Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 54092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
"Just so you know, you didn't say I couldn't run away. You just said I couldn't endanger myself trying," she says, smiling at me so brightly I know I just got played. She slides off my lap, her chin held high. "I hope you don't have much to do while I'm here because I plan to run away a lot."
Mafankulo.
Why does that make my dick so hard?
Do I even need to ask?
Everything about this girl makes my dick hard.
"Why didn't you want me to catch you?" I ask, determined to get to the bottom of that while we're clearing shit up.
She fidgets, glancing away from me. And then she huffs. "I didn't want to squish you, okay?"
"Squish me?" My brows furrow.
"Isn't your brother a scientist?"
I stare at her, not sure what her point is.
"Physics," she says, rolling her eyes. "Gravity, velocity, acceleration, kinematics? Does any of this ring a bell?"
"Nico is the scientist, tesoro."
"Objects pick up speed when they fall, Rafe. I'm a big girl," she says, throwing up her hands. "I didn't want to hurt you."
What the fuck?
"What the fuck?" I growl, glaring at her. "You aren't fucking fat, Amalia. Who said that shit to you?"
"Um, basically everyone my whole life?" She rolls her eyes again. "I know what I look like. I know what size I wear. I'm not ashamed of my body or who I am. I don't care what anyone else thinks or what they have to say about me. But the fact remains that I was worried I'd hurt you if I fell on your stupid head. Clearly, that didn't happen. So it doesn't even matter."
"I want names, tesoro," I growl, climbing to my feet and pacing toward her, furious at the thought of anyone disrespecting her. She's a goddess. Since the second I set eyes on her, she's had my cock hard, and my mind all twisted up. Her wide hips and thick thighs are sexy as hell to me. Her body is soft and ripe in all the right ways.
"Why?"
"I'm going to hunt down everyone who hurt you and teach them manners," I say, stopping in front of her. "Every last one of them."
Her expression softens, her gaze flitting across my face. She reaches up and gently taps me on the cheek with one finger. "Be careful," she says, her voice quiet…wistful. "I might start believing you mean it."
"You have ice cream on your cheek, sweet boy." My mom leans down to wipe chocolate off my cheek.
"Mom," I protest when she steals a lick of my cone. She always does. Even though she says she doesn't want any when she takes us for ice cream, she always ends up eating part of ours. It's why I always get chocolate instead of strawberry. It's her favorite.
Humor dances in her hazel eyes when she pulls back, her dimples cutting little grooves in her cheeks.
"You can have some of mine, mom." Nico holds his cone out for her, shrugging. Like me, my twin brother got chocolate too.
"That's very sweet of…" Mom's smile fades as a black car swerves around the corner, tires screeching. The windows are tinted dark like the ones on my dad's car, but it's older. The car bounces to a stop on the curb in front of us.
"Rafe, Nico, run," Mom says, urgency in her voice.
I turn to look at her, confused.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see the windows of the vehicle inch down.
"Run," Mom says again, louder this time. She grabs me and Nico, shoving us away from the car.
Nico trips, falling backward onto the sidewalk. His ice cream lands beside him, the chocolate spilling out of the cone.
"Run, baby!" Mom screams at me. "Run!"
Except it's already too late.
Gunfire rips through the quiet neighborhood, tearing my life asunder.
"Rafe." A hand clamps down on my shoulder, shaking me.
I react on instinct, adrenaline coursing through my veins. In one smooth move, my assailant is on the bed beneath me, my hand around his throat, my body pinning his to the bed. I snarl wordlessly, ready to kill this motherfucker. And then I see Amalia's wide chocolate eyes, her mouth open in shock. I feel her soft body beneath mine.
It's not an assailant. It's Amalia.
"Fuck," I snarl, flinging myself off her. I plaster my back to the wall, sucking in deep breaths. My heart races, images from the dream still clinging to me. No, not a dream. A living nightmare. The day my mom died. It's been twenty-seven years and I still relive that shit almost every night. I gave up trying to forget it long ago. Some things never go away. Some things never should.
"Are you okay?" Amalia asks, sitting up.
I make a choked sound, half crazed laugh, half tortured groan. I just had her pinned to the bed with my hand around her throat, and she's asking if I'm okay? No, I'm not. If I hurt her, I'll chain myself in hell beside my father. "Did I hurt you, tesoro?"