Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 96065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
That memory feels real.
And from what I remember, I enjoyed every second of it.
Is that why I’m sore all over? My head hurts, a raw bruising pain on one side of my scalp. There are aches all over my body. Between my thighs—where he had his wicked fingers—it burns.
Did we have sex?
Memories flood back all at once. A man on top of me, taking, taking, taking, and I can’t stop him.
Gareth.
Gareth raped me.
A low, horrified moan crawls out of me. I jerk my head to the right, searching for the man who hurt me. Caius’s tight squeeze on my thigh draws my attention back to him. With watery eyes, I stare at the man who was supposed to protect me.
Why didn’t he protect me?
He must see the accusation in my eyes, but he doesn’t flinch. The only tell that he’s impacted by my broken heart is a slight flaring of his pupils. Other than that, he’s a statue, not moving a muscle.
A hot tear streaks down my face. His dark eyes track it quickly. He sets down his phone to swipe it away with his thumb.
“What’s wrong, love?” he asks, voice low and concerned.
It’s fake.
He really is a fake.
“I…I…” I stammer, fumbling over my words and thoughts, unable to grasp onto any of them. “He…”
His eyebrows furl and he looks away. “Missing. You remember.”
Missing?
My dream dances on the edge of my consciousness. He didn’t go missing. Gareth was thrown overboard into Lake Erie—after Caius effortlessly broke the neck of a man much larger than him.
“You…killed…” I swallow down a ball of emotion as I’m hit with an onslaught of the rest of my memories.
Gareth’s cologne infiltrating my nostrils, making me gag.
Gareth’s brute strength rendering me completely immobile.
Gareth’s rage and hatred toward a woman he barely knew.
Caius’s fingers grip my jaw and he leans forward until his nose brushes mine. “He’s missing,” he says, voice cold. “The police are looking for his body in the lake. He’d been drinking and the decks were covered with ice. There’s only one possible conclusion, and it’s one that will crush our family.”
Crush his family?
His emotionless, apathetic features deny that claim. He doesn’t care.
Question is, why do I care?
Because Gareth was a person. A human being. A father, brother, son. Now he’s dead.
But. He. Raped. You.
Fear of it happening again is squashed. I find comfort in knowing he’s dead. I hate that I do. Murder is worse than rape, right?
Try telling that to a victim of the latter.
Caius’s lips press to mine, cold and firm, and yet I find comfort in the chaste kiss. I want nothing more than to unbuckle and crawl into his lap so he’ll hold me. The ache for him is intense and all-consuming.
“He most likely fell,” Caius murmurs against my lips. “There’s no surviving those temperatures. It’s devastating. I know he was your friend. It’s okay to be sad, love.”
I burst into tears because I am sad, but not because of the lie he’s feeding me. Because of the truth. I was violated in the worst way. Everything is confusing and I’m way out of my depth. I’m a captive in this family, and yet, I find solace in the monster beside me.
He pulls me to him, hugging me tight. His large hands rub circles over my back as if to urge me to cry out all the pain and hurt. I do just that. I’m sure there are others around witnessing my breakdown, but right now, I don’t care.
I need to release this pain.
My tears soak Caius’s suit jacket on the shoulder. I’m pretty sure I’m getting snot all over him. For as put together as this man is, he doesn’t seem worried in the least. If anything, he appears to crave comforting me every bit as much as I need him to do it.
“Do you want something to take the edge off?” he asks, voice tickling the hair on my head.
And to forget everything again?
To drift through another confusing fog?
“Yes,” I find myself murmuring even though I know it’s the wrong answer.
He pulls away long enough to place two bitter pills on my tongue and then offers me a bottle of water. I swallow them down and sink back into his embrace. As promised, within moments, my bruises don’t hurt, my head doesn’t spin, and my heart doesn’t feel like exploding. All thoughts in my throbbing head turn numb.
Yes, this is better.
Much better.
It’s been a few days and I’ve hardly left my spot on the comfy chaise by the fireplace. Caius has been virtually nonexistent, taking care of family matters.
The two pills he left me sit untouched on the table beside my phone. I’m tempted to swallow them down and go to sleep, but I know it’s long past time I wake up from this fog I’m in.
What happened with Gareth can’t be drugged away.