Total pages in book: 176
Estimated words: 164533 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 823(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164533 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 823(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
Again, his jaw flickered and tensed, his other hand coming up to gently tuck some hair behind my ear as he softly pressed his forehead to mine, and my breath caught. I felt his eyelashes flutter against my face when he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. “I’m going to fucking kill him,” he seethed, and I’d never heard such quiet, lethal fury. Not even when Jesse had been at his most vicious. This was different. Rhys’ anger wasn’t directed at me. It was directed at the person who’d caused me so much irreversible harm.
Suddenly, panic gripped me. I didn’t want Rhys seeking revenge on my behalf. I just wanted to be happy that what had happened was finally over, and I could live my life and make the most of whatever contentment I might be able to scrounge together in the aftermath.
I needed to fix this. I needed to reverse whatever conclusion Rhys had come to in his head, convince him he was wrong.
“Rhys, this isn’t what you t-think,” I said as I shifted away from him slightly.
His hand—oh so gentle—moved from my ear to whisper along my jaw as he tilted his head. A universe of sadness and regret filled his eyes, almost eclipsing the fury. “If it isn’t, then how come I recognise the look in your eyes so well, Charli? How come I see the terror I saw so many times in my own when I looked in the mirror? In my mother’s when she was scrambling across the kitchen floor trying to get away from him?”
More tears sprang forth. Rhys continued wiping them away, his focus on me laser sharp
“I’m going to make that motherfucker rue the day he ever raised a finger to you.”
“It doesn’t work that way,” I argued weakly.
“Yes, it does. It does when someone hurt you, Charli, and I wasn’t fucking there to stop him.” His words were laced with self-recrimination and regret.
I reached for him then, my fingers sliding across the back of his neck and sifting into his hair. A faint shudder went through him at my touch. “You don’t know what happened, and it isn’t your fault.”
“I might not know specifics, but I can piece it together well enough based on your behaviour. I spent nineteen years watching my own mother behave the exact same way. And I know it’s not my fault. That doesn’t mean I don’t have every intention of evening out the score.”
I blinked back another tear. “What does that even mean?”
“It doesn’t matter what it means. All you have to know is that no one will ever lay their hands on you again so long as I live.”
I was dumbfounded, unable to comprehend how much he seemed to care. I wasn’t his to worry about, yet he spoke like our fates were intertwined. It didn’t make sense.
Amid my confusion, a strange mix of relief and sadness filled me. Relief because having someone like Rhys declare I was under his protection felt like I could finally let my guard down and breathe even though it wasn’t his responsibility to keep me safe. And sadness because I saw the cogs turning in his brain, somehow making what happened to me his fault. He couldn’t protect his mother for so many years, and he hadn’t been able to protect me either.
I was suddenly aware of the way we were sitting. I’d shifted closer to him, was practically in his lap. “You’re a good man,” I whispered to him, my eyes tracing his handsome features as my fingers continuing sifting through his hair. His gaze grew hooded like he enjoyed my touch. Like it chased away some of the anger he felt. “But my trauma isn’t your responsibility to fix.”
“I’ll decide what is and isn’t my responsibility, Charli. And you wouldn’t think I was such a good man if you knew some of the thoughts I’ve had about you,” he replied roughly, and my pulse picked up for a different reason. Being alone in a room with Rhys was like swallowing the antidote to all my worries and fears. His presence seeped into my bloodstream like medicine.
I lifted my eyebrows. “Thoughts?”
His eyes dipped to my mouth then back up. “Best kept in my head where they belong.”
“I might like to hear them,” I ventured, my tongue briefly snaking out to wet my lower lip.
His look was regretful, a little devastated as he caressed my cheek. “Not tonight. Not when you’re so upset.”
What he said made me remember how we’d ended up in Aidan’s office, me crying out in the hallway, curled up in a ball. A hint of embarrassment tried to creep back in, but I refused to let it. I was sitting pressed up against Rhys, and it was a ridiculously good feeling. His warmth and the way he looked at me like I was something precious to hold dear.