Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 88936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
A frown puckered her brow, and she turned to look at Wilder. “That is Wilder?” she asked, a touch of disbelief in her tone.
I had forgotten for a moment that I’d told her about him. The night she’d seen my tattoo. She had been jealous.
Wilder looked from her to me questioningly.
“I don’t get it,” she said, then shook her head and turned back to look up at me.
I wanted to laugh out loud, but I didn’t. Now was not the time. But, damn, the urge to toss her over my shoulder and go upstairs with her was strong. To hell with these two. I’d close the damn bathroom door and fuck her in there. Until she was screaming my name.
“Since no one else is gonna ask, what the fuck is it she doesn’t get?” Thatcher drawled.
I lifted my eyes to look at him, then shifted them to Wilder, unable not to grin. Hell, I wasn’t grinning; I was smirking.
“Oakley’s choice in men.”
Wilder’s eyes narrowed, and Thatcher let out a bark of laughter so unlike him that it startled me. My lips stretched wider into a smile as I turned to see my brother actually amused.
“I think he found his Juliet. No fucking wonder he was breaking bones and acting like we were related.”
The humor of the moment was sucked out of the room as I shook my head at him. He needed to stop. Now. She couldn’t know about that.
His dark eyes still glinted with amusement, but he seemed to understand my silent warning.
“Then, she is worth it to you? Because when we leave here, we have to take you directly to Ocala,” Wilder told me.
He didn’t elaborate, and I was thankful for that. Royal didn’t know what that meant. She had no idea who Blaise Hughes was or the power he held.
I nodded my head. “But she stays with me.”
Wilder shook his head. “You can’t take her there.”
“I’m not leaving her!” I growled, already moving her behind me.
Thatcher let out a low whistle. “All right, little brother. You’ve gone and gotten territorial. We got it. But she can’t go there. You know that. You’re already in deep enough shit. What about if we take her to Maeme? No one will get near her there. Not even dear old Dad.”
The idea of leaving her, not being there to protect her, made me want to tear down the fucking walls around us. My eyes shifted from the two of them. Royal wrapped herself around my arm, reminding me that she was watching me. If I acted like a crazed maniac, it would scare her.
“He’s right. You know he is. Let Thatcher take her to Maeme, and I’ll go with you to Ocala.”
“I’m going to Ocala,” Thatcher told him.
Wilder looked at my brother. “That’s not a good idea.”
Thatcher took the cigarette from his mouth as his eyes shifted into that lethal gleam that never ended well. “If Sebastian has to go to Ocala, I’m going with him.”
Wilder cut his eyes to me, and I saw the uncertainty there. We both knew Thatcher held very little regard for life. He was too detached to react to things normally.
“Thatch, he’s got to answer for taking her and running. He broke orders.”
Thatcher tilted his head to the side as the room chilled from more than the open door and cold night.
“If the boss wants to see him then he gets a visited from me too.” His words were spoken slowly, laced with a threat that no one wanted to push with Thatcher.
I could see Wilder back down as he turned to me.
“He’ll have Presley there,” Wilder said. “I doubt Levi is even in the house. Don’t expect to have blood there to back you up.”
Thatcher let out a sinister cackle. Wilder tensed, and the concern in his eyes made it clear that he didn’t think this was going to end well.
• Thirty-Two •
“The family is just that—family.”
Royal
The moment the plane leveled out, Sebastian reached over and unbuckled me, then took my hand to pull me over into his lap. The private jet that had been at the airstrip as soon as the snow stopped was larger and more luxurious than the one we’d taken to get here.
I’d hoped we would be snowed in, even if it meant Sebastian’s brother would be in the cabin too. Something was not right about him. Sure, he had the same sexy, dark good looks as Sebastian, but there was a sinister way about him. He frightened me, but he seemed protective of Sebastian. That I was thankful for.
“You okay?” Sebastian whispered in my ear as he slid his fingers through mine to hold my hand.
I wasn’t, but from what I’d gathered from the other two men, he was in trouble because of me. I didn’t want to add to his stress. I’d been the cause of enough of it for him.