Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 224(@200wpm)___ 179(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 224(@200wpm)___ 179(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
“I just wanted to know what sex was like,” she said into my chest. The words were so soft I nearly didn’t hear her. “All my friends had done it, but I was still a virgin. Ain’t no one in that town would touch me ’cause’a my pa. When Avery said he wanted us to be together, I didn’t really believe him, but I thought he at least liked me.”
“Avery’s a swine, Jolene. Can you tell me what happened? Is it too close right now?”
She shivered. “I’m cold.” And her standing there with me in my wet jeans wasn’t helping.
“Let me get out of these wet clothes. You get dressed. After that, we’ll talk.”
“I can’t look at you when I tell you.”
“What do you want, then?”
She buried her head in my chest, careful of the bruised side of her face. “Maybe you could hold me while I did? I mean, if it’s not too much trouble. And you don’t mind or nothin’.”
I groaned. “Honey, I’ll hold you all you want. You sure you want a strange man this close to you?”
“You ain’t a stranger.” Her statement surprised me.
“You don’t know me, Jolene. I’d say that makes me a stranger.”
She looked up at me. “I know you helped me when I thought I was gonna die. I was still on my poppy’s land. He’d already shot at me. If he found me, I expected he’d’ve killed me.”
My temper flared. I wanted to punch something, but I couldn’t. What I could do was reassure the woman in my arms, though. “I’ll get revenge for you, Jolene. Both your pa and that little fuck Avery and his crew. Always knew I’d have to clean out that place sooner or later. I ran to Florida to keep from it, but I can see now that was a fuckin’ mistake.”
“I don’t want you to do nothin’, Styx. Just…” She took a deep breath before meeting my gaze once more. “Please don’t play with me like Avery did.” Her voice was scarcely above a whisper, but I heard the pain and anguish there.
“Then best you tell me what he did to you, so I don’t repeat his mistake.”
“You probably already have.” She stepped away from me, and I wanted to yank her back to me, but knew better. I would not terrify the girl. Instead, I used the time to strip out of my wet jeans and throw on some cotton pants.
Jolene walked into the bedroom, clutching the damp towel to her while she went through her belongings. Then she looked in the bag I’d asked for and pulled out a pair of cotton shorts and a long T-shirt, putting both on quickly. I raised an eyebrow as I recognized the shirt as one of mine. I could only guess someone had stolen it from my own bag, but I didn’t care. She pulled the neckline to her nose and inhaled deeply, her eyes sliding shut. She turned fully to me then, meeting my gaze with her forlorn one.
“It smells like you.”
“’Cause it’s mine.”
“Oh.” She blinked rapidly. “I’ll give it back --”
“Absolutely not. You wear it, sweetheart.” I crossed to her slowly, reaching for her. She took my hand willingly. “Now. Where do you want to do this?”
She sucked in a breath, her gaze going to my bare chest. I knew what I looked like. I was tattooed and scarred and muscled. Most women couldn’t get enough of looking at me. Or touching me. I could only hope I was as appealing to my little Jolene.
“I can’t…” She shook her head and cleared her throat. “I can’t have sex yet. I think it’d hurt too much.”
I shook my head. “Honey, no one said you had to. I thought you wanted me to hold you while you talked about this? If you’ve changed your mind, that’s perfectly fine. If you don’t want to look at me when you talk to me, you can sit on the couch. I’ll get you a fuzzy blanket, tuck you in, then sit on the floor behind you. I can hear you. You can hear me. But you don’t have to look at me or touch me.”
“No! That’s not what I meant.” She dug her fingers into my sides like she was trying to hold me to her. “Can we… can we maybe lie on the bed? In the dark? I’ll tell you everything that happened, but if I’m gonna relive it…”
“I hear you.” I caressed the uninjured side of her face. “Go crawl in. I’ll get a shirt and turn out the light.”
She nodded and crawled into the bed. I threw on a shirt and shut out the light. I shut the windows so the blinds could block out the late-morning sun. I did leave one window open on the opposite side of the room. It let in light, but not direct sunlight, thanks to a huge-ass tree just outside the window. I thought she might find the sounds and scents as soothing as I did.