Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 46081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
“Frost!” she yelled as he stormed out of the kitchen.
“Let him go.”
Her heart sank.
She faced Curly. “But, he’s…”
Her brother smiled despite the shitty situation. “Hon, you got his head all spun up. Let him work through it.”
“What do you mean? I haven’t done anything to him.”
That had Curly laughing despite the strain on his face from her story. “You’ve messed with him in the worst way, you just don’t realize it.” He stood and came around the table to rest a hand on her shoulder. “Thank you for sharing that. I imagine it wasn’t easy to relive.”
No. Not easy, but now that it was out there, she felt oddly good.
“Now that you have me and my club, nothing like that will ever happen to you again. Someone fucks with you, they fuck with all of us. And that’s a mistake they’ll only make once. Got it?”
She glanced up. “I got it.”
“Good.” He squeezed her shoulder. “I know you got your own life back in Minnesota, but think about sticking around in Florida. I know at least a few men who’d love for you to make your home here.” He winked, gave her another squeeze, and left her sitting at the table with her head spinning more than it had been when she came in for coffee and clarification.
Could she move to Florida?
Should she move to Florida?
And the most pressing question of all, where had Frost gone?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
HE’D KNOWN IT would be bad.
Intellectually, he’d understood something had happened to Rachel to make her afraid of certain types of men. So afraid her breathing changed, and her fight-or-flight response kicked in, causing her to flee before she had a panic attack and became completely vulnerable. He’d even tried to prepare himself to one day hear her tell an awful story of pain and horror.
But nothing could have prepared him for the punch to the gut he’d experienced when he walked in on Rachel sharing her history with Curly. At first, he’d frozen, struck by a fierce wave of jealousy. He wanted to be the one Rachel opened up to.
Shame followed immediately.
She’d come to Florida to form a relationship with her brother. Curly would be the constant in her life moving forward. Frost had no idea what was happening between them beyond wanting to be around her all the fucking time and dying to get her naked.
So he’d stayed quiet and accepted, even reveled in the fact that she had her brother to confide in. But then she’d asked him in, and he wouldn’t have turned down that invitation for anything. Her smile, full of sadness and strength, drew him like nothing else ever had. He’d wanted women for their looks before. Wanted them for their bodies, their skills between the sheets, but he’d never just plain wanted one for who she was.
And he wanted every single part of Rachel.
So hearing that a man protected his fucking rapist son by beating Rachel so badly she’d ended up with permanent physical and mental scars? That had him reacting with a strength that scared him. He’d needed to leave before he frightened her as well because he’d die before causing her one more ounce of fear.
“Yo! Jack Frost! What’s up, prospect?” Jinx called out. “You looking for some shit to clean? You can start with my boots.” He laughed and earned himself a smack to the back of his head from Spec. “Ow! What the fuck, man?”
Frost blinked. It appeared in his angry haze he’d stomped halfway across the farm to an area the club had designated as a shooting range. They’d built a heavily locked structure to store guns and set up five lanes for shooting.
“The guy looks like shit. Go easy on him,” Spec said to Jinx, who snorted.
“You going soft on me, brother?”
“Fuck that,” Spec shot back as he whacked Jinx again. “I never go soft.”
“That’s not what Liv says. Shit!” Jinx dodged an elbow to the ribs as he laughed. “What’s wrong, prospect? Your boo-boos hurting?”
Actually, he felt a million times better than he’d expected. A few Advil had taken care of the worst of the pain, leaving him with nothing worse than uncomfortable aches and a scary-looking face. “Nah, I might look extra shitty today, but I’m feeling okay.”
“So what’s got you out here looking like you want to rip the earth in half?” Jinx asked.
“Gotta be woman trouble.”
His eyes flicked to Spec.
“Knew it. What’sa matter? Prez not happy you’re sniffing around his little sister?”
Little sister. What a bunch of bullshit. Spec knew the woman was damn well fully grown.
Normally, he’d fire back with something snarky as fuck, but he didn’t have it in him right then. “He seems okay with it. I don’t want to betray her confidence, so I’m not gonna tell you shit, but she just got done telling me and Curly some serious shit about her past.”