Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73724 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73724 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
She nods, and as I start to pull back, her arms quickly wrap around my waist, and she clings to me. Her voice is filled with desperation as she admits, “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Lincoln.”
That’s all it takes.
I swear my heart swells to twice its normal size, and it fills with an insane need to protect her and the urge to possess her. It becomes pure fucking obsession.
I suck in a sharp breath as the mustard seed of affection breaks through the crack in my soul, the first living thing since everything in me died with Ronnie.
My arms tighten even more around Cassia, and I practically squash her to me as I growl, “You’ll never have to find out. I’m with you until the end.”
She turns her head and rests her cheek against my chest. “This war could take months or even years. That’s a long time to commit to.”
“I’m with you until I die,” I spell it out to her.
Her head snaps back, and she looks up at me with parted lips. “Until you die?”
“Yes, because there’s no way you’ll die as long as I’m alive.”
I promised myself I’d never care about anything again, but here I am, falling hard and fast.
Cassia’s eyebrows draw together, and tears spill from her eyes as she admits, “Besides Aunt Marina, you’re the only person I can trust.” She sucks in a shuddering breath as she gives me a pleading look. “Don’t ever betray me.”
“Never,” I promise.
“Thank you,” she gasps before pressing her face against my chest again. “I don’t know what made you decide to protect me, but thank you.”
I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.
When she was lying on the hot concrete, bleeding out and begging me to save her sister’s life, something just clicked into place, tying us together.
Every time she moves away from me, I can feel the bond between us pulling, dragging me behind her.
Yeah, I had no choice.
Just like I have no choice but to care about her.
I press a kiss to the top of Cassia’s head, and while I hold her, a new monster is born from the darkness in me, and it will destroy everything and anyone who dares to threaten her.
Cassia is the first to pull back, and glancing out over the ocean again, she asks, “How much do you charge?”
Confused, I shake my head. “For?”
“Being my bodyguard.”
I give her a disgruntled look before taking a seat and unlocking my phone.
“I’m serious,” she says, her tone firm again.
“So I hear,” I mutter as I begin to scroll through the replies. “Fourteen have confirmed, and eight of them can vouch for another twenty-seven. As the word keeps spreading, more will join.”
“God. That’s awesome,” she says, sounding stunned.
When I glance up, the surprised look morphs into a scowl, and she crosses her arms over her chest. “How much?”
“Sit down,” I mutter.
She comes to plant her sexy ass right next to me and stares a hole into the side of my head.
“I’m not going to charge you anything,” I grumble.
“You can’t work for free,” she argues, her tone climbing to a high pitch.
“I’m not.” Turning my head, I lock eyes with her.
She gives me an incredulous look. “What do you get out of protecting me?”
“Redemption.”
Instantly, her features soften, and she slowly shakes her head. “God, Lincoln.” She leans into me, a pleading expression tightening her features again. “You can’t punish yourself like this. What happened to Ronnie wasn’t your fault.”
For the first time since I lost my sister, the words form on my tongue, and they leave my mouth as I admit, “I was too late. When I got to the room, there was a fucker on top of Ronnie. He was raping my baby sister while she was overdosing on the shit they injected into her veins.” I turn my head away from Cassia. “That’s what I see in my flashbacks. The foam around her mouth and the life draining from her eyes while a man fucks her starved body.”
I suck in a shuddering breath, and another first happens as a tear escapes and rolls down my cheek. I wipe the drop away while lowering my head.
There’s only the sound of the yacht and ocean for a few minutes as I try to shove it all back into the darkness.
Instead of saying anything, Cassia climbs to her feet. She pushes my legs apart and comes to stand between them. When she presses my head to her chest, my whole body shudders.
I wrap one arm around the back of her thighs and the other across her ass and hips, gripping her tightly.
I feel her press a kiss to my hair, and her voice is hoarse as she says, “I wish I could help you.”
I clear my throat before replying, “By letting me protect you, you’re helping me. It gives me a reason to go on.”