Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 78631 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78631 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
I resist the urge to let my mouth fall open.
Did he really just open up to me about something?
Clearly he’s been estranged from his parents. I just assumed it happened once he turned eighteen.
He looks over his shoulder at me. “I see that surprises you,” he says. “My own parents saw the evil in me. They abandoned me. Made me a ward of the state. And at age nine, I was too old to get adopted by someone else.”
My heart breaks. “So you grew up in the system?”
“I did. But do you want to know why my parents threw me out?”
“Yes. Tell me, Dragon.”
He closes his eyes, runs his hands over his long hair. “They thought I harmed my little sister. My sweet little five-year-old sister, who was an angel. Seriously. She looked like those pictures of cherubs in the Bible. They thought I hurt her.”
Did you? The question is on the tip of my tongue, but already I know the answer.
Dragon did not harm his sister.
There’s a story here, but I don’t think he’s ready to tell it.
“I’m so sorry,” I say.
“But you’re not quite sure, are you, Diana?” He shakes his head. “You’re not quite sure what I’m capable of. ‘Maybe he did hurt his sister,’ you’re thinking. ‘Maybe he truly is evil. Maybe he truly is sin.’”
I shake my head. “I don’t believe you would hurt anyone.”
He forces out a humorless laugh. “Let me tell you something, Diana. I did not harm my little sister. I loved her. But I’ve done some terrible things to others.”
I don’t know anyone who’s grown up in the system, but I do know people—my own father and brothers—who’ve been to hell and back. Who were at the mercy of people bigger and stronger than they were. The system is rife with that kind of stuff.
Dragon…
I can’t even think about it. It’s hard enough imagining my father and brothers in those situations.
But Dragon…
At least my father and my brothers had parents who loved them.
Dragon was abandoned.
Abandoned by that old woman in the trailer.
What happened to his sister? Is this the big secret that only Jesse knows?
“I believe that you didn’t hurt your sister,” I say.
“Do you really?”
I place a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t say things I don’t mean, Dragon. Of course I believe you. You were eight years old. What could a child possibly do to his little sister?”
He scoffs then. “You’d be surprised.”
“What do you—” I shut my mouth abruptly.
He’s speaking about the system.
“Were you in foster care?”
He crosses the room and looks toward the window, his eyes distant. “No. I never got foster care. I grew up in group homes.”
Oh my God. No one even took him as a foster child?
He returns his gaze to mine and holds it for a moment. In his eyes I can see the shadows of his past—the pain and guilt that haunt him. I’m convinced he’s about to spill his guts to me.
But then he shakes his head sharply. “I’m done talking about this, Diana.”
Then he stalks toward me, grabs me, and crashes our mouths together.
Chapter Fifteen
Dragon
Her lips are already parted, and I dive my tongue in between them.
I promised I wouldn’t do this again.
I meant to keep that promise, but she wouldn’t stop talking. She makes me talk about things I don’t want to talk about.
She makes me think about things that I don’t want to—
She groans.
She groans into my mouth, and my need for her escalates.
She’s a wildfire, and I’m consumed by everything about her. The ache in my chest matches the swell of desire inside me.
I pull back for a minute and gasp for air. Her eyes—wide and filled with a heady mix of anticipation and confusion—meet mine. She bites her lip.
Damn.
So sexy.
I promised myself no more, but every cell inside me craves her.
She makes me lose control.
“Stop.” I pull myself away. My hands are shaking. “We can’t do this.”
But even as I speak those words, they ring hollow in my ears, defeated by the pounding of my heart.
I’ve told her who I am, that I am evil, I am sin, but still…
Still she won’t stay away from me.
She kisses me with a passion I’ve never known.
I’ve told her I’m not gentle. Hell, I’ve shown her.
And she lets me.
She lets me do what I need to do.
I look at her, and there’s something in her eyes that haunts me. A glimmer of defiance, a look that says she knows exactly what she’s walking into but does it anyway. She’s not afraid.
She reaches for me and gently strokes my cheek. It’s a tender motion. A comforting one. The touch of her skin against mine sends electricity coursing through my veins.
“Please,” she murmurs, her voice barely above a whisper. “I’m not afraid of you, Dragon. I’ll never be afraid of you.”
Her voice is like a balm to my soul, soothing the tempest raging within me. I know I can’t resist her now. The allure is too powerful.