Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 65041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
He was twenty-eight and an engineer for the biggest oil company in town. Based on his cabin home in the mountains, he made a great living. His parents were retired, spending most of their time traveling. He didn’t see them often and was an only child like me. We bonded over that. He knew firsthand what it felt like to be lonely, having a similar upbringing as mine.
Changing the subject, he questioned, “You want to tell me what this morning was about and why you had to leave my bed so damn early?”
I crashed at his place more often than not. It beat having to be alone in the massive estate that was my childhood home.
“Oh… umm… don’t worry about it.”
“That sounds reassuring.”
“Yeah… it’s fine. It’s just Haven dealing with Hayes again.”
A week after we started hanging out, Jace blew up my phone to find his sister one night. Haven spent the evening making up with Hayes and put her phone on Airplane Mode so they wouldn’t be interrupted.
Hence, Jace showed up at my house and left the nastiest note on my car, thinking I was hiding something from him regarding Haven. Deacon didn’t appreciate the sentiment, and ever since then, he was extremely protective over me in reference to her brother.
His possessiveness really showed how much he cared, or at least it did to me. It was such a turn-on, and I loved it.
“What happened?”
I shrugged. “Long story.”
“I have time.”
I threw my arms around his neck. “Then we shouldn’t be wasting it on their drama, but…” I smirked. “I did tell her about you.”
“Oh yeah?” He grinned, his dimples proudly on display. “What did you tell her?”
“That I met my very own bad boy.”
“Is that right?” He kissed me before adding, “Is everything okay, or is her brother still giving you shit?”
I rolled my eyes. “I can handle Jace.”
“So can I.”
I giggled. “I don’t need you to protect me from Jace.”
“And why is that?”
I tried to shift the conversation. “Have I told you how much I love that you’re an alpha?”
“Beauty, you have no idea.”
“I’m such a lucky girl.”
“I’m the one who’s lucky.”
I beamed, kissing him again.
“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. Now are you going to tell me the truth about Jace?”
“There’s nothing to tell. Honestly, I don’t really know him that well.”
“But he knows you enough to speak to you the way he does?”
“He talks to everyone like that.”
“Trust me, beauty. If he keeps fucking around, he’ll find out your boyfriend—”
“Boyfriend?” I blurted, surprised he used that word.
He cocked his head to the side, narrowing his gaze intently on me.
“What?” I breathed out, unable to hold back with needing to know the reason for the sudden tension in the room.
Staring deep into my eyes, he professed in a sharp tone, “Cove, you’re mine.”
My lips parted. “I like the sound of that.”
Within seconds, a whole new set of unexpected emotions burst inside me when he revealed for the first time, “I love you, beauty.”
I didn’t hesitate to confess…
“I love you too.”
Five
Jace
Then: One year after the funeral
After eleven years in the Navy, I was on my fifth deployment overseas. I hadn’t been home since we buried our mother. Nothing else mattered but my duty to my country. It was the only thing I had left inside me after her death.
Which, ironically, had me claiming more lives of the enemy, causing me to lose myself a little more each day.
“Seriously, man,” Tony, one of my commanders in my unit, coaxed, pulling me away from my thoughts.
“I can’t wait to get back home. I’m going to ask my girl to marry me. Did I tell you she was pregnant?”
I barely listened to him. I was on high alert, glancing around the empty streets with him following me as the rest of my unit was in the opposite alley, surrounding the building we were patrolling. For the past few years, Tony had been my closest friend. He watched my six, and I watched his.
For the past three months, it was the same old bullshit every single day on repeat. I embarked on endless foot-patrol missions that would last for two to three weeks at a time. It always felt like we were being watched in one way or another. We had our finger on the trigger at all times, ready to unleash at any given moment.
The days were long, and the nights even longer.
The crazy part about it was that being back in these missions almost felt like home to me. We all felt this way. At the end of the day, being a civilian was much harder than being a soldier. Our minds were always on the battlefield, along with the souls we’d taken.
In the times I was home, it was hard to readjust to normal life, and that was the hardest pill to swallow. It was so difficult to switch your normalcy back on. I lived and breathed a life where I was under constant attack.