Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 155798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
I closed my eyes at how good he felt as he slowly began rubbing against me.
I didn’t think he was aware of moving. His eyes were so heated, the need to hurt was spitting back at me. “Stevie was selling drugs for her boyfriend. I know that world, know what else he might’ve been making her do for him.” Torment wrung from him. He hissed, a low snarl coming next. “I had no clue. Not one damn clue, thought Shannon would never go back there because baby, that’s the world I used to live in. Budd sold drugs and I enforced for him. A part of me liked it. I liked hurting people. It made sense to me. That world’s not going to touch Stevie. I won’t let her get pulled back in by him, by his boss, by his boss’s boss, because that’s how it works. Once you’re in, they don’t let you leave.” His eyes burned at the same time they were dead. “I know what it takes to get out. I won’t let that land on my niece.”
Pain sliced through me.
“Not this time.” He started to pull back, his words so icy. “It’s time for you to leave. You don’t want to be here for what’s going to happen next.”
My hands clamped down on his arms, holding him in place, although we both knew that was a lie. I wasn’t strong enough to do that, but my touch on him had the same effect.
He froze, still wrapped around me.
“Billie,” he sighed, tipping his head back.
“You think words like that are going to scare me?” I leaned in close and he looked back down to me. An inch separated us. “You forget who you’re talking to.”
His nostrils flared. We continued to battle each other, silently, until he clipped out, “I’m going to do what I was born to do and I’m going to protect Stevie as I do it. I know what’ll happen to me after. Prison or death. That’s where we end up in my family. It’s my time, my turn. I’m okay with that. If I survive whoever this asshole’s boss sends after me, then Budd’s going to be fucking ecstatic when I show up in the cell next to him.”
The guy jerked ahead, starting for us.
I stopped him with a look, mouthing ‘no.’
He stopped, but his face twisted up. He really did not know Brett that well. That was now obvious, but I did and I ran a hand down the side of Brett’s arm. He tensed, but he didn’t move away. His head moved down, his mouth and beard nuzzling against my throat. I tilted my head to the side, giving him more access, and he pressed in harder to me, his dick nearly entering me through our clothing.
I felt him shuddering.
And I felt this different beast in him. This one was different from when he took control of me, giving me sinful pleasure, but he wasn’t too far away. If they were a coin, this beast was on the other side, and whether he realized it or not, whether that guy who knew Brett realized it or not, my Brett was coming back.
I could feel him.
He was less animal, less stranger, and more mine.
“I’ll tell you again because I don’t think you’re hearing me. I hurt people. If they looked at me wrong. If they didn’t move out of the way fast enough. I’d deliver a beating, sometimes they’d go to the hospital. I never cared. Not one moment. I used to think my dad made me into that kind of person, but it wasn’t just him. That’s who I am. You can’t be with me, Billie. I ain’t any better than the killers obsessed with you.” He suddenly tensed, his head raising, then he said, “One way or another, that piece of shit is going into the ground. I’m here to speed up the process.”
The door opened behind us.
I stiffened. Brett had heard him coming somehow. The guy still waiting with us cursed under his breath, before he was moving, but he went back to his truck.
Light from the house shone over us, and we heard a female exclaim, “What the hell is going on here?”
“Babe?” another voice from behind her, a male this time.
A shiver went through me, a bad one, at just hearing his voice. She hadn’t sounded good, but he made me feel that dirty inside. This was the boyfriend.
Brett was still arched over me, and as he began to move, I clamped my legs tight, trying to hold him in place. I reached around, my arms wrapping around his back too.
“You’re going to leave me?” I breathed against him.
He stayed in place, just for the moment. My time was running out.
I lifted my chin up over Brett’s shoulder so I could see better.