Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 62710 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62710 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
“God dammit,” I cry out. “Slow down.”
He comes to a stop, panting with a rage I didn’t think was possible coming from just one person, and as he looks down at me, his voice comes out hard as stone. “Get. Up.”
With my spare hand, I reach for a piece that is lying on the ground. What once was a beautiful bike has just been destroyed. He has smashed anything he possibly can, crushing every single bit of it. That is an anger I could never understand. I lift the large piece of metal into my hand and see it has some of the painting on it. I narrow my eyes, and notice that the eye on this piece looks a whole lot like mine ...
Western was painting me on there.
Oh god.
“Western ...”
“Get up,” he bellows.
I push to my feet, fighting my tears as he pulls us toward his workbench and begins scrounging around to find something to disconnect us.
“Please, just give me five minutes. I’m begging you. Then, you won’t hear from me again.”
He looks to me, his nostrils flaring. “Five minutes? You want five fuckin’ minutes? To tell me what? That you’re a fuckin’ liar? That I gave you somethin’ and you stomped all over it? Not a single thing you can say will ever make me see you differently. You’re just like everyone else.”
Those words hurt, they hurt because he’s so wrong.
I’m not like everyone else. He should know I’m not like everyone else. I’m the first person outside of this club, in a long time, to even look in his direction. Did I make a mistake? Yes. Does it mean that I’m a monster? No.
“I’m nothing like everyone else,” I say, my voice a low whisper. “I believed you. How many others can say the same?”
His eyes flash as he steps up close to me until our bodies are slammed together, the hard ridges of his muscles warm against me. I suck in a breath, all thought leaving my mind as I look up at him, trying hard not to reach up and run my fingers down the chiseled planes of his jaw. I’m in love with him. I’m terrified of that. I know it’s going to get me hurt. Between us, his cock hardens, an almost immediate response, and my lips part on a gasp.
“I can’t stand you,” he growls, his eyes never leaving mine.
“Your cock says otherwise,” I throw back.
“You think because I want to stick my dick inside you that it means I care?”
Ouch.
Those words hurt, and he knows it.
“What’s stopping you then?” I challenge, acting as if my heart isn’t aching from his cruel sentence.
“I don’t fuck liars.”
“Really? Because your wife is a pretty good liar, yet it doesn’t stop you fucking her.”
“You’re right, it doesn’t. At least I know she has my back.”
Those words slash right through my heart, and I swallow the thick lump that rises in my throat. Out of all the things he could have said, that one hurts the most. It’s in this moment, I realize that nothing I can say to him is going to make a difference. He has made up his mind about me. Everything we shared clearly means nothing.
The roaring pain in my body is almost deafening as I rasp, “Get these cuffs off.”
He looks momentarily confused, shocked by my outburst.
“Get them off,” I scream, so loudly he flinches and takes a step back, the space between us feeling cold almost immediately.
He reaches for a tool on the bench, I don’t know what it is, and I don’t care. My entire body is shaking, my stomach is turning and tears are rolling down my cheeks. I’m angry, I’m ashamed, I’m hurt and I’m disappointed in myself. So many emotions that I can’t make sense of. Western tugs and pulls, and then I hear a loud click and my hand drops to my side. I turn immediately, walking toward the door, the tears threatening to send me into complete undoing.
I pause when I reach it and turn, glancing at him.
“For someone who has been through so much, I expect bitterness. You have had an unfair life, you got dealt a bad hand. I don’t blame you for that, how could I? It has made you cold, it has hardened your heart, and I know I’ll never change that. You should know, though, Nightmare, that I never set out to hurt you. If you knew me at all, you would know that I was doing it because I knew someone had done you wrong. I was on your side. I was fighting for your freedom. Thanks for showing me that all along I was wrong, you really are a monster.”
With that, I turn and leave the shed.
The still silence following behind me.
3
Leaving the clubhouse, my mind a complete mess, I momentarily forget that I’m here with Luna. I’m so caught up in my own emotions, so tangled in the pain consuming my body, that I walk out of the front gates and onto the road. Moving down it, my head a complete blur, I force my body to move. It’s only after a few minutes that I stop and remember that I have a friend inside who can give me a ride.