Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 133975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 670(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 447(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 670(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 447(@300wpm)
It was the best they could do for Stark and his people. Hopefully, he moved his community to a better, safer location until Torpedo Ink had the chance to completely eradicate the Ghosts.
Twenty-One
Lyric hadn’t asked Keys a single question about what had taken place while he was gone. He’d asked her all kinds of questions in the two weeks that had gone by. Every day he took her to the salon, dropped her off and went to work on the house his company was building. At the end of the day, he would come to get her, just as if they’d been a couple forever. It felt that way to him, as if she was such a part of him, she’d always been there.
He loved that first moment when he arrived at Lyrical Waves. He knew she heard his bike, and she always flung open the door with that look on her face. He craved the way she looked at him. Was addicted to it. As if he were the best thing in the world. She continually flung herself into his arms and whispered that she missed him.
Lyric always asked him about his day. She listened to him carefully. Laughed at his stories or seemed extremely interested in anything he told her about the build he and his partners were working on. She made him feel as if she hung on his every word and what he had to say was important to her.
He loved hearing her talk about her clients. She enjoyed her time with most of them. A couple were difficult, but she had always run into that. She didn’t mind. On the surface, it appeared as if everything was fine, but she’d asked about her car on several occasions. He’d put her off, and she knew he was putting her off, and she allowed it. But he doubted she liked it.
They sat in the backyard in the dark together, one of their favorite things to do. She liked hot chocolate, and he always made her a mug when they were outside. Flames danced in the fire pit, warming them both as they sat close.
“I know you’re upset about the car,” he opened. It was a stupid way to bring the subject up, but he needed to clear the air between them. Guilt was a crap emotion and one he didn’t want to carry around.
She tilted her head back and looked up at the stars. “I’m not upset.”
She sounded like she was telling him the truth, and that made no sense to him. She’d asked three times.
“Babe.” Just that one word. A reprimand. He wanted to discuss the subject but wasn’t certain how to explain himself.
“I’m not upset about the car, Keys.”
“Then why keep asking?”
“Because having transportation is important. If something happens or I need to get somewhere and you’re busy, I can get there myself if I have my car. Sometimes Seychelle or Anya or Blythe asks me to meet them at the Floating Hat, and you’re not here or busy. I’d like to go, but I’m not going to ask them to pick me up.” She shrugged. “It isn’t a big deal. It might get that way at some point, but it isn’t now.”
He took the mug of chocolate from her and set it on the little table beside him. Threading his fingers through hers, he brought her hand to his chest. “I realized quite a few things when I was away from you. Things about myself that aren’t the best.”
Lyric turned toward him immediately, her green eyes darkening, but she stayed silent, letting him choose his words.
“I know I’m controlling, Lyric. That’s not a good trait. I’m a hell of a lot more jealous than I want to admit. They’re both ugly traits. I trust you. I know you’re not going to run off with another man, but I still want to beat the shit out of any man that comes near you. And when you aren’t with me, I find myself terrified I’m going to lose you.”
As confessions went, it wasn’t the best. He didn’t know how to articulate the terrible fear he had that she would be taken from him. “If you tried to control me the way I’m doing you, keeping transportation from me, forcing me to tell you what I’m doing every minute and where I’m planning to go, I’d lose my mind. But I find myself doing that to you. Holding on to you too tight.”
His thumb slid along the back of her hand in a soothing caress. He wasn’t soothing her, he was soothing himself, and he knew it. “I don’t like that I do that to you. I’ve been working on letting go.” He had been. He’d spent a great deal of time talking to Czar. Trying to figure it out. It had been difficult to swallow his pride and go to Czar. Whatever he told Czar, he knew he was telling Blythe. Maybe he’d hoped Blythe would have a good solution.