Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 160041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
But her face is covered in saliva, and a sticky white substance cakes her skin.
And my eyes begin to twitch.
Grinding my teeth, I march over to her. “Who did this to you?”
A twinge of a smile forms on her face. “Cute. Very cute.”
She looks me up and down, and jerks at her cuffs, but it’s no use. No wonder she called me.
“It was Atreus, wasn’t it?” My nostrils flare. “I’m going to fucking kill him.”
She raises her brow at me. “Xavier … don’t.”
Her stern voice makes me suck in the air as I stand before her, wondering if I’m going to cut off his balls or skin him alive while she watches. But then I’d have to drag him from his goddamn station all the way back here, and that would certainly draw eyes. Not to mention the fact that she’d probably be pissed off if I went and left her here, all by herself with Orion, while I went on some quest for vengeance.
“Focus,” she says. My mind instantly reels back into place as if ordered to comply, and I swallow back the rage.
“Use the saw to free me.” Her eyes skid down toward the saw in my hands, and I nod a couple of times as I look at the cuffs around her wrist.
I can do this, no problem.
Orion strolls closer, amused. “Holy shit, Sunny, I can’t believe you got yourself into something like this. And I thought you were the type of girl who would never let a man chain her up.”
“Watch your mouth,” she tells him. “Or I might have to chain that up once I’m out of here.”
He shivers in place.
“She hasn’t lost her spunk, that’s for sure, my raging queen,” Orion muses.
“Help me with this,” I say. “I don’t want to cut through her skin.”
Orion holds her wrist to keep it safe while I saw through the metal cuffs, making sure I don't damage her precious skin. It takes a while to get them off, but finally, the cuffs drop to the ground, and Sunny is freed once again.
She rubs her sore wrists, and mutters, “Took you both long enough. Thanks.”
She grabs my shirt, and panic takes hold, but instead of murdering me for not being quick enough, she uses the fabric to clean off her face. “There, much better.”
I don’t even know how to respond.
“Seems like you had a bit of fun without us,” Orion says.
“If you wanna call it that,” Sunny replies, and she attempts to stroll away.
I grab her arm and wait until she finally looks at me. “Tell me if you want me to kill him. I will hunt him down for you. No questions asked.”
A hint of her smirk forms on her face. “Sweet, but unnecessary. I’ll manage on my own.”
She tries to walk off, but I'm tired of her running away from whatever is bothering her conscience.
I’m desperate…
“Talk to us, please,” I say.
Desperate to connect with her.
She pauses near the warehouse door, clearly still affected by whatever went down here.
I’m sure it was Atreus. There’s no way it was anyone else. She wouldn’t let them.
But Atreus Foley definitely is the kind of man to try to chain a woman like her down.
He needs to pay for what he’s done.
“I can’t let you pretend nothing is wrong,” I say. “Let us help you.”
She glances at me over her shoulder, the pain in her eyes so visceral it cuts too deep to leave without scars. “I don’t know what you want from me.”
And frankly, I don't know what I could ever ask from her, either. Because I’ve invaded her life, against her will, out of my own obsession with her. And I can’t seem to let it go, no matter what.
But I don’t want to be the one to slowly unravel her. I don’t want to be her downfall. Yet when I look at her, I’m drawn to her like nothing else. She’s an enigma, a magnet for my every wicked desire. I am deathly afraid of her, but also very much in love.
But I could never, ever say that out loud.
“Nothing,” I say.
She nods a couple of times, then adds a sweet smile. “I’m going on another hunt. Don’t try to stop me.”
I don’t intend to. “I’m coming with you.”
“Me too,” Orion says.
She frowns as she glances between the two of us. “What?”
“I’m serious. No more hiding,” I say.
“You’ll only get in the way,” she rebukes.
But I keep stepping closer. “I won’t.”
“You’ll die trying to help me.”
That won’t deter me. “Then so be it.”
She sighs out loud as I stand right in front of her. But I’m already as close to death’s door as I can be just by being in her vicinity. There is nothing left to fear when you’re already facing your biggest fear.
“You’re really not going to let this go, are you?” she asks, clutching the door.