Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75337 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75337 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
“I… ah… yeah. Is she okay?” Wren asked, sniffling hard.
“Yep. She got a heavy dose of adrenaline when she saw what was happening to you. The body can’t handle that much of it. So it tries to get rid of it. That’s why she’s shaking,” he explained, voice calm, patient, as his hand sifted through my hair and the other arm slung around my waist, anchoring me to his body. “She’ll be fine. You sure you’re okay? Anything broken? How’re your ribs?”
“I’m alright. Really,” she said, gasping a little as she, I imagined, got to her feet. “I’ve had a lot worse,” she added, her voice coming closer. “Is he…”
“Dead? Yeah,” Salvatore said, not dancing around the truth.
“Ah, who are you?” she asked, and I felt my insides tense, feeling suddenly guilty for not having told her, to bring her in on my growing happiness.
“Salvatore,” he supplied. “Costa. I’ve been dating your sister.”
“You’ve been… wait. Did you say Costa? As in… the mafia Costas?” she asked, tone sounding a little choked.
“Yep. That’s me.”
“You’re… you’re dating Whit? Since when? How did you meet? Why didn’t she tell me?”
“A couple weeks, about. It hasn’t been a traditional relationship progression,” he explained. “And I imagine she didn’t know how to explain that she’s been dating a known member of the mafia. And an ex-con to boot. But figure shit is a lot more gray now,” he added, and his lips pressed lightly to my temple.
“I can’t believe… Liam!” she gasped, and I could hear the fear in her voice. “Is he…”
“Yeah, kid. Your friend is at the diner with some of my friends. He’ll be glad to hear you’re okay. And I will get you back to him. But we’ve got a major fucking problem here now,” he said, and I was yanked suddenly out of the shock that was assaulting my system as I realized what he was saying.
That there was a dead body at our feet.
That I’d killed him.
“Nope. Don’t freak out,” Salvatore said as I pulled against his hold, feeling my eyes go wide as my mind raced.
“Oh, God. Oh, my God!” I yelped.
“Baby, calm the fuck down,” Salvatore said, holding his hands up at me again. “It’s not that big a deal.”
“It’s not that big of a deal?” I choked. “I killed someone, Salvatore. That’s a very big deal!”
“It was self-defense!” Wren piped in, making my gaze go to her, looking her over top to bottom to reassure myself that she was okay.
She was right.
It had been worse.
But it still broke my heart to see her hurt at all. Especially after her having gotten away and started to find some joy.
“Okay. Listen to me,” Salvatore said, reaching for my wrists and pulling me with him until he pressed me down onto one of the kitchen chairs. “Wren, come sit too,” he added, pulling up the other chair beside me. “I need you two to keep your asses in these seats, not touching anything, until I make a call or two,” he said.
This was Salvatore in mafia-guy mode.
It had no right to be as sexy as it was.
Especially with a dead body just a couple feet away from us.
“I’m gonna need confirmation that you guys understand,” Salvatore said.
“We’ve got it,” Wren assured him, being a bit quicker to recover from the shock of it all than I was.
Maybe because she hadn’t just killed a man.
“I’m just going out the front door for five minutes, tops, to make a phone call,” he said, already moving in that direction, but not before giving me one long, worried look.
“Are you okay?” Wren asked, making me move my gaze from the dead body and toward her pretty, battered face.
“That’s my question,” I told her.
“Well, I’m borrowing it for a minute,” she said, trying to lighten the mood.
“I’m… I’m going to be okay,” I said, not sure if I was talking to her or trying to reassure myself.
“Can I ask you something?” she asked.
“Yeah, of course.”
“Josh…” she started, then winced. “He said that you… that you took my beating…”
My breath sighed out of me.
“He was telling the truth,” I admitted.
“What? When? What did he do to you? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“He was looking for you. And I don’t know. Ten or twelve days, I think? He broke in and attacked me to try to get me to tell him where you were.”
“I’m so sorry, Whit,” she said, pressing a hand to her heart. “What did he do?”
“It wasn’t that bad. Really,” I said, going to interlock my fingers, but feeling the sticky blood sliding against them, and pulling them apart. “I had some bruises, that’s all. But that was when Salvatore demanded I move in with him for a while.”
“I wish you would have told me,” Wren said.
“You were finally, finally getting some happiness, Wren. I didn’t want to ruin that. But, obviously, I wasn’t doing any of us any favors by not telling you.”