Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
I couldn’t wait to get out of here.
He poked his head out and talked to someone. “Yeah, I’ve got her. Hold on.” He climbed back down and landed on the concrete beside me. “Octavio and the guys are up there. They’ll take you to Theo.”
Once I climbed up that ladder, it would be over. “Thank you for everything. I really appreciate it.”
A boyish smile came on to his lips. “It’s no big deal.”
“Well, it’s a big deal to me.”
He clapped me on the shoulder before he stepped away. “Go home. I’ve got to scrub the smell of shit off my arms so my wife will open for business tonight.”
“Yeah, I’ve got to do the same.”
“Knowing Theo, he won’t care.”
I climbed up the ladder, and the smell of the night hit me. Clean and cool, a welcome breeze hit my face. When I reached the top, one of the guys grabbed me and helped me to my feet. Then he made a face, like he could smell what I’d been smelling for the last hour. “I’ve got her.” He spoke into a comms unit in his ear. “We’re headed back now.”
We pulled behind the gates, and I walked inside the place I considered home.
Theo was waiting for me.
He stood there in his black sweatpants and nothing else, a bandage wrapped around his right shoulder. He looked the same except for the bruising down his right arm and torso. It was noticeable, even against the dark ink. His eyes ate me up like I was his favorite dinner.
I wanted to run into his arms and kiss him hard on the mouth, but I refrained.
When I didn’t come to him, he came to me, his eyes still steady.
“I—I smell.” It was such an awkward thing to say, but I didn’t want him to step into the cloud and recoil. “Let me take a shower first.”
“I don’t care.” His hand slid into my hair, and he kissed me, kissed me like I hadn’t just climbed out of a sewer. His arm circled my waist, and he pulled me closer, kissing me like we’d been apart for weeks rather than days. When he ended the kiss, he rested his forehead against mine. “I’ll shower with you.”
We stood under the water together. My clothes had been thrown away and my skin scrubbed with an entire bar of soap. I washed my hair twice, just to be sure.
Theo found the situation amusing.
“There were so many rats down there.”
“I’m glad that’s all you saw.”
“You don’t understand. These were big, fat rats.”
When he smirked, his eyes lit up too. “You’re braver than most people.”
“Well, Axel was with me.”
“Even so. Most women wouldn’t have done what you did.”
“Well, I wanted to come home. Really wanted to come home. I missed you.”
Affection shone bright in the darkness of his eyes. “I missed you too.”
My eyes drifted down his body, seeing the bruising that couldn’t be ignored. “What happened?”
He didn’t glance to check the area, like he knew exactly what I was referring to. “I fell.”
“You fell?”
“Bolton released poisonous gas into the building, so I had to jump.”
“Jump where?”
“Out the window.”
“Oh my god.”
“I landed on the roof of a car. Got lucky, because if I’d hit the concrete, I probably would have broken a couple things.”
My hands automatically went to my face, and I closed my eyes as I tried to get the horrible image out of my head.
“Sweetheart.” His hands grabbed my wrists and gently pulled them from my face. “I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
“I’ve had worse, believe me.”
“Still not making me feel better…”
He smirked again before he released me. “In a couple weeks, it’ll fade, and we’ll forget about it.”
“How did you kill Carson?”
His lightheartedness immediately evaporated. “She released a gas grenade, so I had to take her mask or die. She didn’t think her plan through very well.”
“So, you ripped it off her face?”
“Yes. I don’t feel bad about it. I would have spared her if I could, but she gave me no choice.”
“You shouldn’t.” I felt bad for her, but for different reasons. I didn’t know what Bolton had told her, but it was probably all lies. “She made her choice.”
“I’m glad you don’t think I’m a monster.”
He was the size of a monster. He looked like a monster in some ways. But he was nothing like Bolton. “He’s the monster.”
We finished in the shower and moved to the bedroom. I’d only been gone for two days, but it felt so much longer than that. When I looked at the bed, it felt like I hadn’t seen it in years.
Theo set his things on the nightstand like he did every night, his phone and his watch. Then he pulled back the covers so he could get inside the sheets. He was buck naked, so he obviously didn’t plan to sleep. He moved to the center of the bed, sitting up against the headboard, his hard dick against his stomach. He looked at me expectantly, like a horse waiting for its rider.