Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
I just stared at him. He seemed sincere…sincerely pissed off.
I shook my head. “No. She stopped me on the stairs when I was leaving.”
His nostrils flared, and his jaw clenched tightly.
“Tink, not one moment with you was boring. It was fucking spectacular. One time isn’t gonna be close to enough for me.”
“Did you come here to have sex again?” I blurted out.
He chuckled. “No. But once we’ve talked, if that’s an option, then, yeah, baby, I’d like it very much.”
My entire body began to tingle with anticipation. I had to stop this. I couldn’t do this with him. Placing my hands on his chest, I shoved away from him. Before I could feel proud of myself, I felt panic instead. The paper towel fell to the floor, and I froze. There was a chance he wouldn’t notice. I could steer him toward the door. Tell him I wanted to be alone. That I needed time to get over it.
His eyes narrowed, as if he was trying to read my thoughts. He tilted his head as he looked at me. A strand of his blond hair that wasn’t long enough to fit in the ponytail fell over the side of his face. Then, his gaze trailed down my body until it stopped on the floor.
For a moment, it was like watching this all play out in slow motion. I had to say or do something.
When he bent to pick up the bloody paper towel, I took another step away from him. Lies began forming in my head, and I tried to think of the most believable one. I started to open my mouth to spout it out when he grabbed my leg with one hand and jerked my sundress up with another.
I attempted to squeeze my legs together, but he pulled it open, then sucked in a sharp breath.
“Tink,” he said tightly, “what did you do?”
I struggled to grab on to an excuse and verbalize it. They all seemed weak and unbelievable. I shook my head instead of saying anything. Micah stood up, his entire body now rigid as he grabbed my hand and began walking me toward the kitchen.
No, no, no, no, no. This was bad.
I pulled back on my arm, trying to slow him or redirect him.
His hand wrapped around my wrist and continued to tug me with him. When he walked into the room, he froze.
His hand squeezed my wrist and then let go. “What the fuck, Dolly?” he whispered.
I closed my eyes and turned to run out of the room, but he was quicker than I was. His hands grabbed my waist and stopped me. The ragged breath he took as he held me quietly for a moment told me he was struggling with this. The lump in my throat was there instantly.
One hundred twenty-two, one hundred twenty-two, one hundred twenty-two, one hundred twenty-two, one hundred twenty-two, one hundred twenty-two.
“Why, Tink?” His voice was thick with emotion.
I closed my eyes and swallowed hard. “I don’t know,” I lied. I knew. I’d had hundreds of hours of counseling that taught me why and how to overcome it.
He pressed his face into my hair. “Please, tell me how to fix it.” He sounded as if he was in pain.
I shook my head. “You can’t.”
We stood there silently, and he turned me around to face him before pulling me into his chest and holding me. I could hear his heart pounding rapidly. My hands fisted in his shirt, and I clung to him as the tears came and the lump began to ease.
He reached down and scooped me up, then walked back to the living room, carrying me over to the sofa, where he sat down and continued to cradle me in his arms. He rested his forehead on the top of my head. “I will maim, kill, torture, whatever I need to do to whoever caused this if you will just tell me why, who. Point me in the right direction. Something. Just give me something here, Tink.”
I stared at his arm wrapped around me. There was no one he could do any of those things to in order to fix this. Even if my aunt were still alive, him harming her the way…she had done to me…it wouldn’t heal what she had damaged. That was permanent. The past couldn’t be rewritten.
“There is no one,” I said, turning my head so that he could see the truth in my eyes. “Nothing you can do will erase history.”
He was silent a moment before saying, “Tell me. If I know, I can help you. I will help you. I never want you to hurt your body again. I can’t stand it, Tink. This perfect skin is…precious.”
I had two options here. Tell him the truth, which meant trusting another person with my secrets. Or refuse to open up and possibly push away a guy I didn’t want to leave.