Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“I think your boyfriend would strangle Thorne to death for you if he got the chance,” Roman says, “but no, I highly doubt he was involved with this car wreck.”
When Sev finally breaks off and comes over to join us, he looks more scared than anything else.
“What’s going on?” he asks, immediately sliding his arm under my suit jacket, holding my waist tight.
Roman shows him the news article. “Thorne is dead.”
Sev’s expression drops as he looks at the phone. “Is this a joke?”
“It is very real,” Roman tells him.
After a pause, Sev looks like he’s ready to break down.
“No. No. It should have been me.”
“What are you talking about, Sev?” I ask.
He looks up at me with a fire in his gaze. “It should have been me who killed him. Fuck this fucking bullshit. He dies with cocaine up his nose in a fancy car? I would have tortured him for you, Wes. He deserved so much fucking worse.”
He turns to me and holds me close in a hug, and every time I think he’s about to let go, he doesn’t.
“Sevan, you didn’t have anything to do with this, did you?” I ask as I’m buried near his hair.
He pulls back, looking me in the eye. “Of course not. But I wish I did. I’m not doing anything that serious ever again without telling you first.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
I feel him sigh in my arms, and it almost feels like a sob.
“I didn’t fix it,” he whispers, like he’s broken. “I couldn’t fix it on my own.”
My heart squeezes in my chest. He’s hugging me tight again, and I exhale, relief flooding me.
But I never expected Sevan to react like this. The most vulnerable I’ve ever seen him.
He really wanted to get revenge on Thorne.
When is the last time anyone other than my brother gave a shit about me like this?
Sev is rocked to his core, almost like he’s more shocked by Thorne’s death than I am.
“You already told me you’re done trying to fix everything around you,” I murmur at him.
“I know. God, I fucking know. I’m sorry, Wes.”
Thorne probably did deserve worse, and maybe should have been in prison for life.
But I don’t give a fuck anymore.
I’m done pretending I have control over my past, no matter what form it takes.
“You have nothing to apologize for. I know I’ll never be able to get rid of all the ghosts my father left,” I tell him. “But I’m not going to live half of a life, anymore. I’m going to take what I’m given. And I'm going to move on. I have to move on.”
“You’re right,” he says. “I hate it, but you are.”
Yes.
Thank God.
He’s still here. Still here with me.
I feel every beat of my heart against him.
“I’m just glad it’s over.”
“You’re allowed to be happy,” Sev says in a serious tone. “You should never feel guilty about that again.”
Sev acts strange for the rest of the night.
Not strange in a suspicious way, but just different, like he doesn’t want to step away from me. All of us go out to celebrate after the ceremony at a big, fancy restaurant in town, and Sev keeps a hand on me basically all the time, as if he’s afraid I might vanish into thin air otherwise.
He’s still in a suit from the ceremony, but many of the top buttons are open now, exposing the array of colorful tattoos at the top of his chest. Every time I look at him, I can hardly believe that man is mine.
And somehow, miraculously, he wants me, too.
After a long night of a few whiskeys that people purchase for him, he’s looser than usual, too. We pile into a car with Niko, who drives us back to Onyx House after sunset.
“Get over here,” Sev says to me the moment we’re back inside.
He grips the front of my collared shirt and gently pushes me until my back hits the wood paneling behind me in the front hallway.
All of the other guys are still in the living room or making their way toward the back of the house, but Sev doesn’t seem to give a damn if we’re in private or not.
“You’re saucy tonight,” I tell him as he leans over and sucks a slow, wet kiss at the nape of my neck. I arch my back a little under his touch.
“I would have hurt him for you,” he murmurs, and when he stares up at me, there’s a white-hot fire in the grey of his eyes. “Are you aware of that? I didn’t hurt him, but I wish I did.”
“Thorne?”
“Him. Or anyone who ever tries to fuck with you again,” Sev says in a low voice that’s close to a growl. “Still can’t fucking believe he had the nerve to do that. To try to hold any power over you.”