Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33745 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 169(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33745 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 169(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
You love her.
You want her.
You need her.
Braxton had never loved, wanted, or needed anyone. Since he was a kid, he had known there was no one out there that would save him. He only had himself to rely on. Killing was what he knew. It was what he was good at, and no one could take that away from him.
Running a hand down his face, he hated that he had finally found that feeling he’d been so desperate to find. Damn, Jade. Fuck this situation.
She appeared in the doorway with a smile on her lips. “I know it’s not much, but it’s soup. A quick cauliflower and chicken soup. It’s better than nothing. Mom always used to serve me this on the first day I was sick. She told me it would help to cure anything. She was lying. The big pot of soup would be boiling ready for the next day.” She winked at him, and then moved toward him, putting the tray on his lap. “Would you like me to feed you? I know you can probably do it, and you’re more than capable of feeding yourself, but I just wanted to help you.”
“Jade, babe, you can feed me.”
She couldn’t help but smile and she lifted the bowl, taking some of the soup on the spoon and blowing across it.
Braxton wasn’t used to anyone wanting to take care of him. Jade held the spoon to his lips and he opened for her, tasting the soup. It was good, tasty, and he said so.
“Yeah, Mom always said that just because it was soup didn’t mean it couldn’t be good.”
“I don’t know if I like your mother.” She had already admitted to him that she would tell her how plain she was. He didn’t like anyone saying that to his woman.
“She was a good woman. I know some people think she was cruel, and I guess to some she was, but she wasn’t setting me up to fail or anything. She was getting me ready to face the real world.” She shrugged. “That’s what mothers do, isn’t it?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said.
“What?”
“I never had a mother.”
She repeated the words back to him and shook her head. “Everyone has a mother, Braxton.”
He chuckled. “I know. I know I have a mother and a father, but I also know that I grew up in the system.”
“Oh. Do you, ugh, know who your parents are?”
“No.”
“You don’t?”
“I don’t want to know. They didn’t want me enough to keep me. I don’t need to know who they are.” He shrugged.
“Was … foster care … bad?” she asked.
He stared at her. Braxton had never told another living soul about his life. He’d wanted to shut it down completely. “Yes.”
“Oh,” she said. “I am so sorry.”
“You don’t need to be sorry, babe. It’s not your fault.”
Silence fell between them, and Jade fed him some more soup.
“Do you want to tell me about it?” she asked.
Braxton didn’t know if he wanted to talk about his past. It was a time in his life he tried not to think or care about.
“I was fostered out to a farmer,” Braxton said. This was not something he had spoken about. “I was about nine years old, but even at that age I had started to grow big and strong. What I didn’t know at the time was that said farmer and the woman in charge at the care home had some kind of deal going. They had a lot of kids going through their care, and the farmer didn’t like to pay for the work that was done on his home. He was a cheap fucker, evil as well. A lot of the kids got fostered out to him, and … well, to keep him happy and in her bed, she would let him have his pick of the girls.”
He heard Jade’s sudden intake of breath. He’d started his tale now, there was no point in holding anything back.
Chapter Ten
Jade had no idea what Braxton had gone through, but she knew it was bad. So very bad.
Part of her wanted to tell him to stop, but another part of her, didn’t. He needed to tell this story, to finally get it out in the open, and she knew it also meant a great deal that he trusted her with this. None of this could be easy for him.
She kept feeding him, which stopped him talking, but he seemed to like the soup she had made.
“By the ‘pick of the girls,’ do you mean he would…” she couldn’t finish what she was saying.
“Yes,” Braxton said.
“And the woman at the care home allowed this?” Jade asked.
“They had an arrangement and she didn’t want to ruin anything. It would seem she was in love with the farmer.”
Jade also noticed he didn’t say names, and she figured that was on purpose. This was his life, his story to tell, and she wasn’t going to interrupt him with inane questions about their names and what they looked like. Jade didn’t care about any of that.