Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 44127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Well, almost.
Lorenzo is screaming bloody murder, but Colton silences him with a fist to the face, turning his screams into muffled, blubbering cries. Colton looks up at me, his face hard and his eyes piercing into me.
“Are you okay?”
I blink, my mouth opening and closing.
“Brynn.”
“Yeah,” I nod slowly, still numb. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
“Can you get my phone from the kitchen?”
I nod. “Yeah.”
I run through the house and grab his phone, and when I get back out, Colton’s growling as he ties Lorenzo to the back porch with a garden hose. He takes the phone from my hand and glances at me.
“I’m calling the cops, Brynn.”
I pale. “Colton, if they come, and I’m here—”
“This ends now, baby,” he says quietly. “We’re past playing it safe. You could’ve been hurt tonight, or fucking killed—”
“I’m not letting you lose your career for me!”
“You are my everything,” he groans, moving into me and scooping me into his chest. “Brynn, the rest of it doesn’t matter. All that matters is you being safe.”
I bite my lip as my mind whirls, until suddenly I freeze as I look up at him.
“You protected me tonight.”
He frowns. “Of course, I—”
“The police don’t have to know it was me, do they?”
He arches a brow. “I think our shithead friend here might—”
“What, contradict the word of the esteemed principal of a very wealthy, prestigious private school?” I glare at Lorenzo, who’s holing his bleeding face.
Slowly, Colton starts to grin. “I’ve mentioned how incredible you are, right?”
I smile as he pulls me close, and when he kisses me slowly, I melt against him.
“Go, angel,” he murmurs. “I gotta call this in before a neighbor or someone else does after hearing those shots.”
I freeze. Shots.
“Colton—”
“Self-defense, baby,” he says quietly. “I’m going to be fine here. But you need to go, now, and get back to your dorm without anyone seeing you. Think you can manage?”
“There’s a lot of campus safety officers out there,” I say, my mouth twisting.
Colton shrugs, grabs the gun off the ground where he’s left it, points it at the back fence and fires off the rest of the shots in clip. I cling to him, covering my ears until it’s over.
“Well, now every campus safety officer and cop in a three-mile radius is on their way here,” he growls, a half smile on his face.
“Colton, I can’t let you just tackle this yourself.”
“You can, baby,” he growls. “Now go, now!”
He kisses me fiercely, and I gasp into his lips before he pulls back.
“Brynn.”
I raise a brow, and he smiles.
“I love you.”
I blink, my heart swelling up before I slam into him, hugging him fiercely. “I love you too.”
“Now go, baby. Please. Go so I can make this right and end this shit with this asshole.”
I nod, backing away from him, squeezing his hand.
“Hey Colton?”
He raises a brow and I giggle.
“Maybe put some pants on.”
I kiss him once more before I turn and run. And I just keep running, all the way back to the dorms.
16
Colton
“Jesus Christ, Colton.”
Jerry Halter, the Southworth Chief of Police, whistles lowly as he glances around the backyard. The place is swarming with four other cops and about five of the Winchester campus cops. People are taking photos, and putting little flags where the bullet holes are, and of course, marking the bodies.
Yeah, bodies.
Lorenzo brought six guys with him when they broke into my house for Brynn.
…They should have brought more.
Two of them are in rough shape. One might not walk again. The other three are dead. And I have zero regrets. None. You might say it’s that I’ve been numbed by wars, or programmed not to feel by the Special Forces, but really, it’s a lot simpler than that: they came for the girl I love, and I put them down.
Simple as that.
Of course, the Principal of Winchester killing three mafia thugs and putting three more in the hospital in his own backyard is… well, something to discuss.
“Mind if we go over some of the details?”
I nod. “Sure, Jerry.” I gesture inside, and he nods, following me through the broken back door, through the house, and into my study. I’ve already given a statement about how I was ambushed by guys breaking into my house for unknown reasons to a deputy, but I know Jerry’s going to have deeper questions. And rightfully so. It’s not like this shit is common for a place like Southworth.
“So, you don’t know these guys?”
I shake my head. “No. I was at a bachelor party a little while ago and saw two of them and that guy I tied up outside who I think is their boss. But all I saw was them roughing up a stripper. I told them to knock it off and that was it.”
He nods. “Any idea why they came for you?”
I shrug. “Could be the big bar tab I paid for, could be the Rolex I was wearing that night. Maybe they figured out who I was and thought this place would be full of antiques or something. I mean it’s a historic home.”