Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 104239 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104239 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
“Fine. First, we get some decent food in you.” As it is, I smell coffee wafting up from downstairs, and all it’s done is wake up my appetite. I can only imagine she’s hungry. What she needs now is to rest and get her strength back. Instead, she would rather walk down memory lane and reopen old wounds. I don’t understand it.
What’s worse, I don’t know why I want to.
Celia and Nic are deep in discussion when we enter the dining room, so deep they don’t notice our arrival until I clear my throat. Celia immediately sits up straight and smiles, her gaze focused on Delilah. “There you are. I thought we might have to send out a search party.”
She’s every bit the gracious hostess, rising from her chair and rounding the table with an outstretched hand. “Hi, Delilah. I’m Celia. I’m so glad you’re safe. How are you feeling?” Things haven’t always been warm or friendly between us—she didn’t come to the family under normal circumstances—but she’s proven to be an excellent partner for my brother. Raised in our world, she knows the ropes and can roll with the punches.
And right now, I couldn’t be more grateful. Delilah’s shoulders loosen and sink to their normal level instead of being up around her ears. “I’m doing… okay. Thanks for lending me some clothes.”
“Of course. You wouldn’t want to be in anything that reminds you of that place.” Celia gives her a knowing nod. “I understand.”
Yes, she would. I wonder whether Nic shared any of Delilah’s background with his wife. Of all people, Celia would relate to being treated like nothing but a pawn by her bastard of a father. She was a day shy of being sold into marriage when my brother’s men kidnapped her and set her on the path she now walks alongside Nic.
She shows Delilah to a chair, and I follow close, holding Nic’s gaze all the while. Let him give me shit about Delilah in Celia’s presence, and I’ll throw it straight back in his face. I wonder if he’s thinking about that as Delilah takes a seat, with me taking the chair closer to him. The way she shrinks back in his presence, it’s obvious she’s uncomfortable. Why do I fucking care so much?
Because I can’t forget how she threw her arms over her head and begged for mercy when I found her in that closet. She was a screaming, shrieking animal practically devoid of sense or logic. I don’t know what it is about her, but she brings out every protective instinct I possess—for better or worse.
“Eat up,” Celia encourages. “Take as much as you want. Unless there’s something else you’d like, instead.”
Delilah wears a disbelieving sort of smile as she takes a couple of pancakes and a pair of sausage links. “This looks and smells amazing. Thank you. I’m fine.” I pour myself a cup of coffee and exchange a look with Celia, who only offers a shy little smile before taking the carafe so she can freshen her own cup.
Nic clears his throat. He was never good at subtlety. “So what’s the plan now? You’re going to need one, and fast. It’s only a matter of time before everybody knows what happened.” I can practically hear Delilah deflating like a balloon.
“I’m working on it.” When he shoots me a dark look, I grit my teeth for the sake of the women at the table. “Unless you have ideas. Please, impress me.”
“We’re going back to my trailer today,” Delilah says without lifting her gaze from the plate. Now she eats mechanically like it’s a task she’s determined to complete before moving on to the next thing on her list. “Not my trailer. My aunt’s trailer. I want to get my things since I’m never going back there to live.”
“That’s good. I’m sure you’ll feel more like yourself when you have your own things with you.” Celia is trying. I’ll give her that much credit. She glances at her husband, and a second later, he jumps slightly like she nudged him under the table. It’s almost enough to make me laugh. Watching her get her way, knowing there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for her. She’d never take advantage—that’s not the sort of woman she is—but she knows when to pull his strings.
So he grits his teeth and plays nice when he’s entirely against the idea of us being connected in any way. “Yes, I’m sure that will do you some good.”
The firm set of Celia’s mouth tells me she isn’t exactly impressed, but I know my brother. That’s as good as it’s going to get right now.
I’m not exactly looking forward to paying a visit to some shitty trailer park, but if it makes getting her off my hands easier, so be it. I can’t have her in my world. She’s a type of danger I’ve never faced.