Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 70445 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70445 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
I ran away, and I haven’t properly dealt with any of that for years now.
War touches my arm. “I’m sorry,” he says softly. “And if it means anything, I believe you.”
I laugh sharply, an ugly, angry laugh. “Weirdly, that helps.”
He moves closer. “I think you’re right about her dad. If it all happened right after he left, he was probably touching her too. Maybe doing even worse. Maybe that’s why he ran off.”
“I’ll never know now because she’s gone. But I think that’s also why Daisy’s mother never really recovered. And you’ve seen the rest of my family. They’d rather act like I’m a piece of trash than admit something terrible was going on. They just won’t talk about it, nobody will.”
“I’m sorry,” he says again. “And none of that was your fault. Rosie did something bad to you, and I think that pushed her into a very bad place, made her spiral, and she started taking it out on you in worse and worse ways. She hated you because you were a victim and she knew she was a monster. But you’re right, we can’t ever know, and you don’t need to carry all that weight alone anymore.”
I lean my head against his shoulder. “Thanks for listening. And for understanding.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” he says and hugs me tighter. “If you had a normal family, you might’ve gotten help instead of being called a liar.”
“But I was stuck with these people.”
“It’s all the more reason to stay,” he whispers, his lips near my ear. “Do they deserve this place? Does anyone, except for you?”
“War—”
“I’m not asking you to do anything right now, but I’m telling you to think about it. I know you’re dead set on putting this place behind you, but isn’t it your dream to own a ranch? Hell, to own this ranch? Your daddy wants to give it to you, and all you have to do is say yes.”
“There are always more strings attached.” I put my hand on his chest and gently push away. “Come on, let’s go inside. It’ll get chilly soon.”
He looks at me for a long moment like he wants to say more, but he nods and takes my hand. We walk together to the tower, and I can feel my story ringing between us like a bell, the horror of my past bouncing back and forth, but it’s like I put new shields up and it can’t crack though. I have a distance, and it’s a good distance, and it’s like I can finally breathe.
“I’ll get the mattress,” he says, and I climb the stairs alone, light as a feather.
Chapter 20
War
Her hips rotate as she slides down my shaft.
It’s pitch black at the top of the tower. There’s no light except for the moon and the stars. Melody’s a shadow on top of me, a beautiful shadow, all curves and soft skin and the smell of grass and sex. I kiss her and taste her tongue and push her down. I want to be inside of her, every inch of me buried between her legs, and I want her to wiggle and moan as her soaking pussy drips down my cock.
I pull her against me and kiss her neck. I breathe her smell and whisper in her ear. “Lovely Melody. Keep going. I need to feel you. I want to taste your moans.”
She whimpers and goes faster, beautiful and wild, hair falling down her back, and her face lit up in bliss. I crave this moment like something bitter and dark, like a drug I know will kill me, because every motion, every beautiful kiss and lick and bite, every sensation is tinged with guilt.
A deep, terrible guilt.
This started out as a game. I needed to bring Melody home and convince her to marry me. I had to seduce her, and I tried my hardest, and slowly, it began to work. We grew closer. We shared things. We kissed, I got her off.
But I didn’t stop there. I got to know Melody, got to know her laughter and her smiles and her hopes and dreams, got to see the place where she grew up and understood how she became the woman she is today, got to glimpse the strength she keeps locked up inside of her waiting to break free, despite the trauma she’s only just beginning to process.
And I felt this. Her body, her warmth, her tight, slick pussy clamped down around my shaft and grinding up and down. Her moans, her gasps, her fucking whimpers. I got to know it all, and I fell for her.
I fell for her hard, even before she told me that story outside.
That terrible truth she’s been carrying around all this time.
I hate her family. I hate them like I’ve never hated before. I want to murder her uncles and smash her cousin’s face into a wall. I’d gladly leave Daisy a red, pulped smear at the bottom of a very long staircase. I’ve committed violence in the past, and I’ll do it again in the future, and I’d gladly turn all that remorseless hate against Melody’s asshole uncles.