Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
“Who do we have here?” A man said from behind me, and then slammed me into the room and onto the floor, following me down shortly with his body straddling my back.
Reacting on instinct, I twisted and turned, but found myself unable to release the hold the man had on me. He held me down effortlessly. Heart pounding and opening my mouth to scream one second, the next the man was ripped off my back and thrown across the room and toward the familiar voice.
James’ arms came around me, and scooped me off the floor, pulling me back into his sweaty chest, and I nearly collapsed in relief. Then came the anger.
Swinging my head towards the man sitting in the office chair behind a large desk, I stomped toward him, picking up the closest thing I could find, an unopened bottle of Jack Daniel’s Whiskey, and threw it at him.
He dodged it easily, and it hit the wall with a thud, shattering on impact. Glass tinkled to the ground along with the sound of sloshing liquid. Coming to a stop directly in front of the desk, I vaulted it and catapulted myself over the edge, hitting the man with the full force of my body, and proceeded to beat the shit out of him.
Or tried to.
“Knock it off, you crazy shithead.” Sebastian bellowed while dodging a blow to the groin.
“You fuckhead! That man was on top of me and all you’re gonna do is stare at me?” I kept wind milling my fists at his face.
He held me off with a hand planted in my chest. “Chill the fuck out. You surprised me! I didn’t even know it was you!”
“Yeah? Well fuck you.” I said, finally landing a kick to Sebastian’s groin.
Then I was pulled off by James, and held in a firm grip. Not that it stopped me from trying to go for Sebastian’s face still.
“What the fuck are you even doing here?” Sebastian roared.
“She’s with Scope, boss.” The man that ‘Scope’ tossed across the room gritted out as he made a move to stand.
“Stay. Down.” James snarled.
The man stopped trying to get up instantly, and went down, holding his hands up in a placating gesture.
“What the fuck are you doing with Scope?” Sebastian, my evil brother who hadn’t called me in weeks, snarled right back.
My arm started throbbing, and I was near tears when I replied. “What the fuck do you care?”
Sebastian’s demeanor changed in a flash, and he was up and leaning over the desk in concern when he noticed me cradling the cast to my chest.
“Why are you in a cast?” He asked.
I ignored him to turn around and bury my face against James’ bare chest. Sweat slicked against my cheek, but I figured it didn’t really matter since my tears were now mingling with his sweat. My shoulders shook with each sob that was released from my body, making James gather me closer to him, and start whispering into my hair.
“Stop crying, you’re breaking my heart.” He murmured.
“My arm hurts.” I groaned.
“You got any Tylenol?” James rumbled.
I assumed someone handed him something, because he moved his arm from around my shoulders, making the muscles in his chest bunch and relax. The sound of pills being tapped out of a bottle had me turning and raising my hand to take the medication.
Dropping them into my hand, I threw them into my mouth and swallowed them dry, gagging only once.
Disgusting.
“I’m waiting.” Sebastian grated.
My eyes turned to him, and my eyes went down his body, cataloging what I was seeing. His hair was the normal black that I was used to, but now it was a bit longer, not the usual military shortness he was so anal about. His t-shirt was the usual black, jeans the usual faded, and boots the usual motorcycle ones. The only thing different?
That would be the leather vest he was wearing. A cut. Although he’d worn it before, it was never with me, and never in eyesight. I’d seen him and dad wearing theirs, but never when they could help it. When I did see it, it was because I was snooping, or peeking, or sneaking around somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be.
Nine months ago when I’d found out about Sam from Sebastian, I’d started to really pay more attention. Things that had only been a passing thought, now turned into more than nagging curiosity. The one and only time I’d been able to get an up close and personal look at his vest, no cut, was when Sebastian had gone skinny-dipping with Lilly Rose Tanner two years ago.
I’d been at my mother’s house, taking care of her while she had the flu, and had just come over to Sebastian’s to see if I could borrow a humidifier that I’d left at his place. Seeing that he was otherwise occupied, I’d pawed through his clothes that were laying on the picnic table, and saw it laying there.
Curiosity being the bane of my existence, I picked it up, studying it and trying to figure out why he never let me see it. I knew he had it on. Most of the time he’d cover it up with a sweatshirt, or a flannel long sleeved shirt.
“What are you staring at?” Sebastian growled.
James’ body tensed at the tone Sebastian had just used, and I reacted quickly, trying to diffuse the situation before my brother got his ass kicked. “What do you care what I look at?”
Sebastian’s scowl went from who I now realized was James, to me. “I wasn’t talking to you. Why the attitude, June?”
I gritted my teeth at the use of my middle name. My dad and him were the only ones who ever called me that, and it drove me fucking nuts. “Well, if I have to tell you, then it obviously won’t matter to you what I have to say, because it’s apparent to me you don’t really care.”
If that wasn’t a “woman answer,” I didn’t know what was. However, I couldn’t help it, that’s the way I felt. He hadn’t answered any of my calls, texts, emails, or even my mail I’d sent the snail mail route. I was hurt, and sad. I’d needed him, and he wasn’t there.