Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
Not sleeping deeply enough, apparently.
Spinning around, I have a lie spilling off my tongue by the time I face him. “I have to ask your leave to use the bathroom now?”
Khalil peeks one eye open and uses it to look me up and down. “Sure,” he says to be a dick.
Adopting my sweet tone—America’s sweetheart’s voice—I ask, “Can I go pee, master? Is that okay?”
My glower doesn’t faze him as he stretches his long body before rolling onto his stomach. “You may.” Teeth clenching, I start to leave the room when he adds, “And then come right back to bed.”
Damn it!
His voice was muffled by the pillow, but I know pretending I hadn’t heard him won’t work. No way out of it now, I leave to go pee, knowing he’ll be listening for evidence that I am. After I’m done, I stare in the mirror and look for signs that they’ve ruined me beyond repair.
Other than the sweet ache between my legs, I feel no worse for wear, so I shut off the light and leave the bathroom. I guess I took too long because Khalil is sitting up and resting against the headboard when I walk back inside the bedroom. Seth is still asleep, and I absently rub my neck as I pray to God he stays that way.
“Thanks for the shirt,” I say as I walk toward the bed and round the foot of it to stand on Khalil’s side.
“No problem…” His voice trails off and Khalil looks at me strangely when I continue to stand by the bed rather than climb over him. “What the fuck are you doing, Aurelia?”
“Scoot over.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to sleep next to him.”
“Why?” When I don’t respond, understanding dawns, and Khalil sighs before pointing at all the tiny light woven through the beautifully twisted canopy. “It’s safe, Goldilocks. He’s not going to hurt you.”
“Look…” I huff. “Seth told me why he has nightmares, so I’m not holding what happened against him. I’m truly not.” Resting a hand over my heart, I stare Khalil in his brown eyes and hope he can see the truth in mine. “But it makes no difference if Seth kills me accidentally or on purpose. I’ll still be dead.”
“He told you about Isaac?” Khalil sounds surprised.
“Not much, but enough.”
Khalil doesn’t respond. He just lifts me off my feet by my waist and dumps me on the bed next to him—between him and Seth. “Oh, my God,” I groan. “You guys are the biggest assholes! Does how I feel really not matter to any of you?”
I don’t wait for an answer and start to crawl to the end of the bed. I’ll take sleeping on the floor rather than with any of them at this point. God, they’re such jerks!
I don’t get far before Khalil wrestles me onto my back and between them again.
“Get off me!”
“How about you stop being such a worrisome pain in the ass and look.”
I hear something metal rattle against wood. When I turn my head, I see Khalil holding the slack in a short, thick chain attached to the headboard with cuffs at the end and Seth’s left hand dangling from it.
I gasp in horror. “You tied him up?”
Khalil narrows his gaze. “I’m starting to think you have what he has,” he remarks, referring to Seth’s DID.
“Screw you, okay? I don’t like this. Untie him. I can go sleep on the couch. It’s not a big deal.”
“It is to me. I want you in my bed where you belong, Goldilocks. And do you think you’re the first Seth almost killed in his sleep? Why do you think the cuffs were already there?” I hadn’t noticed them before, honestly. I’d always been so quick to leave Khalil’s bed whenever I found myself in it. “And anyway, tying Seth up tonight was his idea. He wanted to hold you and be there when you woke up to make sure you were okay after taking all three of us. I offered to let you both sleep here and keep an eye on the situation, but Thorin wouldn’t have it after what happened last time, so Seth let us cuff him.”
I bite my tongue when I feel myself about to ask why Thorin isn’t here, too. The bed is large enough to fit all four of us but barely. We’d have to get real close and personal to make it work, and I don’t think we’re there yet. I’m flipping out over waking up and finding myself sandwich between two of them. All three of my mountain men would have sent me into a spiral.
“Are you implying that there were times you cuffed Seth without his consent?”
Seeing an argument on the horizon, Khalil groans and rolls off me. He starts rubbing his eyes, pretending he’s suddenly too exhausted to talk. Sitting up, I shock us both when I straddle his waist until his strong body is locked between my thighs. Khalil’s hands automatically find my ass and start massaging. My body craves his touch, even if my heart and mind rebel against it.