Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Wow. That hurt more than she’d thought it could. “It’s good to know how you think, Alfi. When all this is over, don’t feel like you need to check in on me again. I’ll be fine.”
He sighed, a hand scrubbing through his hair. “Damn it, you don’t understand a thing I’m saying. You’ll drag him down into the mud with you because you’re too daft to see that you don’t belong there. You think I didn’t run a check on you? I know all about what happened. I’m sure Brody thinks he knows, too, but I would bet he knows nothing about what you did in the years after the wreck.”
She felt her whole body flush with shame. “No, I suspect he doesn’t or he wouldn’t think I was too good for him.”
Alfi groaned. “That’s where you’re underestimating him. He won’t care. He won’t care how many men you tore through trying to forget. He won’t care what drugs you did in an insane attempt to make things right with the universe because you think someone somewhere got it all wrong. He won’t care what you did in the past. He’ll try to make it so you never feel that way again. He’ll love you if you let him and when that man loves… I’ve never known a better man than Brody Carter, and that’s why I wanted to take you from him. I thought if I could make you love me instead, maybe I’d be more like him. I ain’t going to change, luv. I’m going to die exactly who I am right now—a good for nothing player, but I do care about him. If you’re not going to change, then you should walk away from him.”
That was the whole problem she found herself faced with now. “I can’t walk away from him. We have a child. And I have changed. I don’t do self-destructive things anymore. I’m over that.”
“You have a child who almost got killed out there, so I beg to differ. I watched you. You didn’t care about anything until you realized Nate wasn’t safe.”
He wasn’t right. She didn’t believe it. “I did, too. I cared about everyone in that clinic.”
“Not yourself. You didn’t give a bloody damn about yourself, and that’s what will kill Brody. His brother died and I thought he would lay down and die with him. What’s going to happen when the only woman he’s ever loved dies because she needs to martyr herself more than she needs to live?”
“Hey, I think you should go sleep it off, mate. Now.” Brody was standing in the doorway, a forbidding expression on his face.
“I’ve said what I needed to say.” Alfi stood up and made his way to the door. “I’ll bunk in with the crazy one. Tucker whatever his name is.”
“Why did you come here, Alfi?” Brody asked.
Alfi stopped, one hand on the door, holding it open. “Didn’t know where else to go. If everyone I know is going to get themselves murdered, thought I probably should, too.”
He walked out, but Steph still felt a hole in her gut.
“What did he say to you?” Brody asked. “I didn’t catch anything but his tone and the look on your face. Should I talk to him?”
She shook her head. “No. He didn’t say anything I didn’t already know. I’m going to get Nate.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“I can handle it.”
He stepped in front of her, looming large. “Sweetheart, he said something that upset you. I wish you would talk to me about it. He’s pissed. You can’t listen to him.” One big hand came out to smooth back her hair. “He’s also jealous as hell. I can’t blame him. You’re a beautiful woman.”
Tears sparked behind her eyes. “I can’t do this with you right now.”
“Do what?” He moved closer, drawing her in. “Do this? Take comfort from someone who cares about you? You had a rough day. Let me take care of you. You can’t be all wound up around our boy. He’ll sense it and it’ll affect him, too. Come here and let me take some of this burden from you.”
She was enveloped in his arms again and she couldn’t find the will to break away. He was right. It had been a shitty day at the end of a string of shitty days, and he was safety and warmth and pleasure all wrapped up in one gorgeous man package. Despite the fact that Alfi’s words and what she’d realized in the shrink’s office that day were plaguing her brain, she couldn’t force herself to move away from him.
“That’s better. That makes me feel better,” he whispered against her ear. “I had a nice day with Nate. He’s a good kid. I might have called my mum and told her about him. Took a couple of pictures and texted her. I hope you don’t mind.”