Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 182641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 913(@200wpm)___ 731(@250wpm)___ 609(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 913(@200wpm)___ 731(@250wpm)___ 609(@300wpm)
“You know what happens when you shoot a man in the skull, Rich Girl?” I cock my head. “He dies, yet he’s not dead. His body’s still alive, heart still pumping, lungs still fighting, holding on to a bit of hope, but the motherfucker’s already gone. Nothing but flesh and bone and a slowing heart. And then … nothing.”
She nods, understanding. “Punishment or mercy?”
“I’d call it mercy. I hate guns. Guns are too kind. Mercy is for the weak.”
“You sound like my father.”
“Smart man.”
“And you killed yours?”
“Smart woman.” I hold her gaze, watching for a sign of disapproval or fright.
Instead, her palms flatten on my chest, gliding up and around my neck.
My pulse settles, and I realize that’s why she did it. To reassure me. Comfort me.
I just told her I murdered my old man, and instead of running, she wants to wash my worries away.
Will she be my ride or die?
“My mother ain’t dead,” I tell her what she already knows, adding what she doesn’t. “But she is to me and definitely deserves to be. I’ve been looking for her a while now, but she disappeared the day I did.”
She nods. “There is no record of you. How is that not on file?”
“A man in a monkey suit came to me. Dropped me somewhere that offered me a job, and I took it. I’m every bit the poor punk I look. I’ve got nothing of my own and I live in a group home with half a dozen others like me.”
“How old were you?”
“Fifteen.” I kiss her left cheek, then the right. “I got into that little club, ma, ’cause my pops beat silence into me, and those beatings taught me how to be invisible. You can’t touch what you can’t see and you can’t find what you can’t hear. I was inside before they knew I’d arrived, and the silent alarm that was triggered wasn’t them catching on. It was Hayze, and it was on purpose.”
“To draw the attention to you.”
“That’s right.”
“The guy we came here with, the one who was behind me at the fight, that was Hayze?”
I nod.
“He licked my blood.”
A loud laugh bursts from me, and I drop my head into the crook of her neck before falling to the side of her. “Yeah, he’s got a thing for blood.”
She glares at me, pushing up on her elbow.
“What?”
“I thought you’d, I don’t know, jump up and run out there, choke him out or something.”
I grin, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I will if you want me to.”
Her eyes only narrow further. “This is shocking. I’m shocked.”
I can’t help but laugh at how serious she looks.
“Bastian, you’re jealousy in human form.”
“It ain’t jealousy.”
“No?”
I shake my head. “It’s a matter of what’s mine and what’s not theirs. No one should touch what’s not theirs without permission.”
She glares playfully, likely remembering when she said something like that the night she became mine.
“In case you’re wondering, Hayze is the only male I won’t have eating concrete for touching you. I love that dude.”
“So if I wanted him to … play with us?” Her eyes spark in mischief, attempting to call my bluff like a good little gambler.
My phone is in my hands in seconds, and not five after that, my boy is opening the bedroom door.
Her head swings toward it, eyes wide when they come back on me.
“Come here, my man.”
He steps inside, closes the door behind him, and walks to the edge of the bed. His eyes never leave mine, even though my girl has a lot of leg showing, her panties are at our feet and nipples poking through her thin dress since the corset that acted as a bra is shredded somewhere in here.
I sit up, pull her with me, and set her on my lap. “She wants to know how you taste. Ain’t that right, Rich Girl?”
“Yes,” she says, no airy, soft rasp in her tone.
My dick twitches against her ass at that.
She’s not turned on. Just testing me.
Hayze smirks nice and slow, his attention finally moving to her. He tips his head, trailing a thumb along his chin. “Can I put my tongue in her mouth?”
“If she lets you.”
He nods, lowering to his knees and shuffles between mine, hers crossed over my right thigh.
His palms come up, tracing her face without touching it, and he nods.
Licking his lips, he whispers, “Come to daddy, gorgeous.”
Rocklin leans forward.
Hayze leans in.
Their lips are a breath away.
I kick him in the chest, taking her around the waist and burying my face in her neck.
They both laugh loudly, and I growl against her skin. “Yeah, fucking right, Rich Girl. Ask me some shit like that again. I dare you.”
She flips me, climbing on top, and I let her pin me down, her satisfied smirk spinning something low in my gut. “So jealous.” She beams.