Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 124451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
Lifting my head from his chest, I press my lips to his. “You’ll never have to.”
Tanner presses his forehead against mine and pulls me into his lap before dropping his head to my shoulder and holding me there, neither of us willing to move an inch. My arms wrap around him, hating the heaviness resting on his soul. I don’t know how to help him, how to ease the pain of realizing he’s killed a man, but I have to hope that this is enough, that I’m enough.
I’m just about to ask if he wants to go upstairs when Addison pushes back from Hudson behind me. “No, this isn’t right,” she seethes. “I can’t … I can’t just sit back and let Erica walk away from this. She might not have physically touched me, but she holds some responsibility for what happened to me that night. If she hadn’t been there, if she hadn’t encouraged Colby to fuck with me, I would have walked out of that party fairly unscathed.”
“I know,” he tells her. “But what can we do? We don’t have the evidence to support it. It’s our word against hers, and it’s not like we can trust the courts anyway. They let Colby walk free despite all the evidence.”
Addison shakes her head, fresh tears appearing on her cheeks. “But it’s not fair,” she cries. “It’s not fair.”
Her chest heaves with fast gasps and within the space of a few seconds, she starts hyperventilating, having some sort of panic attack. Her hand goes to her chest as everyone’s eyes begin to widen. “Fuck,” Tanner rushes out, more than ready to throw me off him in order to get to his sister, but Hudson is right there, his hands gripping her arms and pulling her in close.
“Look at me,” he tells her, keeping calm and focusing his whole attention only on her. “Focus on me, babe.”
Addison looks up at him, her panicked stare locked on his. Her brows furrow and I hate the fear I see deep in her eyes. She watches him as though he’s her whole world, relying on him to make everything okay, and I don’t doubt he’s the only person on the planet who has the power to do so.
When the panic doesn’t subside, he steps in closer, weaving his hand up around the back of her neck. “I got you,” he tells her, his voice velvety smooth as it sails through the foyer. “You’re safe here.”
She nods, her eyes locked on him as though they’re the only two people in the world, and just like that, she inhales deeply and finds peace, somehow managing to pull herself out of the storm. She doesn’t look away, watching him as though he’s her knight in shining armor, but the look in her eyes—she’s still scared. Terrified, in fact. She wants him so bad. She wants to be his world, but she’s not able to make the move herself. She needs him to take the reins and give her the push she so desperately craves.
As if reading her, Hudson inches in the final step, refusing to look away as her body finally begins to relax and just when I think he’s about to give her whispered words of wisdom, he closes the gap, bringing his lips down on hers in the softest kiss.
Addison’s whole body melts into his and his arm closes around her waist, holding her to him. He takes his time, not wanting to push her farther than she’s willing to go, but his intention is crystal clear. If she couldn’t see what she meant to him before, she sure as hell can now. She might not understand just how deeply it runs, but these two are end goals.
Wanting to give them some privacy to figure out this new, crazy status of their relationship, I crawl off Tanner’s lap and take his hand. “Come on,” I tell him, noticing the way Sara ducks away, slipping back toward the dining room. “Let’s give them some space.”
Tanner stands and loops our joined hands over my shoulder, pulling me into his side. “Yeah,” he mutters, clearly not in the mood for his usual smartass quips and remarks. We start walking up the stairs to his bedroom, and with each step we take, the heaviness weighs down further on my shoulders, knowing damn well this is going to be a long road through hell and back.
Chapter 22
TANNER
The ball flies from my hands, sailing through the air like a knife through butter. At least, it looked that way until it started to fall flat. The ball doesn’t even make it into Logan’s waiting hands, only serving to frustrate the shit out of me.
Jax stands at the sidelines beside Coach Wyld, his arms outstretched and disgust etched across his face. “The fuck was that?” he spits as Coach scoffs an agreeable grunt. I know I deserve it, but fuck, Jax’s attitude makes me want to wring his neck.