Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Milo was a dichotomy of rough and soft. Menacing and sweet.
I forced myself not to get too wrapped up in it as I continued through to the ensuite bathroom.
I flicked on the light, and we blinked against the intrusion.
“Fuck,” he rumbled.
My eyes widened all over again, and my stomach dropped to the floor.
Nausea boiled, my heart aching in a way that I couldn’t process.
“I’m thinking fuck is about the correct description right about now.” The words were splinters of distress.
In the light, it became apparent bruises were welling all over his body.
His skin blackened and abraded, his arms scraped and oozing, his face blemished by the violent attack.
Biting down hard on the side of my cheek, I fought the tears that burned at the back of my eyes. “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe he did this to you.”
Milo shifted in unease, though he was guarding, an arm wrapped around his ribs protectively.
But it was me who wanted to be doing the protecting.
I wanted to stand for him.
Fight for him.
Hold him.
Love him.
God, I’d gotten in so deep.
“We don’t even know if it was him who was responsible, Tessa.”
“How couldn’t it be? I mean, I asked you to go over there with me, and then you hit him, and then he was so mad when he showed up at my office, even though it was completely that jerk’s fault. Of course, it’s him,” I ranted.
I tried to distract myself by opening the cabinet below his sink and rummaging around for a clean washcloth, the whole time fighting the vicious vibrating in my chest.
“I can’t even believe he could do this,” I continued through the torment. “I knew Karl was a total asshole. I mean, a giant, huge, gaping asshole, but I never imagined he would stoop this low. I should have known it. God, I should have known he’s a monster. This is my fault.”
“Either way, I had it coming. Instant karma.”
A tear slipped free when I blinked. “Don’t say that, Milo. You think you could possibly deserve this?”
For kissing me?
For touching me?
I nearly gagged that he considered it such a sin.
But I’d already known his heart was in tatters. His ace played. He had nothing left for me. I’d been begging for the pain thinking there might be a chance.
My hands were shaking like crazy as I stood and ran the washcloth under warm water.
Milo reached out and stopped my frantic movements. “If it was him? I’d gladly stand between him and you time and again,” he rumbled.
My throat nearly closed off, and tears started streaming free. “I can’t stand the idea of you getting hurt for me.”
“Would die for you, Tessa. Kill for you. Destroy what threatens you. Already told you that.”
“You shouldn’t have to,” I croaked. “We need to go to the police.”
Hesitation warred through his being. “Don’t think I can risk that right now.”
I blew out a frustrated sigh, one he took as my fear.
Ferocity wound into his features, and his hold tightened on my wrist. “I don’t know what that bastard is capable of, Tessa, but I won’t let him get to you.”
“So, what, you’re just going to take the beating for me?”
Rage blistered in the air, and his strong jaw snapped shut, the words hissed between his teeth. “There will be no beating when it comes to you, Tessa. He touches you, he dies.”
I blinked through the confusion. Through the sudden disorder that whipped through the bathroom. How could he feel so intensely when he looked at me like I was a transgression?
A mistake?
“Let’s not get carried away now.” I tried to make a joke because come on, he wasn’t serious.
“You think I’m playing, Tessa? Know you see me a certain way, but I’m not a good man.” His low voice cracked on the warning.
Apprehension unfurled, as cold as ice, skating up from our connection point and spreading through me like a bad dream.
My mind raced to the company he kept.
Trent, Jud, and Logan.
I knew what they were capable of.
Somehow, I’d never associated Milo with that kind of brutality.
I sucked for a breath, tried to smile and pretend the grimness that swallowed the room in foreboding wasn’t alive and real. “What do you mean?”
“It means bad things have a way of landing themselves at my door.”
“Me?”
He breathed out a pained sound. “No, Little Dove. Not you. But you need to know Karl isn’t close to being my only enemy.”
The atmosphere thickened, his eyes flaming with something I knew he didn’t want to feel.
I tried to swallow around the fullness of it, holding my breath like it could keep this need that glowed within shrouded as I moved forward and carefully reached up to dab the warm washcloth against the cut at his temple.
He winced, though he kept watching me like he was terrified of being close to me and wanted to erase the bare space that thrummed between us at the same time.