Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 125(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 125(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
“Well, it’s complicated,” I reply. Isn’t that the understatement of the year?
“You want us to whip him into shape?” Amy gleefully suggests. “I’ll take the girls here, and we can go give him a talking to.” She mimes punching someone while she scrunches up her face, trying to look tough. “I can give him my best Milla Jovovich.”
“Who?” Tammy asks.
“You know, the girl from all those Resident Evil movies. She’s always like a tough girl?” Tammy just shrugs, causing Amy to sigh. “You girls really need to watch more movies your man actually enjoys.”
The banality of this conversation is starting to grate on me. I’ve had a headache all morning–probably from lack of sleep–and it’s coming back now with a vengeance.
“No, I don’t want you to whip him into shape,” I snap, causing the girls to jump. Tammy even spills her iced tea and looks at me in shock as she quickly picks it up. “You couldn’t even if you wanted to. You’re three tiny girls, and he’s a massive, hulking, freakishly-strong security guard. He could kill all three of you if he wanted to.”
Silence.
The girls look at me like I just morphed into an alien.
“I’m sorry,” I sigh, slumping forward onto the table like an exhausted caterpillar. “I didn’t sleep well last night. I have a headache. And this guy…”
“We’re only trying to help,” Amy says sweetly, patting me on the back. Despite her hard edges, Amy always knows when a bit of comfort is needed.
“I know.” I nod. “I just…I really like this guy. I was ready to dive in, you know? Give myself over to him. But he’s just–I can’t figure him out. And that scares me.”
Memories of last night’s events begin to bubble up from beneath the surface, and my eyes start to well up with tears. Some things are better left alone, and maybe Parker is one of those things. Maybe I will be better off without him. Because for the first time since he entered my life, the thrill is gone. The excitement vanished. And all that remains now is a vacant, hollow feeling, tinged with pain and despair.
6
PARKER
It’s been four days since I’ve seen Ali.
And those four days have been the hardest of my life.
Years ago, when I had just joined the mob and was still green, I was captured by The Black Coyotes, the New York arm of the Irish mob. I made a mistake, and it cost me. I was held and tortured for eleven days straight. They cut me with knives, broke my fingers, and put out cigarettes on my skin, but all that was nothing compared to the agony I’ve struggled to endure these last few days being away from Ali.
My instincts are howling. All I want is to stalk her every second of every day. I want to camp out across from her apartment, break in, and pound the breath out of her. I want to fuck her so hard and so deep that her pussy is never able to forget the feeling of my cock. But somehow, I’ve managed to keep myself away. Don’t ask me how. A lion must hunt its prey, and I must stalk Ali. Maybe it’s an act of God that’s given me the strength to resist.
The guilt I feel for throwing her out of my apartment continues to eat at me like a venomous snake with a stranglehold around my neck, choking me slowly, growing tighter and tighter as the seconds tick by. And I know it’s only a matter of time before I succumb. Before my remorse overwhelms me and I cease to exist.
I wake up in the middle of the night sweating, gasping for breath, the visage of Ali’s face haunting me like some taunting specter. The look of betrayal she gave me was like a dagger through my chest. She must despise me, and I wouldn’t blame her for wanting me dead. Even now, if I went back to her and apologized, would she accept it? Or would she throw me out like I did to her?
Somehow, I’ve managed to make it all day without opening the gallery on my phone. No pictures of Ali. No videos. That’s been my rule, and while I failed the last three days, I’ve managed to succeed today. I even told myself I would delete them all. Purge them from my phone so there would be no temptation, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. For me, that would be like setting fire to the Mona Lisa. Some things you just can’t do.
I took three breaks today and jerked off to the thoughts of the night I first claimed my angel, my treasure, but they did nothing to stave off my unbearable hunger. Ali belongs to me, and I’m pushing her out of my life.