Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 82770 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82770 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Now in the safety of her room, she rubbed her hand over her arm that was still warm from his close body. She did this unconsciously for several minutes, rubbing it over and over, before she dropped her hand, realizing she was trying to keep the warmth in. His warmth.
Chloe didn’t know it yet, but the part of her that craved human touch was coming back to life. And soon, she was going to meet the part of her she had buried long ago.
Eleven
Always
Lucca moved from his laid-back position to leaning forward, putting his elbows on his knees. He ran his hands roughly through his hair, thinking about how he hadn’t even finished his sentence before she had disappeared.
Where Chloe couldn’t run fast enough from him, he had wanted the opposite.
The whole time she had sat beside him on the floor, it hadn’t been a test only for her, but for him as well. Lucca had told her he was going to help her overcome her fear of touch, but what he hadn’t told her was that he was also going to fight the darkness of claiming her too soon. He wanted to make sure he could handle her closeness. To be close to his grasp, yet not claim her was one of the hardest things he had ever done. The twisted part of his brain had kept whispering, Touch her, kiss her, take her … But he hadn’t. He had fought his dark urges … for her.
He planned to get closer to her every night. He imagined it was only going to get harder, painful even, to fight the darkness when his fingers finally moved over her scars.
Raising his head at the sound of footsteps, he saw Drago had come into the room. He put his head back down to run his hands through his hair.
“I don’t see her handling this … you. She’s too fucked up,” Drago said, crossing his arms as he leaned against the far wall.
There was only one option. “She will learn.”
Another question from Drago circled the air around him, “Is this girl really worth all this?”
Lucca closed his eyes for just a moment …
Chloe rejected the hand that came toward her. “S-Sorry. I’m germophobic.”
“No, I’m sorry,” Lake told her, holding up her hands. “If you ever need someone to talk to, I’ll listen. I know what it’s like to be alone.”
Lucca watched the exchange from a distance. He had followed Chloe outside, but Lake, one of his soldier’s daughter, had followed her out as well. She must have sensed Chloe’s distress, just as he had, as he had watched her during the graduation party.
Before the girl turned, she left Chloe with some final words.
“You shouldn’t hide your face. It’s beautiful.”
He didn’t know what to expect from Lake when she had approached Chloe, especially after he had heard the horrors Chloe and Elle had gone through in high school, but he honestly hadn’t expected that.
Staring at Chloe now under the lighted gazebo, surrounded by the flowers in bloom, it took his breath away. He had been waiting for this day for months now.
Keeping his distance from her and only watching her from afar was making him crazy. Not once had he been able to talk to her since that last time, but now the time had arrived.
Caging her in like last time, he blocked the entrance with his frame. “Hey, darlin’.”
She looked up at him, startled.
Pulling out a cigarette, he placed it between his lips, making the stick bounce as he said, “I hear you’re still saying you’re a germaphobe. Have you ever thought of telling the truth just once?” He lit the end with his Zippo.
Averting her gaze to the pressure she made in her hands, her soft, unsure voice settled something inside of him. “I-It’s not a lie.”
Prove it then.
Taking a few steps forward, he stood over her, holding out his hand. “Come on, darlin’; just try it once.”
If he still prayed, he would have in this moment. Watching her stare at the hand in front of her, he needed her desperately to just reach out and touch it.
Being too focused on her face, Lucca almost missed it—the slightest movement of her hand moving toward his before she stopped.
“I c-can’t.”
What she had just done was a sign. She feels it, too. Even if she was ignoring it, there was no denying there was an electrifying pull between them.
His voice took a commanding tone, not wanting any more lies, as he asked, “Why can’t you?”
Her eyes met his, looking up through her dark lashes as she whispered her secret, “Because I’m afraid to.”
She feared touch. That was something he knew from the beginning, but getting her to admit it to him was something he needed if they were ever going to get her to overcome it one day. He needed her to begin to trust him with her secrets.