Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 71880 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71880 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
He coughed around a laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. “When were we supposed to talk about it? The years we didn’t acknowledge each other, or the twenty minutes since we kissed and made up?”
I shot him a glare—motherfucker—and sat down on the bed to remove my boots.
Elliott sat down next to me and settled our bags of convenience store goodies between his feet. “First of all, me saying I’ve done this before only means I’ve done this—I’ve combined two chairs into a nice bed on a private jet. I distinctly remember boarding the jet after two months in Nicaragua, looking like I’d entered a mud-wrestling contest. For the record, the shower in the bathroom is fucking tiny. And then I crashed.” He nudged my elbow with his. “Alone, Joel.”
Was he just saying that?
I side-eyed him.
“Secondly,” he went on, leaning in. He pressed a kiss to my shoulder. “You know why I split up with my ex? Apparently, I talked in my sleep and said the wrong name one time too many, and that’s how he justified cheating on me.”
Fuck.
I was a moron.
“Tell me it was my name you said in your sleep,” I muttered.
His mouth twitched with amusement. “You know it was.”
Okay. Good. Now I could refocus. “That asshole cheated on you?”
“Out of hurt, he said. Can you believe that?” he chuckled.
No. I really couldn’t.
Well. I could believe the hurt, but to retaliate by cheating was just a shitty excuse for being a shitty person.
I released a breath and relaxed a little. “I may be a possessive dick, but I hate betrayal. I’m sorry you had to go through that.” Then I grabbed his hand. “I’m also sorry for this freak-out. I wish I could say it won’t happen again, but we’ve missed out on so much time together that it’s gonna be a while before I feel we’re really in this together.”
He brought my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles. “We’ll remind each other as often as it takes. How’s that?”
I nodded once and kissed his cheek.
“My ego’s been bruised enough that I won’t mind the outbursts of jealousy,” he admitted with a little smirk. “You’ll probably be on the receiving end of similar moments of insecurity from me.”
I smiled, despite it was fucked up. I’d only ever felt possessive and jealous when it came to Elliott, because…I didn’t know. He was different, and he hadn’t truly been mine before. He’d been that dream guy I’d been low-key in love with for twenty-five years who kept slipping through my fingers.
He was mine now, though. And he was going to stay that way.
Shay Tenley
“Baby, wake up. Shay.”
I gasped and coughed as I was wrenched away from the cell, from the smell of rust and soil, from the constant humidity, from the darkness—and I sat up and scrubbed at my face, suddenly surrounded by luxury cloaked in darkness.
Fuck.
“Come here.” River lifted his arm, and I was quick to cuddle up against his side. He tucked me in with my blanket. “You sure you don’t want us to take the other bed in the back?”
I nodded and pressed my face against his chest, mildly annoyed he wasn’t smelling of his usual body wash.
I needed movement, sound, and familiar scents to ground me when I fell asleep. At least, that’s what instinct told me. I could anchor myself to River and Reese. Even to Crew and Mercier, who’d fallen asleep to a movie behind us.
Crew’s snores and the movie running were reassuring.
I took a deep breath and tilted my head against River’s chest, and I yawned and reached for my soda on the table.
The jet had two seats on one side and a single chair across the aisle, so we’d taken the first in the two-by-two section, where I could keep both River and Reese in my view. The latter was watching me over the screen of his laptop.
“I’m okay,” I said.
The nightmare I’d had at Hillcroft’s training facility had been much worse. It’d been so quiet there, so I’d been completely consumed by the nightmare. Until Reese had woken me up, and I’d felt like I’d just run a marathon, complete with pounding heart, labored breaths, and cold sweat.
Reese didn’t have to say anything. I knew I was gonna meet with a counselor when we got home. River had spoken about one at Hillcroft who specialized in trauma and PTSD.
I wasn’t looking forward to it.
I took a swig of my Coke before returning it to the table.
“Get something more to eat, sweetheart.” Reese dug through our bag from that gas station and handed over a wrapped sandwich.
He must’ve made it earlier. He’d bought bread and fixings.
I sat up and accepted the food, and I removed the plastic. “Did you make this?”
“Yeah. Unless I wanna see you and River pick apart a loaf of bread like two animals, I gotta prepare your sandwiches beforehand.”