Total pages in book: 22
Estimated words: 21101 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 106(@200wpm)___ 84(@250wpm)___ 70(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21101 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 106(@200wpm)___ 84(@250wpm)___ 70(@300wpm)
No.
No, it’s him.
The headline above his glowering face reads: Tulane Apologizes in Tweet.
I stop walking, forcing Denny to drag me.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he sneers under his breath. “Move. Or I’ll make you.”
“No.” The strength in my voice surprises me, but then again, my eyes are trained on Aiden’s face and I’ve never felt stronger, more capable—more myself—than when I was with him. The girl who opened up to Aiden and let him in is not the same girl allowing her tormenter to drag her through an airport. When I lost the baking show, what did Aiden say?
You might have been a little thrown off out there, but you know you’re a badass.
Don’t you?
I don’t feel like one right now. I feel like a victim.
But Aiden believes in me. He knows I’m more.
I am more. Even by myself, like I am right now.
I wrench my arm out of Denny’s grip. “I’m not going.” I step into his space and to my surprise, he backs up a little. “If you hurt my parents or anyone I love, and by that I mean Aiden Tulane, I will go to the cops and tell them you’re blackmailing me. I will show them this black eye. I’ll find other girls who’ve suffered while working for you and have them come forward. I will backlist you. Do you understand me?”
Denny snaps out of his momentary stupor and lunges forward to grab my elbow again. “Listen, you little bitch. You make me too much money—”
An ominous growl echoes behind me.
Around the terminal, people jump to their feet and start snapping pictures—and I know what that means. Before I turn around, I know Aiden is coming. I hold my breath and glance over my shoulder, letting it out on a whimper when I spot him, coming through the crowd, standing head and shoulders above everyone else.
“Lola!” Aiden bellows, his eyes snapping with rage. “Don’t even think about getting on that plane after making me need you so bad.”
Unsurprisingly, Denny has let go of my arm and is now using the other dancers as a human shield. I know what’s going to happen if Aiden reaches Denny and I don’t want a murder on our hands, so I turn and run toward Aiden, leaping into his waiting arms.
“Baby,” he rasps into my hair, his arms banding around me tightly. “Did you…want to leave me?”
“No,” I whisper. “My boss flew in from Vegas and…I thought I didn’t have a choice.”
His muscles harden, his voice dropping to a dangerous pitch. “That means…you were taken here against your will?” He leans back and brushes my hair away from my face, going very still when he sees my black eye. His pupils bleed into his irises. “Who did this to my girl?”
“Aiden, wait…”
Aiden doesn’t listen. “That him over there?” He sets me down gently and then he moves like a tornado, winding through the group of scattering dancers, picking up Denny by the collar of his shirt and plowing his giant fist right between the man’s eyes. A second punch is followed by the distinctive sound of a nose breaking. Blood fountains up and splatters in every direction. Then Aiden tosses Denny down on the ground like week-old garbage, standing above him like an avenging god. “You ever, ever have contact with my fiancée or her parents again and I will burn you alive. If she didn’t need me right now, I’d grind you to dust, motherfucker. Right here in front of everyone.” He takes Denny’s collar and drags him up until they’re face to face. “Keep her name out of your mouth or I’ll come for you. You’ve never had a nightmare as scary as I can be when she ain’t happy. Nod if you understand.”
Denny nods dazedly and slumps onto the floor when Aiden lets him go.
Aiden turns, his eyes eagerly seeking out mine. He takes a few long strides and lifts me into his arms, carrying me through a sea of people snapping pictures with their phones.
“Why did you leave?” he asks raggedly. “Don’t you know I’d walk through hell for you?”
“I was scared to hope you would and…he convinced me I could hurt your reputation.”
Aiden snorts, jerking his chin at one of the mounted televisions we’re passing in the terminal where his face is still on display. “In twenty-four hours you’ve done more good for my reputation than I could ever do alone. And Lola? I care about you a hell of a lot more than what people think of me. Never question that. And never, ever leave me again.” His gaze meets mine and it holds a touch a vulnerability that turns my heart over. “Please?”
“Never. I promise.”
His throat works. “I’m in love with you.”
Tears burn the backs of my eyelids. “I’m in love with you, too.”