Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 169013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)
She laughed, then frowned, our pace slowing as she peered at me through the wisping darkness that held us in the cover of the trees. “I can’t believe someone got on the property today. That he…”
Grimness gripped her expression.
“I’m fine,” I promised her, probably a little too quickly.
I just couldn’t stand the direction her mind had clearly gone.
Tears blurred her eyes. “It was horrible, Brinley, when they had me. I didn’t think I’d ever get out. If something like that happened to you…”
Her throat tremored.
My spirit flailed in a way that made me want to weep.
Desperation had me squeezing her hand in a vise. “I’m so sorry, Elena. I’m so sorry.”
Memories threatened to rise up and wipe me out like a hundred-year flood.
She shook her head. “I can’t stand the idea of someone hurting you. I hate it, Brinley. I’m so sorry.”
I guess we both were thinking the same.
She swiped at a tear that got free. “And I know my brother is freaking out that someone got to you. That the asshole even got that close.”
“They saved me.” It was a whisper.
Awe.
Confusion.
My mind was boggled because those bikers had fallen into form like they were a trained army. Taking this guy out like they were old pros and not some rag-tag group of thieves running the streets.
Elena let go of a soggy huff. “Of course, they saved you. There was no chance Silas was going to let that creep steal you off this property.”
“Should I trust him? Should I really trust him?”
I realized I was pleading.
Trusting her to tell me the truth.
She looked around, gaze sifting through the shadows, like she was worried we were going to be caught doing something scandalous.
No doubt, in Silas’s eyes, we were totally up to no good.
She turned back to me, her nearly black ponytail falling around her shoulder as she angled her head close.
Eyes the same color as his swirled with emphasis. “There is no one you should trust more.”
It was a punch.
Glee.
Relief.
More of that confusion.
“He’s a criminal.” It was a bare, fleeting argument. “The president of a freaking motorcycle club. And I’m pretty sure that patch they wear on their backs isn’t just for show.”
I’d bet my very meager life savings that if you messed with them, those crows would be dancing on your grave.
Violent.
Brutal.
Savage.
She glanced around again, her chest shuddering, her voice fully a whisper. “You don’t have to be afraid of him, Brinley. Not in that way. He would never hurt you. But I’m not so sure about what he could do to your heart. Those boys have a way of trampling all over them.”
She choked over the last. Eyes shimmering. Opening herself wide to a new source of her pain.
One we were going to have to address later, but there were so many questions whirling through my mind right then that I couldn’t keep them tapped.
“Did they kill that guy?”
Air huffed from her nose. “Is that something you really want to know?”
“Yes.”
I regretted it the second I said it. But it was knee-jerk. Reflex. So I supposed it had to be the truth.
A little scowl twisted up her brow. “I think that’s something you’re going to have to ask Silas.”
I huffed. “Your brother won’t tell me a thing.”
Except I couldn’t block the memory of what he had said.
The gruff, needy words he’d rumbled into my flesh as he kissed me into a puddle.
Admitting that he wanted me the way I wanted him.
In a terrifying, overwhelming way.
But something severe was stopping him.
A darkness that made him look even more menacing than usual, which was saying a whole lot.
Elena tossed me a sassy grin. “Oh, I think you could probably work your magic on him.”
“I think it’s entirely the other way around and it’s him who’s working his magic on me. He’s the one who’s casting spells.”
She shifted and snuggled up to my side as we started to walk again. “So, you’re saying you do like him?”
“So you’re saying you do like Trevan?”
Deflection was the best defense.
She fumbled over a step, heaving out a breath before she slung out what I knew she hoped to be a casual response. “I didn’t say a thing.”
“You don’t need to when your face does all the talking.”
She snuggled closer, her head basically buried in my shoulder as she whispered, “Like I said, these boys have a way of trampling all over our hearts. I think I should probably leave it at that.”
And maybe I could already feel mine breaking as we stepped out from the cover of trees and headed for the toiling group of bodies that appeared as silhouettes and shadows around the firelight.
Because I swore I felt it cracking beneath the pressure as I looked across the flames to the only one I could really see.
Silas Mercer staring back.
What the hell had I let this man do to me?