Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 66503 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66503 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Beast mulls it over for a second. “No, thanks.”
“Well, then at least take my father’s stolen stuff back,” Luca says, handing him some papers. “It’s from Blom. I found it on the nightstand. I saw the bank account number and figured this is what you were talking about in the diner.”
I gasp. “You actually made a deal at a diner with this dude?”
Luca smiles. “The fucker is smarter than he looks.” He adds a wink.
“Hey,” Beast growls.
Luca raises his hands. “Just messing with you. Like I do with everyone.”
Beast’s nostrils flare, but he doesn’t respond further because he’s too busy checking out the papers that carry my father’s secret bank account details … along with all the codes we’d need to access it.
“I don’t think my father got the time to use any of it, and neither did I, obviously,” Luca says. “So consider our short team effort to be officially finished now. I’m gonna call some people. Get rid of all the bodies. Start fresh. You should too.”
Luca runs back up the stairs to his mom, who is waiting for him while still talking on the phone.
I squeeze Beast’s hand. “Are you sure about this?”
He nods. “I would much rather spend a million years fixing up the place we finally had to ourselves than spend one more second indebted to anyone.” He squeezes my hand back. “Now, let’s go home.”
CHAPTER 27
Aurora
When we’re back in the beach house, I look around and marvel at the mess that’s left, completely dumbfounded by how we’re supposed to clean this up. Most of the furniture is upturned and ripped. Vases are broken, and plates and knives are scattered all around. Things are upside down, the curtains are torn, and the floor is still stained with blood.
This is gonna take a while.
The door behind me closes, and I turn to look at Beast, who just stands there in the door opening, watching me.
But the way he looks at me is what makes my heart flutter.
So … primal.
And it makes me step back.
Just an inch.
But it’s enough to fan the flames behind his eyes.
“Stop,” he growls.
I immediately listen. Not because I’m scared, but because I know what he wants. Me.
So much that I think he’d actually chase me and pin me down if I ran.
And that’s the part that makes me gulp with excitement.
“But we’ve only just gotten back, the place is a mess, we need to clean it, and I’m still wearing this bathrobe and—”
One finger to the mouth is enough to silence me.
And I don’t know how or why he can always make me quiet so easily.
It’s as though he quells the storm raging in my head, calming the voices that tell me to be active, be productive, be helpful, just like my father taught me to be.
But my father is no longer here, and he has no more control over me.
Beast does.
Every breath he takes seems more ragged than the one before, his broad shoulders straining in his protective gear, which he slowly begins to take off. A loud thud is audible as each item drops to the floor, but I gasp when he actually drops his knives and guns too.
“But you take those with you everywhere,” I mutter.
“I don’t need them for what I’m going to do,” he replies, his voice low, husky.
“What … what are you planning to do then?” I ask, my voice crackling from the mere thought of him lunging at me and devouring me just like he did when we were in that cell.
After getting rid of all his gear, he stalks toward me, wearing only a thin black shirt and a pair of army-green shorts. My heart is thumping in my throat by the time he’s right in front of me. He easily towers over me and then some, blocking the view, preventing me from looking anywhere else but at him and his giant, bulky body that could easily sweep me off my feet or rip me apart.
And I swallow from the mere idea of him having his way with me like the aggressive, powerful beast I know he can be.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he says.
“I know—”
“No, I don’t think you do,” he interjects. “I walked away last time when you needed me the most, and I almost lost you.”
I stare at him, not knowing what to say.
“But I would kill every last man on this fucking earth to save you.” He pauses, the weight of his words sinking in. “I will never, ever abandon you,” he says. “Do you understand?”
I lick my lips and nod.
He tilts up my chin with a single finger. “I don’t want anyone else but you.”
It’s as if he can see into my mind because when we were here together before, I always wondered when he’d want more. When he’d decide to just be free and do whatever he wanted. Explore the world. Kiss other girls.