Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Sickness entered my chest, picturing her with him again now that she’d been mine, even if it was only for a couple of hours.
“Once the job is done, we’ll get to work.” He grabbed his scotch and finished it off before he moved toward me. “I’m a man of my word, Theo. And you better be a man of yours—otherwise, your other brother will suffer the consequences.”
17
ASTRID
New beginnings were always scary.
I had to find a new apartment. Buy new furniture. Start a life very different from my old one. Despite my intense feelings for Theo, I was heartbroken that my marriage had ended so abruptly. It wasn’t the slow deterioration that most people described, where life in the bedroom went cold, and inappropriate messages appeared on someone’s phone in the middle of the night. It was sudden, like a car ran a red light, and I had to slam on the brakes to stop the collision.
It wasn’t enough time to process how much everything had changed. That we went from discussing a family to discussing fucking other people. Then Theo walked into my life and set the whole place on fire. I didn’t know men like him existed, but of course, perfection came with a caveat.
He wouldn’t commit.
I just wished I knew why. Was it because he was the Skull King? An association with him would always be dangerous. Or was it for a different reason entirely?
I’d just packed up my things in preparation to leave the hotel when someone knocked on my door.
It was probably Bolton to make another attempt to bring me home. Theo would text me before he showed up unannounced. But then again, I wasn’t really sure what he would do because he’d never been able to visit me until now.
I checked the peephole and was pleasantly surprised by the face on the other side. The dark beard on his jawline, the espresso eyes, the shoulders that blocked most of the hallway. I opened the door and saw him with my own eyes rather than through the distortion of the peephole.
My heart gave a flutter like it always did at the sight of him. My lungs filled with a fresh breath of air, and a slight chill ran down my fingertips. It was like a jolt of electricity, but cool to the touch.
His eyes didn’t mirror my affection. His expression rarely changed, but it seemed like a cloud had blocked the sun from his skies. He entered the room and let the door swing shut by itself. There was no kiss. No ass-grab. It felt like we were about to have the same conversation we’d already had yesterday.
“I found an apartment. I was just about to head over.” After I dropped off my things, I would begin the onerous task of retrieving my valuables from the house, a daunting endeavor because Bolton would make it as difficult as possible.
He glanced at my suitcase and stared at it for seconds, like he just wanted to have something to look at. Anything was preferable to me. Last time he was here, we’d made love in my bed on the verge of something new, and now, it was like that moment had never happened. “Astrid.” He looked at me again. He said my name to get my attention, but it was just a filler because he already had my attention the second he knocked on the door. “It’s best if we don’t see each other anymore.” He said it without missing a beat, eyes locked on mine with the same confidence he always exuded.
I knew something was amiss, but I hadn’t expected him to say that. “What—what are you talking about?” I wished I could retain my composure as well as he could, but I wasn’t a robot like he was.
“I’ve thought it over. It’s best if we end it.”
“Why?” I kept my voice steady, but it nearly cracked at the end.
“I don’t want to waste your time.”
“It’s my time, Theo. I decide how I want to invest or waste it.”
His eyes flicked away. “You were right. Our relationship only worked because you were married. Because there was an obstacle between us. Now that the barrier is no longer there, there’s no excitement.” He looked at me again when he finished, as confident as he was when he’d walked in the door, like he meant every word.
But I still couldn’t believe it. “You said that wasn’t the case.”
“I lied.”
“You wouldn’t lie.” I’d seen this man from surface to bone. Saw the integrity in his heart because he wore it on his sleeve.
“Then I lied to myself and, therefore, lied to you.”
“Theo—”
“Astrid.” For the first time, he raised his voice slightly. “I’m sorry. It’s done.”
He’d never been so harsh with me. Always treated me with respect. Validated my feelings. Now, he acted like I was a thorn that had pricked his thumb and left a spot of blood. “So you come over here and say you want to take things slow, fuck me without a condom and come inside me—and now you’re just done?”