Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 281(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 187(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 281(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 187(@300wpm)
“Dean,” I cry out into world not caring that we are out in the open. He thrusts once more as his hot seed fills me before he collapses over me. We are tangled and breathless as I take in this feeling of euphoria.
“Never gonna sleep inside again,” he mutters rolling off me and I instantly wish he was still pulsing inside me. Pulling me to him, he drapes my body half over him as we both steady our breathing.
I feel our combined fluids trickle out of me but I’m too satiated to move to clean up.
“Never had it so good,” he whispers to no one in particular.
My heart aches knowing what he’s been through. I can only imagine what knowing me has brought up inside him.
“You’re a good man, Dean O’Neal.”
He laughs, “don’t let the orgasm cloud your view, babe. I’m not a good man, but I promise I’ll be good to you for as long as you’ll let me.”
“How can you be so confident when you don’t know me?” I ask feeling my own insecurities creep up.
“Growin’ up in that shit, I had to learn to read the room. Reading people meant pain or peace. Jo, you have awoken a part of me I thought could never be alive. The protector in me yes, but the lover in me, I thought he was dead. You brought out this softness the moment I met you at Country Boy’s. A softness my sister used to talk about me holding onto as I grew into a man. A softness she craved and never found. I didn’t think it existed. Thought that shit was a fairytale, until my eyes locked to yours. Inside you I could see the man I wanted to be for you, for your son. That’s when I understood.”
“Never pegged you as romantic,” I tell him the truth as his words are a balm to my soul.
“Not one. Just been through enough shit in life, I know myself well. This right here, worth every sad moment, every loss, and every bit of pain. I’m not letting go.”
I snuggle in closer. My naked body against his. “I don’t think I want you do,” I whisper relaxing against him.
He gives me a gentle squeeze before reaching under the pillow to pull out another blanket I didn’t see before and wrapping us in it.
“Mine,” he whispers, and I embrace the claim.
Eleven
Raff
Broken Halos – Chris Stapleton
It’s been two days. She’s under my damn skin. The feel of her under me, beside me, sleeping in the bed of my truck, it all consumes me easily. Her body against mind, my name on her lips, grounded me in ways I have never felt before.
No woman has kept my attention like this. Attraction, sure, attention, connection, never like this.
I didn’t have the typical high school experience. Small town bullshit allowed the system to fail me. Truth be told if Country Boy’s mom hadn’t stepped in, I would probably be in prison today. The charges were manslaughter, but three counts, and a blood thirsty district attorney who we later learned was dating Chuck’s sister at the time.
I understand his family’s pain. I wouldn’t wish the loss of a sibling on anyone. Destiny was my very best friend. When life kept falling apart over and over, my sister was always my hero swooping in to save me. Chuck took her from me. I didn’t shoot him for revenge like some people in town tried to say. I wasn’t some out of control teen. I was a boy lost in a situation and the second it became survival I pulled the trigger.
Since the story was plastered everywhere, even when I did get out of the juvenile facility most people avoided me. Going back to school, some of the kids talked, teased even. I would get called the county riffraff. It bothered me early on. How could they not see the big picture? So many people judged me without knowing me. Even though I was found innocent (finally) there was still a stigma around me. Early on it felt like everyone around me wanted to keep a distance from me, like I was a plague.
Except Country Boy and his family. I’ll never be able to repay them for the way they embraced me at such a vulnerable time in my life. The older we got, the more Country Boy was determined to turn around the words that used to cut me deep. He taught me to embrace being the riffraff.
Stud took me in as a lost young man trying to find my place in life. The Hellions, the entire club not just our charter embraced the broken in me. This club saved my soul. Piece by piece they put back every shattered inch of me. Sure, I’ll be the riffraff. I will be whatever name anyone can cook up in their brain for me. Trash, trouble, or a fucking tyrant, only those close to me get to know the truth, my truth. I’ve found the people closest to me, understand the circumstances. They see I’m not proud of taking a life. But I also won’t ever deny I’d do it again. Only I would have taken him out sooner if it meant I could save my sister. Most people see the man I am today; they know the depths of which my loyalty runs. Most people once they get beyond the initial shock embrace the precarious situation I was in.