Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 116760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
“With your mother?” he asked.
“With these feelings inside me . . . they don’t have anywhere to go!” She stared down at her hands. “I’m shaking . . . sometimes I shake when I’m anxious. But that’s not what I feel right now. It’s . . . it’s rage! All I feel is so . . . fucking . . . angry.”
Okay. This was something he thought he could deal with.
At least she wasn’t hurting herself or thinking dangerous thoughts.
Well, he hoped not.
“So tell her,” he said.
“Tell her? How do I tell her? No, I don’t know if I can. She probably wouldn’t listen anyway. She probably wouldn’t care.”
“What would you say if she was here right now?” he asked.
“She’s not.”
“No, but you can still say it. At least then, it won’t be festering inside you. Get it out. Don’t let her win. Because that’s what’s happening. By letting her get to you, letting her hurt you, she’s winning. You don’t want her to win, do you?”
“No.” Bebe shook her head, her hair wild around her face. “No, I don’t want her to win.”
“So tell her. What would you say?” he asked.
She turned to him, her teeth chattering. She was cold, and he’d left both of their jackets back at the pub. Shakespeare had put them in a closet for them. Well, he’d kind of chucked them all in a closet.
“Baby, it’s too cold for you out here. You need to come and get into the SUV.”
“No, no, I can’t.”
“Will you let me hold you?”
She shook her head, another tremble running through her.
Fuck.
He wanted to just do it. His hands itched to grab her and pull her into his embrace. To carry her to the car and bundle her up, keep her warm and safe.
He hated that he couldn’t get close to her.
The only thing he could do was get her to a place where she would let him help her. He just hoped that happened sooner rather than later.
“I’m going to take my shirt off, all right? You can put it around you.”
She shot him an incredulous look, her eyes widening as he stripped off his shirt. He had a white T-shirt underneath.
“What . . . what are you doing?” she asked. “Put your shirt back on!”
“Really? But this way, you get to look at my forearms,” he teased her.
She shook her head as he held his shirt out to her. “Put that back on.”
“Rude. What? You don’t think my forearms are porn-worthy anymore?” he asked, still holding out the shirt.
Take the shirt, darling.
Take it and keep yourself warm because it’s killing me seeing you standing out in the dark, shivering with cold.
“Of course they a-are,” she said, her teeth trembling. “But y-you’re going to get cold without a shirt on.”
“I’m bigger than you are. I don’t feel the cold as bad.”
And better I feel cold than you, baby.
“Take the shirt, Bebe,” he said firmly, injecting more dominance into his voice.
To his shock, she took it without another word, slipping it on.
Okay. He could breathe easier now.
“Now, if your mother was here, what would you say to her?”
Damn, she looked adorable in his shirt.
“I’d . . . I’d tell that she’s a terrible mother,” she said without much conviction.
“Say it like you mean it. Get it out, baby. Scream it. Feel it.”
Turning back to the water, she leaned over the rail and his heart leaped into his throat. Nausea engulfed him, but she simply stared down at the water.
“You’re a terrible mother!” she yelled.
Good girl.
He let out a sigh of relief.
“You’re a selfish bitch who only thinks of herself!” she screamed. “How dare you! How dare you do all of this to me? Why? Why do you keep hurting me over and over?”
A sob broke her voice.
God. Baby.
It was taking all of his control to stand back here and let her do this on her own. He should be behind her, cradling her close.
“W-why?” she cried, her voice cracking. “You were never there for me as a kid. You were only interested in me when you thought I could do something for you. You . . . you selfish bitch!”
The words were screeched and he nearly winced.
“Do you realize what you did? What you’ve done? You paid someone to pretend to fall in love with me!”
What?
She’d done what?
“Instead, you should have been the one loving me. Why? Why don’t you love me?” She started crying. Huge, heaving sobs.
That was it.
He was done.
He couldn’t hold back anymore and just had to hope that she wouldn’t freak out on him.
Striding quickly forward, he picked her up in his arms. He expected some protest, but she simply turned her face into his chest and cried.
He shifted her around so his arm was under her ass as he pressed her face to his chest.