Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 134531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
Something flickered in Swiss’s eyes, something that looked a lot like disappointment. But it was gone as soon as it appeared. And I could’ve imagined it.
“Two days,” he replied, stroking my back. “Maybe three.”
I nodded, feeling sick to my stomach. Two days. Maybe three. Not long. Not at all. Certainly not a stretch of time to have a panic attack about. But I was on the verge of one.
That was two, maybe three less days I had with Swiss. Violet would be home in a few months. I needed to be at the airport when she landed, regardless of what was going on with Preston.
I still hadn’t contacted a lawyer. I’d gone as far as researching some of the best ones in our state. But I did not possess the courage or the capital to actually call the firms. So I was putting my head in the sand, pretending I didn’t have a whole life to plan for, that I didn’t have to face my abusive, estranged husband in the near future. That I had to leave the life I’d made here.
All of that was indescribably terrifying and not something I should’ve been able to ignore.
And I wouldn’t be able to ignore it. Not without Swiss.
“I’ll try my best to make it two,” Swiss said, dropping a feather soft kiss against my lips. I stewed on that. “But we might have another… more legitimate, more fulfilling job to do, depending on how things shake out.”
I tilted my head in question. The word ‘legitimate’ piqued my curiosity.
“One of the other charters started an organization,” he elaborated, rubbing my arms now. “President of Oregon grew up seein’ some tough shit, mother bein’ smacked around by his dad… until he killed his father at sixteen. Got locked up for it. Patched the second he got out.”
My heart thundered.
“Anyway, like most of us, he abhors men who are weak enough to lay hands on women,” Swiss continued, obviously unaware of the rapid change in my body temperature.
It felt like I was being frozen to the spot.
“Have no fuckin’ idea how it’s structured, just know that we get a location, turn up and help a woman move out. Rough up the husband a little if he’s stupid enough to be home.” He grinned wickedly at me. “That’s not a part that’s advertised to the public, but it’s a personal favorite of mine.”
I smiled back at him. Or at least I was pretty sure that’s what my face did.
There it was. Proof that Swiss and the club really could and would help me. They had a whole organization established to keep women safe from violent husbands. Well, at the very least, keep them safe while they left those violent husbands.
But I’d already left mine.
And getting their help would mean revealing a whole other part of me. One I was not willing to share with Swiss.
Not now.
Maybe not ever.
I took a deep breath and looked up at him, trying my best to hide the sorrow that was reaching my fingertips with the knowledge my time with this man was truly running out.
My eyes met his and I leaned into his touch. His smell. The safety of his presence.
There it was again. The truth. On the tip of my tongue. I could say it all now. We could figure this out together. He would not let me leave, once he knew the truth, I knew that. He would not let me face Preston alone. He would not let Preston hurt me.
I knew all of these things. Knew he cared about me.
No.
He cared about the Kate he’d met at the club. The Kate who drank beer and wore ripped jeans, who partied, who cooked, who worked in a coffee shop.
I wasn’t at all sure how he’d feel about the other Kate. The one I was hiding.
“I’ll miss you,” I said quietly, opting for a much smaller, much simpler truth. “But you should stay longer to do that, help that woman,” I added, thinking of what courage it must’ve taken for her to make the call to the club. Make the decision to leave. She deserved to have Swiss standing there, protecting her.
He searched my face. I worried about what he’d find there, even though I knew he couldn’t possibly read my mind.
“I’ll miss you too,” he said, voice husky, forehead resting against mine. “Vision of me fuckin’ my Countess against a brick wall in broad daylight is gonna have me rushin’ home to you, though.”
My body warmed at his throaty tone, at the reality of what he’d just said.
“Home to you.”
Three small words that filled me up.
Even though they were based on a lie.
A lie that would keep me up later.
Chapter Ten
Kate
“Do you believe in magic?” I asked.
We were having a girls’ night at Hades and Freya’s house. Almost everyone’s husband was away on this ‘run,’ which I figured meant it was important.