Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77066 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77066 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
I don’t speak, unwilling to disturb whatever he’s trying to work through in his head.
I know he won’t hurt me, but I know he may not go out of his way to protect me either. I’m not his burden, and I could easily tell by the look in his eyes that although he may be reluctant to hurt me, he’s not happy I’ve refused to leave.
Chapter 15
Hollis
A fucking virgin.
I don’t know why my thoughts have locked on that fact, especially after she told me what has happened to her with the Severino brothers.
Her explaining what was going to happen in that SUV with Marcello is proof that things aren’t always what they appear. I want details. I want to know how many times they forced her to do shit like that. I want to pull the bullet from Marcello’s brain just so I can kill him all over again. I consider my own thoughts, thinking maybe I should turn my gun on myself. Knowing that about her turns me on, and it fucking shouldn’t.
I shouldn’t consider it mine. I shouldn’t look at it as something to take from them, the Severinos, as compensation for all that they have taken from me. I stare at the window, trying to remind myself that it’s a part of her, and she owes me nothing.
I’m not that type of man. If someone were comparing me with Marcello or Alessio, and they knew nothing of the three of us but a list of our crimes, someone could conclude that we were all equally bad. I’ve murdered without hesitation. I’ve stolen things that don’t belong to me, present company included. I’ve lied to keep myself safe. Hell, I’ve lied just for the hell of it, but I don’t hurt women. I don’t take advantage of them or use my cock as a weapon against them. My entire career, if you can call it that, has been in defense of women that have been taken advantage of.
I’ve spent my adult years doing what my father and Patrick couldn’t bring themselves to do. They were more afraid of becoming a part of the criminal justice system opposite of what they started. They couldn’t see themselves going to prison even if it was for the right reason. They left Ellie unavenged, and it ate away at me as a child. By the time I was an adult, I couldn’t help but be the opposite of them. I can’t let injustice stand. If punishing bad people for hurting others lands me in prison or an early grave, I’ll do either with a smile on my face, knowing I helped someone, saved someone from becoming a victim.
She shifts on the chair behind me, the old wood creaking under her weight, and all the thoughts I just had fade away. I hate how my mind hyper focuses on things. She never should’ve mentioned her virginity. Now it’s going to be the elephant in the room.
“How old are you?” I ask, keeping my back to her.
Looking at her would mean watching her mouth, and fuck if my mind wouldn’t conjure up a million things that part of her can do.
“Twenty-one,” she says, having to clear her throat on the last syllable. “Twenty-two in a few months. That’s when I’m supposed to marry Alessio.”
She shifts again, the noise the chair’s making drawing my attention once more.
My thoughts swim, my mind imagining her body under mine, but it isn’t sinking inside of her, being the first person to be there, that makes my cock jerk in my jeans. Her begging me to stop, asking me not to do this to her, brings that reaction. I grind my teeth because that’s never been my thing. I’d never do something like that, but fuck if I can’t stop thinking about it. I crave it from her like a psychopath.
I spin around to face her, liking it a little too much when she jerks back from my sudden movement. She doesn’t trust me, and that’s a good thing. I don’t trust myself right now either.
I open my mouth to yell, to tell her to get the fuck out. The temptation of her will be the death of me, or at least will be the end of whatever morality I’ve held all these years.
I clench my fists, my mind trying to convince me that she deserves pain. She has sat by idly for years while the Severino brothers have hurt people.
I scan her body, wondering which bone Marcello broke when she refused to suck his cock. I simmer with rage, but deep down I know it’s just as much because he’s had her mouth and I haven’t, as it is that he forced her to do something like that in the first place.
“I want you to tell me everything about the Severino family,” I say, my voice low and full of warning, a sort of threat that says she better not deny me this time. “If you’re going to stay, you’re going to be useful.”