Total pages in book: 213
Estimated words: 201920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1010(@200wpm)___ 808(@250wpm)___ 673(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 201920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1010(@200wpm)___ 808(@250wpm)___ 673(@300wpm)
Not unlike what I’ve felt since the moment I met Daniel. This force of needing to be with him. Of knowing I was supposed to be his all along.
Even if the very thought of being his was enough to send a chill over me each time he dared to breathe near me.
That feeling is supposed to warn you, to keep you safe.
Daniel kisses the underside of my wrist as I let the feeling settle through me.
Sometimes that feeling is terrifying.
Sometimes that feeling is home.
MERCILESS
Carter
I’m not used to the anxiousness ringing in my blood.
But times have changed and until this shit is settled, I’m going to be on edge.
I need all the help I can get.
And judging by the way Daniel can’t take his eyes off of Addison, he’s not in the right mindset.
But the important thing is that he’s back.
Daniel cranes his neck to look up at me from where he’s seated with her in the den.
Addison Fawn. I never thought I’d see her again. I thought I’d lost her when I lost my brother.
“Do you have a minute?” I ask him, getting their attention. Addison glances between Daniel and me, and I give her an easy smile. I’ve barely spoken to her, but it’s only because of everything else. The war that’s starting. That’s what has my attention. That, and whoever decided to fuck with us.
Whoever decided to touch Addison and fuck with Daniel.
It’s only a matter of time before we know who. Although the thought of Marcus being involved sends a chill through my blood.
Daniel winces as he stands, reminding me of the gunshot and rekindling that anger inside of me. He bends at the waist to kiss Addison. My eyes stay on her, noting how she pulls back slightly, but his hand on the back of her neck keeps her there. Her doe eyes look back into his and he brushes the tip of his nose against hers. And then she reaches up to kiss him this time.
I don’t know what she did to my brother, but it’s been a long damn time since I’ve seen him care about anything other than himself.
It’s a good look for him.
“I was wondering when you were going to come for me,” Daniel says as we walk back to the office. I keep him in sight even as he looks over his shoulder to check on her.
“You think she’s going to run off?” I ask him jokingly, but it only makes his expression harden. Maybe he’s still blind to it. But it’s obvious she loves him. It was obvious five years ago too.
Silence escorts us until I close the door to the office with a loud click.
Daniel takes a seat in front of the large desk and rather than sitting at the head of it, I take the seat across from him, feeling the worn brown leather beneath my hands.
“I need that package,” I tell him and wait for whatever the hell it is. He’s already been here for hours, but Addison needed him for a little while. I could afford them that.
With a nod, Daniel slips the envelope from his back pocket. My teeth grind against one another. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in trades and a war between drug lords are on the line over whatever the fuck the Romanos are offering us.
And it’s only a thin envelope, folded and creased down the center.
Our fingers brush as he hands it to me, but he doesn’t let it go.
With my arm outstretched I look back at my brother, waiting for what he has to say, but nothing comes. A second ticks by and he releases it, sitting back in his chair but still not saying a word.
“What’s gotten into you?” I ask him. Ever since Tyler died, Daniel’s been a shell of who he once was. Until recently. Until she came back and brought him with her. I have too for reasons no one knows, but I’m damn good at hiding it.
“She reminds you of Tyler?” he asks me.
“She reminds me of what you were like when he died,” I answer him without thinking. And it’s true. “You were on the edge of going one way or the other back then, but it looks like you’ve come back around.”
“What do you mean?”
“I thought you were going to take care of her back then.” I bite my tongue, wondering if I should tell him what Jase told me when Addison broke up with Tyler. When she said her goodbyes, she could hardly even look at Tyler. Instead she kept looking upstairs toward Daniel’s room.
Everyone knew how Daniel felt about her. She was only seventeen and we had bigger and better shit to concern ourselves with. But that day it was more than obvious why she was leaving.
It was only the three of them who were blind to it.