Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 57064 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57064 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
“What do you need?” He’s far more casual than Joshua, yet also far more serious. Perhaps that’s because I’ve known Joshua for longer. He’s the only man on this fucked up Earth I can truly call my friend.
“Get me every bit of surveillance you have on Kiersten over the past two weeks,” I tell him. “I want a list. Every person she’s talked to, every person she’s been in contact with, everything.”
“You—”
“Someone’s stalking you,” I continue forcefully, looking Kiersten in the eyes. “And I’m going to find out who. There’s no way that I will let you be in danger, Kiersten. So until we find this asshole, you won’t go back to your home without me, not back to Club X without me. You’re not leaving my side.”
Kiersten stares at me, her eyes wide and full of shock. “Are you kidding?” she asks, anger brimming in her voice. “You want me to put my life on pause because—”
“Kiersten, I’m looking out for you,” I protest, stressing the very real potential threat.
Her voice is strong, yet it still shakes. “I’ve been on my own for years, and if—”
Standing up, the laptop falls to the sofa, and I grip her chin in my hand, meeting her gaze. “I refuse to lose you. I won’t let them hurt you.”
“You don’t even know who it is, Gabriel,” she whispers, taking a step back. The pain in her eyes is evident. “You didn’t even tell me.” Her focus moves to the fire as the deception and reality hit her.
She paces the floor, twisting her hands behind her back. “You knew that there were issues. You knew that someone was making threatening gestures, and you didn’t tell me?”
It’s silent a moment, deathly silent apart from the fire that rages behind her. Adrenaline pumps hard in my veins, and I know I could have told her. I could have showed up, fucked her, and then the very next day informed her that I’d brought danger to her front door. My throat tightens. “This isn't how I planned it. I didn’t want to keep anything from you. It simply didn’t seem necessary.”
Outrage flashes across her beautiful eyes, and a part of me fucking loves the fight in her. The independence. But I’ll be damned if I worry her more than I need to. I’ll be damned if put her in danger for the sake of her being strong on her own.
“I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
Kiersten shakes her head. “Gabriel, whoever it is, I have my own—”
I step forward, closing the distance between us. We’re close, like any minute she could slap me or we could fall to the floor making love again. I don’t really know which. I just know that she’s mine. “Kiersten, I’d rather die than let you leave my sight again.”
She’s silent, but her expression says it all. How it softens, how the flash in her eyes is of something else now. Something we had long ago.
“I want you to know, I’ll allow security because I’m not a damn idiot,” she tells me and swallows thickly, her gaze never leaving mine. “But I’m damn pissed that you kept this from me. I’m going to need a little space and a little time.”
The back of my teeth clench as I bite down on every emotion and thought that screams in my head. “As long as you are with me or my team, you can have as much space and time as you need.” Just as she objects, I cut her off, unwilling to negotiate or discuss it further.
“You’re mine, Kiersten,” I tell her. “You can be pissed at me, but you’re still mine, and I’m going to do everything I can to protect you.”
Hours later, in the middle of the night
“I need . . . space,” Kiersten murmurs, and I knew it was coming. It’s all too much, and the fragile memory of what we once had can only burn for so long before it’s snuffed out. In my silence, she adds, “I need to think.”
Part of me wants to deny her, to tell her that she’s not leaving my sight. But I would rather give her what she needs than force her by my side.
I nod and point toward the back, maintaining a calm exterior. “The bedroom on the left across from the main is made up for sleeping. The other is being used by Roland and his men as an office, but you can have privacy there.”
“No cameras?” she asks, and I shake my head, trying not to smile. “Promise?”
“I don’t need film of you to remember how beautiful you are,” I tell her simply, and Kiersten stops in the doorway, looking back at me. There’s the spark, the flame that burns dimly in the chaos. I see it in her eyes. I hear it in the silence.