Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Golden eyes burned in the night, so wide, filled with rage and hate.
“Oh my God.” The shock finally wore off enough that I jumped into action. I rushed across the porch and dropped to my knees in front of him. “Who did this?”
Frantic, I searched for injuries, eyes racing, my heart manic because I already knew.
I already knew who’d done this.
I’d dragged him into it.
Brought danger to his feet.
“Cody,” I whimpered.
Agony whipped through my spirit and cast me into a sea of torment.
“It looks worse than it is, darlin’. I just didn’t want to go storming in the house looking like death if Lolly and Maddie were still awake.”
He had a gaping cut on his right upper cheek and that side was beginning to swell. But it looked like most of the blood had come from a wound at the side of his head where it still trickled from his hairline.
“I’m so sorry.” I croaked it. “I’m so sorry.”
“Shh…” Cody reached out and took me by the jaw. Softly. Tenderly. Though I could feel the aggression that ticked through his muscles. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”
“You know that it is. Pruitt…” I choked over the vileness of his name.
Cody let his hand drift down to the side of my neck. He held me there. His eyes flaming and alive.
“Pruitt is a gutless fuckin’ coward. Sneaking up on me from behind and catching me unaware. But you can be sure that’s not going to happen again.”
“Because you’re going to stay away from me.” The ball of razors in my throat was so big it was a wonder I could even speak. The pain in my heart too great.
I’d known better, hadn’t I?
The risk I was running?
He cracked a grin. So sweet where the rest of his face was covered in blood. With the evidence of my foolishness. Misery squeezed my chest.
“The one thing you can count on, Hailey? It’s that I’m not going anywhere.”
“Cody, I can’t let you—”
He cut me off with a kiss. A hard press of his closed lips.
I could taste the copper tinge of his blood, and I inhaled it, inhaled him.
He held me that way for the longest time before he finally edged back, his thumbs back to brushing comfort along both sides of my jaw. “Whatever you’re trying to keep me out of, there’s no use in it, because I’m already there.”
“Cody.” My voice was a breath.
Affection and fear.
Devotion deepened his expression, the masculine lines of his face as inflexible as stone.
“I’m not going anywhere, and I promise you that I’m not going to let that asshole get to you. I wasn’t sure what we were dealing with before, but now I know.”
He didn’t though.
He didn’t know the despicable depths.
On shaky knees, I pushed to standing and stretched out my hand. “Come inside. We need to get you cleaned up.”
Cody didn’t argue.
He stood.
Towering.
Menacing.
Protecting.
I could feel the haven of it as he loomed over me, and I turned and began to lead him inside. He followed behind, his boots thudding on the wooden porch, the race of his heart bashing against my spirit.
I slipped through the door, and he clicked it shut behind us, his action pointed as he turned the locks. Then we quietly moved through the house and into the bathroom within my bedroom.
“Sit.” I angled him for the toilet.
He somehow managed a smirk. “Bossy.”
Exasperated, I rolled my eyes, every molecule in my body haggard with the knowledge of what had happened. “You seem set on taking care of me. I think it’s only fair if I take care of you.”
“This isn’t a tit-for-tat thing, Hailey. You don’t owe me anything.”
I reached into the long cupboard beside the sink, pulled out a washcloth, and ran it under hot water. Then I edged back in his direction, the air heavy with implication. With this connection that crackled.
Both soothing and inciting.
My lungs filled with it, almost to the point of pain, like I might burst apart looking at him where he’d been battered because of me.
I gently reached out and pressed the cloth to the wound at the side of his head.
“Isn’t it, though?” My words were so quiet they barely broke above the hum that wisped through the small room. “Isn’t that what this is, Cody? Giving and taking? Receiving and sharing?”
A big hand clamped down on my hip, and he tipped his marred face up to mine.
I wanted to weep.
Wanted to hold the power to wipe it all away.
“You don’t get it, Hailey. Getting to be in your space is enough reward for me. Getting to stand for you is a prize. A fucking honor.”
Hesitating, his gaze dropped away for a beat, his expression filled with an old, old grief when he looked back at me.
“I haven’t always been the best man, Hailey. I’ve made bigger mistakes than you could know. I’ve always known I didn’t deserve happiness. Not the true kind, at least. But I’d had this sense coming for a long, long time that maybe…maybe I was meant for something different. For something more. And now I know I was meant for this.”