me involved in some criminal activity. I was naïve and had no idea what he was actually up to.”
How in the world did I admit this? Give it all to him? I didn’t even know if I could force the words from my mouth if I tried.
“When I realized how dangerous he truly was, Nelly and I left. Just ran like we could leave it all behind. Except I had something Justin wanted.”
I left out the rest of the horrible details.
Theo flinched below me.
“We traveled for years. Just the two of us. Then I met this guy named Jay in a small town in Kansas, and I decided I wanted to stay. Decided that enough time had passed that Justin would have forgotten all about me.”
I could barely swallow around the lump in my throat. “Nelly and I were at the grocery store, and on our way back, I came up on the small house where we were living with Jay, and I just knew. I knew Justin was there. I could feel him. We kept driving and didn’t stop until we were halfway across the country. The next day, I saw on the news that Jay’s body had been found.”
Guilt and grief curled through me, and Theo’s muscles bunched with the information. I knew he was taking it inside. Making it his own. A piece of the vengeance that always prowled beneath his flesh.
“I didn’t know I was pregnant when we left.”
Theo’s jaw clenched. “And you’ve been running ever since.”
“Running. Hiding. Pretending.” I gulped. “I told you I didn’t want to put you in this danger.”
His head shook, and he fiddled with a lock of my hair. “And I told you I’m the exact kind of trouble you need. I will take care of you, Piper. Fight for you. Stand for you.”
Gratitude pulsed.
His mother had been so sickeningly wrong. This man was impossible not to love.