Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 48783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 163(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 163(@300wpm)
“Sky, please talk to me. Tell me what I must do to stop you from crying.”
She lifted her head, flashing a set of insanely puffy eyes, before burying her face in his wet pillow again.
Dear gods. These weren’t the fake sobs meant to extract sympathy either. She was having a genuine meltdown. Every muscle in her body shook with despair, trying to dispel the overflow of sadness.
He began getting teary eyed, too. It was unnatural to watch a living creature suffer so deeply and not feel anything.
“Sky, I need you to stop this,” he said tenderly. “If you could simply listen, then perhaps I could—”
“Go away! Just die! I hate you!”
Ah. Finally. She said words. This is good. “Yes. You hate me. Say more. Tell me what you are feeling.” He waved his hand in a circle.
She sat up, a human ball of snot and tears. “You did this to me. You fucking…you fucking,” she hiccupped, “you showed up in my life. Uninvited.”
Not invited by her. It had been Cimil’s doing. “As I explained before, Cimil blackmailed me into working for her. She demanded I find you. But I swear, if I had to do it all over again, I would.”
Sky snarled at him. “Gah! You are so evil!”
“Sorry. Sorry. I did not mean I wouldn’t change things—such as running you over. I merely meant I wouldn’t change meeting you, Sky.”
She pointed at him. “You’re the devil! You and your slick tongue! You made me fall in love with you, all so you could sentence me to death again. Only now I know what’s waiting for me on the other side. It’s not the end. It’s just the beginning of an eternity of humiliation, of knowing you chose someone else when I chose you!” She began bawling again. “You don’t deserve me!”
She turned over, screaming into the pillow, “Go away, Damien! Leave me alone.”
All right. That was enough. He’d been sitting here for hours trying to soothe her. All he wanted to do was discuss the facts. With honesty. The only way he knew how to be with Sky. He hoped she might help him find a way out of this mess because, honestly, Sky was the smartest person he’d ever known.
“Enough!” he roared and grabbed her from the bed.
“Stop it. What are you doing?” She kicked and screamed.
He held her tightly by the waist from behind, dragging her to his bathroom.
“Let me go, you nasty bitch!” she yelled.
“I am not a bitch.” Nasty was debatable. “I am through with your pity party.” He pulled her into the shower and turned it on. Cold water.
The ceiling showerhead rained on them both, and she screamed. “That’s fucking cold!”
“Yeah! I know.” He held her tight so she couldn’t let go. “And when you calm the hell down, I’ll turn it off. Until then, scream away. This entire home was built by a very sadistic vampire. Scream-proof!”
Sky kicked and clawed at his arms, but he’d had worse. As a fixer, he used to torture people to get information he could use for his clients. As an assassin he’d done the same. No, he wasn’t proud of it, but facts were facts.
After a minute, she realized she wasn’t getting free.
“Fine. I’ll stop,” she said. “Just turn off the water, please.”
“You promise no more crying?”
She nodded, and he released her. She turned around in his arms and looked up at him with her big bloodshot eyes.
His heart sagged in his chest. She was right. He’d done this to her.
He gazed deeply into her eyes, seeing the woman underneath who captivated him from the first moment they met. “You were wearing sweats with pizza stains,” he said.
“What?”
“When I met you.”
“You mean when you broke into my house?” she asked.
He toggled his head. “I was doing a wellness check.” He’d come to her home to ask some questions about a fairy sighting, but the place looked like it had been unoccupied for a while. “And you looked very well. You still do.”
“Don’t, Damien. Don’t start with me.”
“But you started it by saying you love me,” he pointed out.
“Yes, but you don’t love me back.”
He shook his head. “That is where you are wrong. I was going to drive away that day we met. And maybe I should’ve. But I couldn’t. I saw something in your eyes, and it grabbed hold.”
She blinked up at him. “What’s it matter now? It was all for nothing. All of it.”
He reached around her, hit the setting for his usual warm shower, and started unbuttoning his shirt.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Taking a shower.” He stripped off his pants and got naked.
Sky glanced down at his erection. “Do you normally have that when you bathe?”
He leaned down and kissed her softly. She kissed him back, her soft lips moving with his.
“Wait.” She pulled away. “We can’t do this, Damien.”