Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76172 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76172 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
“Emmett,” she says, a hint of boredom in her tone. Her eyes scan up and down my body as if she’s assessing me.
I shift on my feet, not liking her scrutiny at all.
“Who is that?” I nearly growl when I see the middle-aged man standing beside her.
She lifts her chin an inch or so higher before speaking. “That’s the man who’s going to marry us.”
I almost huff a laugh but the seriousness in her tone prevents it. “Marry us?”
“Is she pregnant?” I hear Sunshine whisper. “She looks awful young.”
My eyes immediately drop to her waist. Her stomach is flat under the dress she has no business wearing. I fight the urge to claw out Stormy’s eyes since he’s the only other single man in the room.
“Hi,” my boss says as he steps forward with his hand out. “I’m Kincaid, and you are?”
“My best friend’s little sister,” I answer for her.
Gigi squeals, ever the one to like a messy situation. The woman thrives on drama, and I know it drives Hound fucking crazy.
Devyn ignores everyone in the room as she holds up a tattered little book. I know it’s one of her journals. She always had one with her, doodling in them to pass the time.
“You told me that if you turned thirty and weren’t married, you’d marry me. Happy birthday by the way.”
My brows draw closer together. I remember no such damn promise. I’d fucking never. The girl was a damn baby when Vaughn and I had left for the Corps.
“That makes you what, eighteen now?” I ask.
“And three months,” she says, the devious smile never leaving her face.
“You were a child when I made that promise.”
“Dad?” Gigi says, speaking to Kincaid, the giddiness no longer in her tone.
The implication that’s there makes my skin crawl.
“It wasn’t like that,” I mutter to everyone in the room.
“You promised Vaughn,” she says, her smile and that self-confidence she had faltering a little.
Did she honestly expect to walk in here and get an agreement from me because of something written in a journal from over ten years ago? I’m a man of integrity, and I keep my word, but this is taking that a little too far.
“That’s not fair,” I tell her, my legs still locked in place, our conversation happening too far apart for it to be private.
I feel every eye in the room volleying back and forth as we work through this.
“I’m not going to marry you.”
“Next!” Stormy says, stepping around me and giving Vaughn’s little sister a seductive smile.
Thankfully, for his sake, she doesn’t pay him any mind.
“Maybe we should take this to another room?” Kincaid says, offering me the reprieve I need right now.
“Will there be a wedding or not?” the man who accompanied Devyn here asks.
“No,” I hiss just as Devyn says, “Yes.”
She’s out of her damned mind.
It’ll never happen for so many reasons I’d be an old man if I had to stand here and list them all.
Kincaid frowns as he looks at the man. “There will not.”
His voice is full of authority. I’m glad the man has gotten involved, but at the same time, these are my colleagues. Devyn being here is going to bring up so many questions about shit I never wanted to talk about outside of the therapy sessions with Dr. Alverez that Cerberus requires.
“Someone owes me five hundred dollars,” the guy says, annoyance in his tone that his time has been wasted.
I don’t miss a beat, pulling my wallet out and handing over the money to the man.
I feel Devyn’s eyes drilling a hole into the side of my face, but I’ll deal with her later.
“You signed it,” she growls as the man folds the money and shoves it into his pocket so quickly, it makes me think he’s afraid I’ll change my mind and take it back from him.
Pages flutter close to my face as she turns the journal around for me to look at. I don’t give a shit what that book says. She has to be clinically insane if she thinks I’ll marry her because of something written in that damn book.
The man I just paid hasn’t moved, and I watch, rage bubbling inside of me when I see him look back at Devyn, his eyes drifting down her body.
“Brent,” Sunshine whispers, and I know she’s caught on to the same thing I have.
This type of man has no fucking business even stepping foot on Cerberus property. It makes me wonder what he did to her before they arrived. It’s been a long time since I had to take a life with my bare hands, but that clock is about to be reset.
“You coming with me?” he has the balls to ask, as if he isn’t standing in the middle of a room full of fucking scary-ass men.
I can’t even get my mouth open fast enough to answer for her when a resounding echo of noes fill the room.