Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 88447 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88447 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Still, it fucking stung that she hadn’t even mentioned going to me. Not that she was talking to me much. In fact, she was downright avoiding me, and I didn’t fucking like it one bit.
“Layla didn’t say anything about going to the ball to me.”
“Why would she? According to Hannah, Layla’s done with you.”
As if having Leo looking out for Layla wasn’t bad enough, his wife Hannah and her best-friend Joy had also fallen in love with my baby bear. Not that I could blame them. Once Layla opened up and got to know someone, they soon realized what a treasure she was. Her voice alone could slay a man, and I missed it desperately.
“She’s not done with me.”
“From what she told Hannah, she is, and I don’t fucking blame her. You shot her down, hard.” Leo gave me a disgusted look. “Told her you only saw her as a friend. I still can’t believe you’re pulling this ‘just friends’ bullshit with her.”
“I’m not trying to play games with her.” I swallowed back the familiar feelings of guilt and the bitter taste of shame. “You know why I can’t be with her. You know how much I’d fuck up her life. She deserves someone who is only going to bring her happiness, not more troubles. She’s too fragile for our world.”
“You’re so full of shit. She manages her agoraphobia like a fucking warrior. She fights, every day, against her irrational fears. You give into them. You can spout off all you want about how you just want to keep her safe, but the truth is you fear that you won’t be able to keep her safe. That she’ll die like Gracie.”
I was up in an instant, my fist flying at Leo’s jaw as I snarled at him, “Don’t you fucking say her name!”
Before I could make contact, that scary-fast bastard had my shirt and tossed me over the back of the couch. I hit the bookshelf with a loud grunt, my back absorbing the blow and knocking the wind from me. A second later, something crashed to the floor, and Leo roared with anger.
“You stupid fuck! You broke the frame for the ultrasound!”
The next instant, Leo was on me, punching me across the jaw while I jabbed him in the kidney. “Fuck you!”
We went at it, cursing and flipping each other, getting in kicks and blows. My adrenaline was roaring, so when a bucket of ice-cold water poured over my head, my body realized it before my brain. The shock had me sucking in a huge breath as my nervous system was stunned by the ice now sliding down the collar of my shirt. Leo was similarly drenched, the ice water mixing with the blood dripping from his nose.
A moment later, an empty blue bucket bonked comically off of Leo’s head as Hannah snarled, “You almost woke up the baby, you idiots!”
Instantly contrite, Leo held up his hands and walked toward his fuming wife. Despite having an eight-month-old little girl, Hannah’s body was still slender, and she looked positively fragile compared to her hulking, Neanderthal husband. Her long black hair was back in a ponytail, and Honey—their tan and white pit bull—sat at her side. Her normally pretty face was pulled into a scowl as she held her sweatshirt-clad arm out and pointed at us.
“No, stop right there. You’re covered in blood and dripping all over the carpets. Do you know how sick our maid is of cleaning blood out of these oriental carpets? I mean, seriously, Leo, can’t you fight outside where at least we can hose down the concrete instead of scrubbing wool?”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Leo said in a warm, rumbly voice.
Hannah visibly softened, but she tried to hold onto her frown as she turned to me. “And you. Don’t think I didn’t hear what you two were yelling about. I hate to break it to you, Mark, but Layla is tired of waiting around for you to pull your head out of your ass. She’s going to the charity ball, and we’re going to help her find a guy.”
“No one,” I growled as I poked at my ribs, wondering if Leo broke one, “is setting Layla up with anyone.”
“Oh, yes, we are.” Hannah smirked at me as Honey gave us all a huff and left the room. “Layla is tired of being alone. Is tired of setting her hopes on a guy who will never, ever give her what she needs. She wants a family, Mark. She wants someone to go to bed with at night and wake up next to in the morning. She deserves all that and more. Can you honestly ever picture yourself giving her the life she deserves?”
The thing was, I could picture myself having that life with Layla. She was my best friend, my confidant, the one person I wanted to talk to first thing in the morning and last thing I thought about at night. I loved her, but I couldn’t have her getting wrapped up in my world.