Total pages in book: 224
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
She moans and sinks into the kiss, her arms sliding around me and my hand settles between her shoulder blades, molding her closer. I can never get this woman close enough, not now, not ever and the idea that my father was with her, feeding her head with bullshit, sends a surge of hot new anger through me. “You are not a weakness,” I say, tearing her mouth from mine. “Do not let him fuck with your head.”
“Says the man who’s letting Elijah mess with your head?” she challenges.
My lips thin and I press my hands on the wall next to her head. “I’m not going to tell you that he didn’t fuck with my head, but the entire reason I left and came here was that I needed space to get my head right.”
“You needed space from me? Why, if you’re worried about me, would you need space from me?”
“When I’m with you I want to go beat him to a pulp for what he did today, and you won’t let me do that.”
“Beat him to a pulp or worse, Reid?” she challenges hotly.
Fuck. She sees too much and I cut my stare. Her hand comes down on my cheek and she forces my gaze to hers. “We both know where your head was and that you wanted to do a whole lot more than beat him to a pulp. If that’s your reaction to this, then your father is right. I’m a weakness.” She tries to move away and I cage her legs.
“You are not a weakness, Carrie. Damn, woman. You made me human again. You’re why I have a relationship with my sister. You’re why I have a damn Christmas tree this year. So yes, you’re the reason I want to hurt him, but you’re also the reason I haven’t. Yet. I haven’t yet but I’m not promising it’s not coming.”
“You’re thinking about me, not what Elijah is really up to which is exactly what your father said. He’s right and you need to get focused on the right things.”
“You are the right thing. My father is too much of an empty monster to even see that. If he was a real man, he’d have been here trying to figure out how to protect you and me. Instead, he used this to try to separate us. That’s all that was in there. Him trying to divide us. Him trying to seem righteous, and that asshole and his talk about my mother—fuck him.”
“Nothing you said changes the part where he was right about where your head is right now. You’re thinking about hurting Elijah for me. Maybe that’s exactly what he wants. Maybe he’s not insane but smart. He’s outsmarting you and you don’t get outsmarted.”
“He’s not fucking outsmarting me. We were already starting to look for real answers and I was wishing like hell I hadn’t left you at home.”
“You shouldn’t have had to wish I was here. I should have been here.” She grabs my shirt and balls her fist around it. “Listen to me, Reid Maxwell, I wanted to be in business with you for a reason. I know how hard you are. I know what you’re capable of and I know I am not capable of those things. Sometimes I’m too soft. Sometimes you’re too hard or cold. We complement each other in business and in life.”
“I know that. You know I know that.”
“And yet you shut me out. You didn’t want me to see what was there, under the surface. If that’s how this is going to be, then it’s not, we’re not, what I want. All in, good, bad, and ugly. If you can’t—”
“There is no can’t with us, Carrie, but, baby, this stuff with Elijah, with him confronting you, hits nerves, you know it does, but what my father did, showing up here and trying to shut you out, that’s part of that history. He’s a part of it.”
I push off the door and walk to the desk, pressing my hands on the wooden surface, my mind going back to the night of the shooting, back to that call with my father and what a cold-hearted prick he’d been. Carrie appears by my side, her hand on my back. “He knows about the shooting,” she assumes.
“Yes. He knows.” I push off the desk but I don’t face her. “I called him and his immediate reaction was to get me out of there and demand I change schools.” I scrub my jaw and turn to face her. “He didn’t even want me to go to the funeral. Her death was bad press.”
“Did you?”
“Hell yes, I went. She saved my life. I was the one who called her parents and holy fuck, Carrie, I will never forget her mother’s screams. She dropped the phone and just screamed at the top of her lungs. I was there when they arrived. I acted like a son. I spoke at the funeral. My father was furious, but I didn’t care.” I pull her to me. “He wants me to turn my back on you, too. That’s not going to happen, but I’m not always going to be worthy of you, Carrie, you need to know that, especially now, with Elijah breathing down our throats.”