Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
She was so sick of his anger, though she knew there was some justification to it. “You want honesty? You want to know what I felt when I was in that limo with him?”
He moved in, his body on glorious display. The man was even more lovely than he’d been all those years before. Though he bore a few new scars. She did, too. It was funny because they were almost in the same place. He reached out and touched the place where she’d been shot in Colorado. It was a few inches under her collar bone. She waited for his anger to rise, but he merely touched the spot. “Yes. I want to know. I want to know how you felt so I can try to fix it.”
He couldn’t fix it, but he might be able to make her feel something. She’d been numb for so long, forcing herself to not want anything. The few times she’d allowed herself to hope, she’d found the depths of despair. It felt good to want even though she knew it wouldn’t last more than a night or two.
“When I realized he’d come for me, I was scared at first, but then I felt so fucking lost because you wouldn’t look at me. Because you didn’t say anything. I wondered if you thought I was guilty and I was getting what I deserved.”
“Damon stopped me,” he admitted. “Damon begged me to stay calm. He knew we could get you back, but we couldn’t stop him from taking you. I wasn’t calm or cool in that moment. I was white-hot raging angry, and there was a part of me that was angry with you.”
Just like that she was done. She couldn’t handle another second of his anger. Not when they’d gotten so close to something else. He couldn’t help himself. He was made of rage and he’d found a place to put it all. On her.
This had been a terrible mistake. She shouldn’t ever be vulnerable with him because for all his sweet words, they were still at war. He wanted the chance to really wreck her this time.
“Hey, don’t,” he began. “I promised I would be honest and that anger was there, too.”
She nodded. “Of course it was. You’re always angry. I would bet you sat there and wondered if it wasn’t some sex game between me and Levi. Or if I was doing it to get your attention. Like a kid who acts out because she can’t get love any other way.”
His gaze went hard. “I was worried we might have to do it this way.”
“What way? It’s your way. It’s always your way.” It had been for years. The divorce had been his way. The anger had been his way. The inflexibility was his way.
“I assure you losing my brother wasn’t my way.” His hands clenched. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I meant to get you talking.”
“About what? About Levi? Are you trying to trick me into telling you I did it? Is that why you came after me? Did you think you could get the truth out of me better than he could?”
“I never once thought you were guilty,” he replied. “This is why we have to talk. You’re a bundle of emotions but you won’t let them out. If we’re going to get through this, we’ve got to do it together.”
Hearing the word come out of his mouth made her ache inside because that word was a lie coming from him. “Together? We haven’t been together in years, and maybe we never were.”
“I assure you we were together once. I still dream about it at night. It’s the reason I can’t have another relationship.”
She couldn’t do this with him. She’d been stupid to think they could have some sex and she would feel better. There was too much between them. God, the day had been too much. It all threatened to crash in on her. She’d lost it all, and now she was stuck with a man who actively hated her. He might be able to hide it for brief periods of time, but he hated her with as much passion as he’d ever loved her. He would turn on her and she wouldn’t survive it this time.
She tried to move to grab her shirt but he was right there, getting in her space.
He loomed over her, his face gorgeous in the low light of the dungeon. “No. We’re going to talk. I’m not leaving you like this.”
He was in his element. Somehow even without a stitch of clothing on, there was nothing vulnerable about Beckett Kent. He stood there, his stupid attractive feet planted on the ground, his gorgeous cock hard. He belonged here. Like he seemed to belong everywhere. This was his place of power. She didn’t have one. “Fuck you, Beck.”