Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Ty picked up the remote and shut off the television.
Kelsie blinked. A million thoughts ran through her head. They came so fast and from all angles that she couldn’t begin to process the barrage, so she shrugged. “Well, I guess that’s it then. You should get going. You’re already so late.” She tried to rise from his lap, but he tightened his hold. “Ty…”
“Babe.” He kissed her cheek. “Talk to me.”
She wanted to—she really did—but what the hell would she say? Her family was destroyed at her hands, and she was, what?
Happy?
Sad?
Scared?
Confused?
Or, E, all of the above?
She couldn’t deny feeling some guilt amid the relief. Would this change her life in any measurable way?
Would the media and social media warriors search her out?
She didn’t want this to ruin the fragile happiness she’d built with the new people in her life.
An ache formed between her eyes. She couldn’t think about it all now, not while she was keeping Ty from work and had her own meeting to prepare for. So, she plastered on a smile and patted his arms where they crossed in front of her.
“I’m good, Ty. Don’t worry.”
He slackened his arms, and she took advantage, slipping off his lap. When she turned to face him, she found him frowning at her.
“Really, Ty, don’t look at me like that. I’m fine. And you have to get to work.”
He glanced at the time on his phone with a harsh curse.
“See, go. I’m great.” Her smile felt as fake as it could be. There was no way he’d buy it.
And he didn’t. “Kels, you’re not great. And that’s okay.”
“Ty, go to work.” She refused to be responsible for him losing money.
“Fuck work. I don’t give a shit about work. I have competent employees so that I can be fucking late.”
“But you don’t have to be,” she said with a false cheer. “Because I’m great. End of discussion. You go to work, and I’m going to shower.”
With that, she turned and strode to the bathroom, locking the door for the first time since she started staying at Ty’s. It was a shitty, cowardly move, but she was about to unravel and didn’t want him to see her that way. The warm water wrapped around her like a blanket, and the rushing helped block out her screaming thoughts. But without the noise in her head, her emotions came bubbling to the surface, and she sank to the floor sobbing.
What was she supposed to do now?
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
SHE’D LOCKED THE fucking door.
Goddammit.
He was about to give in to the urge to boot the door in when his phone chimed.
Stop boning your woman and get your ass to work, boss!
Dammit, he was super late. Now he would have to listen to Jinx’s juvenile ribbing all damn day.
If Kelsie had wanted him to follow her, she’d have left the door open. Games weren’t her style.
Her head had to be a scrambled mess of emotions. As much as he wanted to barge in and wipe away her pain, maybe he couldn’t. She’d told him to go to work and locked him out.
Should he ignore his raging protective instincts when it came to her and respect her wishes?
Probably
Fuck.
On my way.
He fired the text back to Jinx.
He placed his palm on the door and started to speak, but the sound of the running shower would have drowned him out. Instead, he bowed his head and took a breath.
“When I get back, we’re hashing this out,” he muttered to no one. Either they’d talk, or he’d exhaust her with orgasms until she no longer had the energy to stress. Regardless, by dinner, she’d be feeling better; he’d make damn sure of it.
With every step he took, his shoulders knotted tighter and tighter. Every instinct he had screamed at him to go back and fuck her until she released all the tension and guilt she was no doubt experiencing. He tried to shove his feelings aside, but it was damn hard.
As he reached his bike, his phone chimed again. This time, the text came from Curly.
I just watched the news. We did it, brother. Take good care of your woman.
She won’t fucking let me.
With a disgruntled grunt, he stuck his phone in his back pocket and fired up his bike.
The first person he saw when he pulled up to his shop was Jinx, standing in one of the open garage bays with a wide grin. “Hey, VP,” he shouted. “Good fucking news today, huh?”
He strode toward his brother and employee. “Yeah. Great.”
“Uh-oh. Trouble in paradise?” Jinx raised a nosy eyebrow.
“Fuck off.” Ty started past him toward his office, but Jinx snagged his arm.
“Hey, I’m just fucking with you. Everything okay?”
Ty sighed and stared up at the ceiling. “I think everything happening is starting to fuck with Kelsie’s head.”
“Uh, yeah. I can imagine it would be a mind fuck. Something happen between you two?”