Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
I ran a hand over my face, trying to make sense of it all. "I loved you, too.”
“So, what now?”
“I can’t answer that. Not right now.” I stood and took a step back. “I’m gonna need time to sort through all this.”
“Okay. I understand.”
Pain flickered across her face, but she nodded, understanding even when it was killing us both. She reached for her bag and stood. She hesitated for a moment, like she wanted to say something else, then just turned and started down the front steps.
“Tallie?”
“Yes?”
“He’s been lied to long enough.” Her eyes widened as I added, “He deserves to know the truth.”
“I agree. We can find a way to tell him together.”
She gave me a half-smile, then continued out to her car.
The knot in my stomach churned as I watched her climb inside and close the door. She wiped the tears from her eyes, then started the engine and backed out of the driveway. She didn’t look back. Not even for a second, and it made me wonder if I’d made a mistake in letting her go.
She was gone, and the house suddenly felt suffocating.
I couldn’t stay here.
I grabbed my keys and headed for my bike. I wasn’t thinking about where I was going or what I’d do when I got there. I just knew I couldn’t stay in that house a second longer. The turmoil raging inside me wasn’t something I was accustomed to. I was the Sergeant at Arms. It was my job to maintain order and control. To do that and do it well, I had to keep myself in check.
I didn’t get the luxury of losing my cool or acting without thinking.
Every move I made had to be deliberate and controlled.
But at that moment, nothing I was doing felt deliberate or controlled.
It was anything but.
I tried to steady myself, but the noise in my head was too loud. Hell, the roar of the engine barely cut through it. Riding was usually the one thing I could count on to clear my mind, but tonight, it did little to ease anything—not my mind or my anger.
I drove and drove, and before I knew it, I was pulling up to the hotel where Tallie and her mother were staying. I parked, and I’d just gotten off my bike when Duggar came walking up. “Hey, brother. Everything okay?”
“I need a minute with Rooks.”
“Alright.” When I didn’t move, Duggar said, “He’s up in his room. Number 218.”
I nodded, then started towards the elevator.
When I got to the second floor, I charged down the hall and banged on Rooks’ door. It took him a minute, but eventually, Rooks opened it and smiled when he saw that it was me. “Holt. I was wondering when you’d come around.”
The bastard stood there smirking at me like he didn’t have a care in the damn world, and he didn’t seem the slightest bit fazed to see me standing in the hallway. My blood boiled just looking at him.
All the lies he fed Tallie came flashing through my head, all the years he had stolen from her and from me, and it was just too much. My rage took over, and I lunged at him. I tucked my shoulder as I charged forward and rammed into him, sending us both tumbling to the floor with a hard thud.
I didn’t give him a chance to recover before I was on him. I straddled my knees at his sides and started laying into him as I shouted, "You son of a bitch!"
I punched him again and again, each hit fueled by the thought of Tallie’s tear-streaked face. "You lied to her! You made her believe I was fucking dead!”
Rooks tried to block the hits, but I was relentless. His lip split, sending blood seeping down his chin, but it wasn’t enough. Nothing would be enough. I grabbed his jacket, yanking him up just to slam him back down. "How could you do that to her? To me?”
His eyes were already swelling, and he was winded, but he managed to choke out, "You don’t understand…"
He was right. I didn’t want to understand.
I stood and looked down at him as I roared, "Make me understand, then. Explain how you could destroy your sister like that! How could you do that shit to me? After all those times I had your back!”
Rooks coughed, and blood speckled the floor beneath him. But he didn’t answer. He couldn’t. There was no reason good enough for the knife he’d put in my back. I glared at him for a moment longer, then turned and headed back outside to my bike.
I didn’t even speak to Duggar.
I was too pissed to speak.
I just left the hotel and drove straight to the clubhouse.
As soon as I pulled into the parking lot, I parked and walked into the bar. As usual, the place was buzzing. Music was playing from the jukebox, and there were brothers at the pool tables and a few in the back playing darts. I barely noticed any of them.