Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36052 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 180(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36052 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 180(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
I grunted and turned back to Olivia. Bullet could show his own fucking self out the fucking door. Olivia kept her gaze lowered, twisting her fingers together. I stood there right in front of her for a long while. She kept her gaze down but darting around the room as if looking for an escape.
“Olivia…” I sighed, scrubbing my hand over my face. “Honey, why would you do that? Put yourself between two men who are more than twice your size? He could have accidentally hurt you.”
“You could have hurt me too.”
“Honey, no matter what’s going on or how upset I get, there is no situation where I accidentally hurt you.”
“Meaning, if you hurt me, it’s intentional.”
Something strange unfurled inside me. I immediately knew she was wrong. I couldn’t imagine a situation where I ever hurt her intentionally, even if I wanted to. Wasn’t altogether sure I could even if I had to. Or was ordered to. So I decided if I wanted her to be honest with me, I needed to be honest with her. If that meant I admitted how attracted I was to her, I’d lay it out there for her.
“Meaning, anything I do to cause you pain will ultimately give you pleasure. And it won’t be accidental. It will be deliberate and premeditated. And you’ll beg me for it.”
Olivia sucked in a breath. Her gaze snapped up to mine, and one hand landed lightly on my chest before she snatched it away. “Sorry,” she whispered.
I shifted my weight so I inched closer to her. Slowly, I reached down and took her hand, bringing it back to my chest. I held it there, letting her feel my heartbeat through my shirt. “Touch me if you want,” I murmured. “Might as well get used to me now. You’re gonna be touchin’ me a lot in the future. Same as I’ll be touchin’ you.”
“I-I c-can’t.”
“I told you the truth about the only pain I’d ever bring to you. Now, I want your truth. You said you had a boyfriend. Do you?”
She opened her mouth, then swallowed. This time, when she spoke, I knew she was telling the truth. “No.” Her confirmation was a breathy whisper, one that wrapped around my heart and squeezed. To say nothing of what it did to my cock.
“See? That wasn’t so hard. Was it?”
“Why are you doing this? I know you don’t trust me.”
I didn’t hesitate in my answer. “No, Liv. I don’t. But you’re going to tell me what’s going on. Then I’m gonna take care of whatever trouble’s found you. Once that’s done, we can get on with learning to trust each other.”
The expressions on her face changed rapidly. I saw surprise, hope, disappointment. Sadness. Then a steely resolve. Olivia shook her head. “No. That will never happen.”
“Which part? Because there’s a lot of stuff I intend to do.”
“All of it!” She sidestepped to get around me, then crossed the room. She was deeper inside my home, but too fucking far away from me for my liking. Only thing that kept me from moving back to her was the fact she had nowhere to go and couldn’t get out of the house without me being able to stop her. “Bear, just…” She sobbed in a shuddering breath. “Please. Give me my phone back and let me go home,” she finished with a little whimper.
“Sorry, darlin’. Can’t until this is all straightened out. Crush is checkin’ your phone out. Once he’s satisfied it’s secure, he’ll get it back to you.”
“I can’t stay here, Bear. I can’t.”
“Tell me why.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Sure it is. Only thing missin’s trust. As in you don’t trust me, so you’ve not told me the truth. You not tellin’ me what’s goin’ on makes me not trust you.”
“And I have to trust you to tell you so we’re back at the beginning.” She sounded equal parts exasperated and almost desperate. “I don’t know what to do!” she yelled at me, tears starting to stream down her face. “If I don’t tell you and something happens, I’m dead. If I tell you and you can’t protect me, I’m worse than dead! Like you said, there isn’t a scenario where this ends well for me!”
This was my opening. She wanted to tell me; it was easy to see. She’d given me just that little bit of an opening, and I knew I had to take it. I crossed the room, taking back the distance she’d put between us. “Listen to me, baby, and listen hard. I claimed you as mine. In the eyes of the club, you’re just as important as me. Maybe more so because you’re a woman. Grim Road is many things. Most of them not good. But we do not prey on the weak. We don’t subjugate our women. The club whores are here for one purpose. They know what’s expected of them before they come here. They still have the right to say no, and they can leave any time they want.”