Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 62847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
He stared at me, his jaw ticking. I slumped, feeling suddenly tired.
“I just- I think I want to go inside now.”
He pressed a kiss to my forehead and nodded.
“Yeah. We can talk about this later- at home.”
Connor
“What do you mean she’s not coming home with me?”
“This is her home. And until I see the two of you standing at the alter in front of a Goddamn preacher, that aint’ gonna change.”
“Casey! Get back in here!”
What the hell was happening? Why was she doing this? I shouted again but she didn’t answer.
Casey had gone in the back and hadn’t come out again. I tried to barge past Mason but he stopped me.
“Let me talk to her dammit!”
He just shook his head.
“You pissed her off dude. Or something. She needs time.”
He smirked at me.
“And I expect a ring and marriage license before you get your filthy paws on her again.”
I moaned staring past him to the dark hallway. I had pissed her off when I talked about Mase. Dammit! I had plans for her tonight.
And tomorrow morning.
And all weekend.
And the rest of our damn lives!
She was mine, dammit!
“I fucking knew I should have just let you talk on the phone.”
He chuckled.
“Thanks for bringing the pets by. You took good care of them.”
“Of course I did. Jesus!”
He walked me to the door as I dragged my feet, staring down the hallway. I kept hoping she’d peek her head out. Wave at me.
Come home with me.
At least give me those damn panties! I moaned, realizing how wet they must be from all the teasing I’d done… the soft blue cotton must be dark and sweet with her juices by now. I’d gotten her all riled up so we could suffer together.
Well, now I was the one in pain and there was no end in sight.
I was in a daze of confusion as Mason pushed me out the door and started to shut it.
“Wait-”
“Yeah?”
“I need to fucking talk to her!”
“She’s got her phone back now, no thanks to you. She’ll call you.”
Cassandra
I curled on my bed, fighting back tears. Connor said he wanted to be with me, but he wasn’t okay with who I was. Who my people were.
And that wasn’t the worst of it. The worst was what he hadn’t said. He’d never said the three little words that would have made this okay.
He’d never said ‘I love you.’ Maybe he didn’t love me. I pressed my hands over my face as the tears fell.
I loved him, dammit!
Maybe this was all a mistake.
Had he tricked me without meaning to? Made me love him because I was confusing sex and love? I’d never been with anyone before. Never had much of a crush, other than on movie and television stars.
Not since grade school.
I was so stupid. He wanted someone else. Someone who wasn’t a runaway who worked in a biker bar. I felt like my heart was ripping open as I realized that I wasn’t that girl.
He wanted Cassandra Elliot.
The bright-eyed, straight A student who loved turning cartwheels in the backyard. I’d loved dancing more than anything, dreaming of making it a career.
That girl would have grown up. Gone to the prom. Had a boyfriend or two. Gone off to college.
That was a girl his mother would have been happy to meet. Not a scraggly waitress in a biker bar who didn’t even have a real name anymore.
I was no one. In so many ways, I was invisible. I didn’t count. Not to someone like him.
I rolled over, hugging my pillow to my chest. All the things he’d done to me. Maybe he just wanted that? Sex, without love.
Maybe he’d just been marrying me to protect me for a legal reason. Or because he was a control freak more like it. Did he just want a marriage of convenience?
And what he’d said about Mase… well, that was fucking my head up too.
Was my guardian, my savior, really a killer?
I knew he’d been wild in his day. He could give a beatdown like nobody’s business. He had to in the bar, when the bouncers needed back up.
But a killer? I couldn’t imagine the tough but gentle man who took in stray animals hurting someone out of spite.
Only to protect someone he cared about.
Maybe that’s what Conn was talking about. Mason would kill someone who hurt one of his own, or even threatened to.
A soft knock at my door had me sitting up and wiping the tears from my face.
“You up?”
“Yes.”
“You want to tell me what that was about?”
“Conn? I got mixed up with him. That’s all. He didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Why’d you let him leave without talking to him then? If he hurt you-”
“No.” I shook my head vigorously. “He didn’t. He wouldn’t.”
I took a deep breath.
“He was upset about Cain.”
Mase crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe.