Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81581 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81581 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
I can’t look at him.
What he just did is…
That’s rape, right?
My boyfriend just raped me?
Again.
Bile creeps up my throat and a tear slips out of my eyes. I’m still staring at my haggard face when I hear fabric ripping. He shreds the dress as he pulls it from my body. I would be horrified but I’m too dizzy to think too hard about it. He twists me around so I’m forced to look into his cold eyes. They quickly soften as he uses the red dress to wipe away the blood from my wound. It’s his tongue he uses to wipe away my tears.
“I’m sorry,” he murmurs, his hot breath against my cheek. He trails soft kisses to my parted mouth. His kisses are sweet and apologetic but I’m numb. I don’t understand why he keeps doing this to me.
“I…I…why?” I ask, a sob caught in my throat.
He leans his forehead against mine and strokes my hair. “Sometimes I love you so much I lose my head. My mind turns black.”
His simple confession has me softening. He loves me. I sort of thought he did, but this is the first time he spoke of it.
“Vaughn…”
“Babe,” he whispers as he hugs me tight. “Let me love you. Don’t fight it at every turn.”
I sag against him. My heart hurts because the person who is able to single-handedly destroy me is also the person to fix me. I’m warm and safe in his loving embrace.
“You hurt me,” I accuse, more tears leaking out.
“I’m sorry. You know that.” He pushes his hand into his jeans pocket and retrieves a pill. “Here,” he coos. “Take this to take the edge off.”
I’m not one to do drugs but my head is throbbing and my heart aches so badly. I open my mouth and swallow the acrid pill dry.
He’s gentle as he helps me redress. Him being tender right now is almost as worse as him being rough. He once again wipes away some lingering blood with the dress that got us into this mess and then pulls my hair down in front of my eye to cover the wound.
“So pretty,” he praises. He tosses the soiled dress onto the floor, and I’m thankful I won’t have to ever look at it again.
With a firm grip on my elbow, he guides me out of the dressing room. Several women shopping stare at us as he all but drags me through the store. We start to pass by the racks of red dresses and bile rises up. Thank God I won’t ever have to look at them again. But then he jerks one off the rack before hauling me over to the register. The cashier won’t make eye contact as she rings up the dress.
“I thought you didn’t like it,” I murmur, tears once again threatening.
He releases his death grip on my elbow to pull out his wallet. “But you look downright fuckable when you wear it, baby,” he says with a wide grin that an hour ago would have made me crazy with need. Now all it does is make me shudder.
“Thank you,” I breathe.
The cashier makes a sound of disapproval but I don’t meet her stare. I can’t. I’m ashamed and embarrassed. If my mother knew he treated me this way, she’d probably kill him.
The medicine begins to work its way through my system on my empty stomach and the room spins. When I wobble on my feet, Vaughn chuckles and pulls me against him.
“I’ve got you, Letty. I will always have you.”
After I pay and give the clerk the address to my office, I search for Violet. Her eyes are haunted as she stares straight ahead. She’s stiff-shouldered and her skin is pale.
What the fuck?
I stalk over to her and kneel right in front of her. Her pretty brown eyes are lost. Those plump pink lips are positively kissable, but she’s in a zone. Trapped in a memory. I know far too well how that feels. It fucking sucks.
I cradle her face with my palms and tilt her head to look at me. “Violet, sweetheart, what’s wrong?”
Her eyes shimmer with tears, and a sound of despair groans from her throat. Without thinking, I press a kiss to her cheek and then her nose. Then to her forehead against a pale white scar. When I drag my nose against hers, her breath hitches. Our mouths are so close to kissing it makes me crazy.
“Gray,” she murmurs, her voice so damn soft.
I pull away and regard her with a frown. “What just happened?”
Her entire body shudders as shame crosses over her features. She darts her gaze past me while she worries her lip between her teeth. “Nothing.”
Fucking liar.
I refrain from rolling my eyes.
Instead, I indulge her.
“Okay,” I say with a sigh. “Let’s go grab some lunch.”
She doesn’t balk when I take her hand in mine and guide her out of the store. I want to take her someplace nice but the nicest place at the mall is a Mexican restaurant. Thankfully, they find us a round booth in the back corner away from everyone. I’m able to sit close to her with my hand still clutching hers.