Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 91064 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91064 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
And he’s looking at her too.
He knows what awaits him.
“I’m sorry,” he tells her. It’s a plea for mercy, but it won’t be found here.
If I had it my way, I’d be the one to tell him that. While I bled him out, I’d look into his eyes and tell him that he never should have touched my Satan.
And if I could kill him a thousand different ways, I would.
But this is what Scarlett wanted.
What she asked for.
And even if I don’t agree with it, I have to respect her for it.
She showed me yesterday, how fierce she really is. She was fearless, crazy, and hot as fuck with that AK-47 in her hands, blowing up the place.
But today, she is placid.
Soft, and… vulnerable.
She’s beautiful either way, but I’ve never seen her like this.
She’s clutching the knife in her hand too tightly, her knuckles are white, and she isn’t moving. I don’t even know if she’s breathing, she’s so still.
We stand there like that for a long time, and I don’t say a word.
This is a process she needs to work through on her own. A decision she needs to come to on her own.
I don’t want any lingering resentment from her. And I don’t want to push her.
But it turns out, I don’t need to.
The knife in her hand clatters to the floor and she turns into my arms at the same time I pull her towards me.
“I can’t do it,” she whispers into my chest. “I don’t want to do it.”
“It’s okay, baby doll,” I assure her. “I will.”
She nods against me, but neither of us moves for a long time. And then gradually she pulls away, leaning up to pull my face to hers and kisses me.
That kiss conveys the words she can’t tell me herself.
Thank you.
A part of me always knew it would come to this.
I have no guilt for what’s about to go down in this room, and there will be no guilt after. I would kill a thousand men for Scarlett. I would torture them and bleed them dry if it brought her peace.
“Go upstairs,” I instruct her. “Take a bath. And when I’m done, we’ll go home.”
“Okay.”
She turns, and I stop her.
Unbuckling the watch that has weighed me down all of these years. The ever-present reminder that I wouldn’t become like him.
I don’t need it anymore. Because I know that I will never be like him.
I protect the people I love.
And sometimes, that means getting a little bloody.
“Take this too,” I tell her. “And get rid of it.”
She doesn’t know. She can’t know, but somehow, she does. She reaches up to touch my face one more time.
“You are a good man, Rory.”
She gives both the blokes one last and final glance, and then nods, leaving me to it.
Forty-Two
Scarlett
All my yesterdays mean nothing if my tomorrows aren’t with you.
Peace is a foreign thing.
A feeling I can’t recall ever knowing.
But that’s the only word I can think of to describe the calm that’s washed over me since we’ve come back to Boston.
Rory’s been busy, cleaning up the loose ends of the mess we’ve made. I’d like to believe that’s why he’s been gone so much, sneaking in late at night when he thinks I’m asleep.
He’s giving me space, and I was grateful for it, at first.
But now I’m ready to talk.
I’ve been served up a big old slice of humble pie, and I realized in the end that I did need saving. Just once.
And Rory is the only one who I ever would have allowed to do it.
He is my rock.
The thing I’ve always come back to when I felt so unsteady in this world. I’ve used him as a shelter from the storm and a target for my misplaced anger and as a balm to my chaos. I’ve hurt him and loved him and hated him and wanted him. I’ve pushed him away relentlessly, and I have no right to ask him for a second chance.
But I want more.
I’m ready for more.
When peace exists within you, everything else becomes clear.
I am still his Satan. At my core, I’m probably always going to be a little evil. But Scarlett 2.0 is done with the games and the lies. And I want to prove to him that we make a good team. The best team. And that we should be fucking shit up together for the rest of our days.
But since he snuck out on me this morning, I’m sitting alone in his house with Whiskey. Again. And that little orange fucker is giving me the stink eye and I remind him that I’m the one who brought him here.
I’m going a little stir crazy.
So I decide to go visit Mack.
It’s unexpected, for both of us.
When she opens the door, her mouth literally falls open when I ask if I can come inside.