Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
I swallowed thickly. “I’m sorry,” I whispered, my voice coming out strangled.
He sat beside me on the couch and drew me against his side. “I’m sorry I made you feel like you weren’t good enough to stick around for.” My eyes burned with tears. How the fuck had he figured it out so easily? He turned his head and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I won’t make the same mistake twice, Montana.”
I sighed and closed my eyes, seeking comfort in his embrace.
13
Montana
“Where are you going?” John asked when I stepped out of my room. I was wearing a pair of leggings with a sports bra and a pair of running shoes. He hadn’t let me go anywhere by myself yet, but I really needed some space and a good jog. I needed to just be by myself for a little while.
“A jog,” I told him.
He frowned. “I don’t like you out of my sight, Montana.”
I gritted my teeth. “I’m not fucking going out to get high,” I snarled at him.
He put his hands up in a surrendering gesture. “Didn’t mean to piss you off.” He sighed and scrubbed a hand down his face. “You feel well enough to jog?”
I needed out.
“Would I fucking be out of bed if I didn’t?” I retorted.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” he swore, shaking his head. He waved his hand to the door. “Go. Make sure you have your phone.”
I waved it in the air as I marched to the door. Later, I knew I would apologize to John for the way I’d just been, but fuck, I needed to get out. I was feeling trapped and suffocated. It felt like the walls in his house were closing in on me no matter what room I put myself in.
As soon as I was outside, I sucked in a lungful of air, my racing heart finally calming down some. I made sure to stretch before I started out on a brisk walk. Before long, I was jogging along the streets, leaving the neighborhood John lived in and heading out into the city. Most of the city hadn’t woken up yet. The only motorists on the road were those that worked for construction companies.
I entered another neighborhood, instantly recognizing it as Blaze’s. And considering I wasn’t here to steal another one of his precious cars and crash it, I continued jogging along. My lungs were screaming for more air, but this time, it was the good kind of pain rather than the panicked pain I’d been feeling back at home.
Home. Weird that I thought of John’s house as home now.
But it was. And it was the first place I’d actually felt comfortable in such a long time. I just had an issue with being cooped up, especially when too much change was happening in my life. And I knew John understood that. It was one of the reasons he fought.
I jerked to a stop when Blaze’s truck rumbled loudly from beside me. He rolled his window down, his eyes narrowed in my direction. “Should you be running on that thigh, Montana?”
I rolled my eyes at him. “It’s healed, for your information.”
He threw his truck in park and got out. “It’s not safe for a woman like you to be out running by yourself this early in the morning. It’s barely light out, Montana.”
I put my hands on my hips, my chest heaving. “You got a point here, Blaze?” I asked, craning my neck back to look up at him as he towered over me.
“You need to go home, Montana. And next time you want to run, you should run with a partner.”
I gritted my teeth. “Thanks for the fucking concern, but it’s not needed.”
He grabbed my waist, and in one swift move, he managed to then grab my wrists and pin them to his chest. I moved to jerk my leg up, but he quickly grabbed that, too, pressing his thumb into the scar on my thigh. I hissed out a breath.
Just because it was healed didn’t mean pain didn’t shoot through it when pressure was applied.
“It’s not needed?” he quietly asked me, his blue eyes boring into mine. I trembled. “Because I could kidnap you right now, Montana, and no one would ever be the wiser.”
“There’s cameras,” I breathed.
He smirked. “You think there’s cameras because of this neighborhood, but no, sweetheart. No cameras here. The spot we’re in is a blind spot. No one would ever know what happened to you nor who took you.”
I swallowed thickly, hating that his words spiked fear in my blood. “Why do you care, Blaze?”
He leaned down, his lips brushing mine. A low moan crawled up my throat. When I opened my eyes again to look up at him, black spots were dancing in my vision. “Blaze,” I whispered, suddenly feeling lightheaded.