Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
My stalker lands hard on the ground, and the wind is knocked from him. He looks so small and pathetic right now that it's hard to imagine why I was once scared of him. But still sends a horrible surge through me as he gets back on his feet, eyes blazing. If he’s armed, this could turn nasty quickly, and I wouldn’t put it past him…
But Elijah is too quick for him anyway. He shoves my stalker so hard that the newly plastered wall crumbles a little when his back hits the wall. I can barely believe how strong Elijah is, how determined he is to use his strength to protect me. He squares up to my stalker once again, breathing hard as he confronts him.
“This is only a taste of what I’m capable of,” Elijah growls. “You want to test me? Go ahead and try. I’ll make you regret it.”
“You can’t do this!” my stalker hisses, but he finally has the sense to look afraid. Elijah towers over him, a looming, intimidating presence.
“I’ll do what I want. This is my home, and it’s my woman you’re terrorizing,” he snarls. “If you leave here and never come back, I’ll spare you. But if you choose to stay here and drag this out further…I’ll make sure you regret it.”
The stalker makes one last attempt to surge toward me, and Elijah throws a punch so hard that the stalker’s head practically snaps to the side. He cries out in pain, blood pouring from his nose. Elijah growls at him.
“I warned you,” he snarls. “Last chance to get the hell out of here.”
The stalker doesn’t even look at me now as he races for the door, clearly terrified. Within seconds, he’s gone, and I feel relief wash over me. He’s gone, and he’s not coming back. Somehow, I know that for sure. After what Elijah just did, I think he’ll be running scared for the rest of his life, looking over his shoulder to make sure Elijah isn’t hunting him down. Now he knows how it felt to be in my shoes. To be constantly scared.
But not anymore.
There’s blood on Elijah’s knuckles, but I don’t even care as he rushes to me and wraps his strong arms around me. I sink into him, shaking as I realize that I’m safer than I have been in a very long time.
This time last week, I was worrying that the stalker would haunt me until the day I died. But now, Elijah has banished him. Like a nightmare that’s just starting to fade from memory, the threat doesn’t even feel real anymore.
“Are you alright?” he asks. I can’t believe he’s checking up on me when he’s the one that fought him off. I nod against his chest.
“Thanks to you…Elijah…I don’t know how I’ll ever thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” he says, kissing the top of my head protectively. “It’s my job to keep you safe. And I always will, baby. I always will.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Elijah
It’s nine am, and I’m walking through the town square with Olivia to go to the store. We’re buying ingredients for the kitchen because our delivery was postponed, and Olivia is going to pick out the produce for the menu tonight.
As we walk hand in hand through my hometown, I realize that this is the kind of life I always imagined for myself. Something as simple as walking to get groceries with the woman I love has felt out of my reach for a long time. As a global superstar, I guess I got used to a different kind of lifestyle.
But the longer I stay here in my hometown, the more it feels like the place I’m meant to be. I took a break from acting for a reason. I was still dealing with my brother’s death and felt I needed a break from the limelight for some time since. Things had become so crazy. I just needed to decompress for a while, hoping no one would find me. Then, here came Olivia, and we basically found each other. And now, coming back here, I realize all of the things I’ve been missing out on. Time with my family, closeness to my brother, and the memories we made here.
Olivia. I had no idea she was going to walk into my life, but now, it seems like she’s given me a reason to want to stay here, build a life and a family in a town with good old-fashioned values. Sure, I could whisk her off to Hollywood, and we could make a life there. I could go back to acting and buy her expensive things, and we’d still be happy.
But that doesn’t feel like the future for us. Instead, I see myself having a quieter life with her. I’ve focused on my career for a long time, and now, suddenly, I’m dreaming of a world where it’s just she and I, enjoying our time together and raising a passel of kids. With Olivia, finding joy in the little things in life tends to appeal to me now more than ever. I have no desire to go back to the way I used to live. Not when I’ve seen how being here with her has made me happier than I’ve ever been before.