Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 17267 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 86(@200wpm)___ 69(@250wpm)___ 58(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17267 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 86(@200wpm)___ 69(@250wpm)___ 58(@300wpm)
“And what’s that?” I’m not afraid of him. Hell, with how scrawny Adam is, I like my chances in a fistfight. But to avoid any unnecessary confrontation, I walk backward from him anyway.
“You and that freaking gorilla. You’re trying to make me jealous,” he says. “And it’s working. But you don’t have to, Olivia. Maybe I haven’t made myself clear, so I’ll say it plainly. I love you.”
Holy shit, his delusions have gotten out of hand. I’ve barely spoken a word to him in two years, and this is what he’s picking up from my budding relationship with Victor?
Maybe I should be scared of him. He’s unhinged and unstable, and now I’ve trapped myself, with Adam blocking my only exit.
“You need to stop this, Adam. I’ve told you already, I’m not interested.” I have to stand my ground. Buckling will give his twisted mind reason to think he has a place in my future.
Even if it means I have to do it with a quivering lip and fearful ache building in my tummy.
“But that’s just the thing.” Adam’s accompanying smile says he thinks he knows what I want better than I do. “You are. I can see it when you look at me. Your face always ligh—”
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Victor’s voice booms from the doorway before Adam can finish his sentence.
Just like that, relief replaces terror.
My heart starts fluttering in my chest for completely different reasons than Adam’s intimidation.
Victor is here.
I’m safe.
No one can scare or hurt me anymore.
9
VICTOR
Iwouldn’t classify myself as a particularly violent man. I don’t live my life by the ideology that the pen is mightier than the sword, but I do believe that words can often lead to a better outcome than swinging fists.
But standing in this doorway and seeing the little fucker cornering Olivia in the back of the room, I’m willing to make an exception. I gave Adam the carrot, the ability to walk away from this unscathed with his teeth still firmly slotted in his jaw.
Now, it’s time to give him the stick.
“Listen, big man, I’ve said it once.” He spins around to face me, and his eyes nearly pop out of his skull as he takes me in again. It’s only been a few days, but somehow, Adam forgot what an imposing force he was dealing with. I guess the look of fury twisting my face in a scowl can’t ease his nerves. “This doesn’t concern you.” The rest of his sentence doesn’t hold the same conviction as the start of it.
“From where I’m standing, you’re backing my woman into a corner. Scaring her.” I take a step forward, and he cowers from me the same way he made Olivia recoil from him.
“It’s the twenty-first century.” His rattling jaw makes him stammer over the words. “You can’t own people anymore.”
“Don’t play smart with me, fuck-face.” I look over his head as if he’s a tall obstacle and at Olivia. The look of fear that flooded her features when I entered has already melted away to a sheepish grin that I’ve started associating with the succubus that dwells deep inside her core. Good girl. Don’t ever let this piece of shit bring you down. “Are you okay, beautiful?”
“I am now that you’re here.” Her sultry voice emboldens my next few steps toward Adam.
Yup, we’re gonna have some fun after this. Who’d have thought beating the piss out of a Brit would set her off?
“Hey, get away from me.” Adam jumps back before I even make a move against him. Smart man, but he’s still within arm’s reach, and he will pay greatly for this mistake.
“Remember what I said to you the last time you pulled a dumb ass stunt like this?” I square off against the piece of shit standing between me and my woman.
“That I shouldn’t talk to her.” Adam clears his throat and puffs out his pigeon chest to make himself look bigger. That shit doesn’t work on me. “But I’m not scared of you.”
You should be.
“No. What were my words to you?” I ask again, feeling my eyes narrow to tiny slits. Like I said that day, none of this is for intimidation. They’re all warnings. And he’s going to suffer the extent of my wrath. “Here, I’ll help. I said if you talk to Olivia again, I’ll . . .”
“You’ll slap this cocky grin off my face.” He takes a step closer while repeating my words.
Big mistake.
“My, my, your confidence is astounding.”
“What’s that supposed to me—"
Before he can finish his question, I swing my right arm toward him viciously. It collides with the pompous Brit’s cheek with a thunderous slap that sends him hurtling back until he trips over his own feet and falls to his ass.
“What the fuck? You hit me.” His shrill screech sounds like nails on a chalkboard, and both his hands instantly shoot to his cheek to latch onto the now-wounded flesh. “You can’t hit me.”