Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 51248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
All because of what? Because she made my dick hard and brought on feelings from far too long ago before I knew shit and still had hope for something else? It was all a mistake.
And now I’ve fucked us both.
The bed groans as I slowly climb out of it, easing the covers off with care before staring down at her sleeping form. Everything aches with the dread of what’s to come. With only pajama bottoms on, I head to the bathroom. Before leaving my bedroom, I quickly slip on an undershirt and grab my phone.
I only hesitate a moment after the door closes with a quiet click. There’s no way to lock it from the outside. I settle on a simple truth: if she leaves that bed after I told her not to, she’ll seal her own fate. My heart thuds dully as I make my way down the hall. So much is riding on her actions. There’s too much I can’t control, too many people aware she’s been spared, too many eyes watching and waiting.
With exhaustion weighing me down and an unsettling feeling warning me that things have gone too far and the situation’s out of my hands, I go to the only place I know is safe.
A bit of hope glimmers when I notice light peeking from under Carter’s closed door.
Swallowing thickly, I knock lightly and he must’ve seen my approach on the monitor because he calls out for me to come in straightaway.
It’s an odd feeling that comes over me as the door creeps open. It’s a nostalgia of sorts, like when we first had the estate built over a decade ago. When Carter gave every order and all I had to do was what I was told. When my brothers protected me and I obeyed without question, wanting nothing more than to remain in their shadows. Time has changed everything.
Carter’s dark but tired eyes stare back at me, the glow of his laptop screen the only light other than a floor lamp in the far corner. Old books line the left side of his office, while art from Aria covers the right wall in its entirety.
She’s changed him in more ways than he knows.
“Can’t sleep,” I offer and he gestures for me to sit in one of the two leather wingback chairs across from him.
“Same,” he answers grimly before closing the laptop. The thick curtains behind him are parted and the moonlight filters in.
As I take the seat opposite him, I remember how he looked at Braelynn from across the kitchen. How he looked at us. The regret sours to something else. Something sickening that I can’t place. He must read it in my expression because his own changes, reflecting both authority and remorse.
It’s quiet far too long, both of us waiting for the other to speak first. His thumb taps against the hard surface of his desk before he takes in a steadying breath.
His lips part but instead of talking, he clears his throat and then glances at the door before looking back to me.
“Tell me what you need,” he says, finally breaking the silence. He’s wise not to mention her. There’s something inside of me that dares him to say her name. That dares him to question me keeping her. Even though I know damn well what I’ve done is fucked.
I start with the most troubling issue outside of Braelynn and me. “I don’t know how to cover what happened to Ronnie.”
“Who all saw?” Carter questions.
“Nate and Hale.” Our conversation is clipped and blunt as I grip the armrests and do everything I can to stay calm and still.
“Nate will understand that you lost it,” Carter says easily and then seems to second-guess his wording.
I wave his nervous look off. “I did. I lost control,” I admit.
He studies me a fraction of a second before nodding. “Hale was closer to Ronnie, correct? He’ll need an explanation. Perhaps Ronnie was given specific instructions that she wasn’t—” He sucks in a sharp breath when he realizes he brought her up. “Tell Hale that Ronnie did something which directly contradicted your orders. That is the only explanation that will settle him … for the moment. Bring him in closer, make sure he knows he’s safe and valued, and that you wish you’d told him in advance what you planned to do, since Ronnie had a history of willful disobedience. Unless he’s already confided in others. It’s been hours. Something like that is hard to keep quiet among men who are loyal to each other.”
It’s a difficult pill to swallow. Sacrificing good soldiers and then lying to cover up my own mistakes. A numbness comes over me as I nod slowly and respond, “I understand.”
“Do what you have to. It’s either that or Hale also needs to be silenced.”