Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80564 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80564 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
A smart man might think about getting his shit together here, so he can claim her right. Marcum’s words replay in my head. I close them out. Tess may believe in fairytales, but I sure as fuck know better. It’s sex. That’s it. Just sex.
“Tell me about Rory,” I command, desperate to find something that will put distance between her and the feelings she’s gradually pulling from me.
“Why?” she asks, kissing my shoulder.
“I want to know.”
Her fingers glide along my bicep, and I think she may be ignoring the question. Then her voice breaks the silence.
“Rory and I met when we were fourteen. We were both thrown into this hellhole of a foster home. You know the kind where the responsible adults take in kid after kid for the check and don’t bother to take care of them?”
I grunt. Yeah, I know the kind.
“There was an older kid there. Mean. The kind that had been on the streets a while. He liked me, and I mean that in an every young girl’s worse nightmare, kind of way,” she whispers, and I hold her tighter.
“What did he do?”
“At first? Nothing. Just leering looks and lewd suggestions. Eventually, he began trying to get me alone. Touch me, because he could. That kind of thing.”
“And Rory?”
“Rory was a sweet boy, who loved me, and I loved him, but he was no match for Daniel. Daniel was older and a good hundred pounds heavier. Rory was small and built like me,” she says on a sad sigh.
“I doubt that, Kitten,” I tell her. Trying to joke and ignore the way it unsettles me that she cared so deeply for this other man. Just sex. That’s all.
She stops and then I feel her lips spread in a smile against my skin. “I didn’t mean that, Mad Max. Rory was sick. He’d had cancer from the time he was ten.”
“Hell.”
“Yeah. He was in remission when I met him, but the chemo had already played havoc on his young body.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing, for a little while, like I said. Daniel was a scary figure always over my shoulder. There was some touching and harassing, but Rory always managed to help and keep me away from him. I thought it would be okay when Daniel had to move out because of his age. You know? That should have been the end of it.”
“It wasn’t?” I ask.
“I think Ms. Rhodes used Daniel for more than a check, because even after he moved out, she would let him come back. I admit I was young and naïve, but even I caught on to what they were doing upstairs while her husband was at work.” I let my fingers wrap in her hair and continue listening. “One night, the foster-fucks had put Daniel in charge of us while they attended some party. I was upstairs doing homework and didn’t realize what was going on. Daniel locked everyone out of the house and came to find me.” My body coils at her words and I wish I could go back in time and protect her. Tess should have had someone to keep her safe. “I was fourteen, almost fifteen. Except for a few kisses with Rory, I was pretty naive. Daniel scared me, but I tried to act like I knew what he was talking about. Like I knew the score and just didn’t want him. I had this mistaken impression that if I appeared to be the hardened, street kid, people wouldn’t fuck with me.”
“And?”
“In hindsight that might not have been the brightest approach. I don’t know if you know this about me yet or not Max, but I tend to make dicey choices, when under pressure.”
“I don’t know; I think I like some of your choices,” I tell her, capturing her hand in mine and letting my fingers massage her pulse points, for some reason needing this contact with her.
“Pig,” she laughs, but it’s a laugh that’s almost as tight as her body at the moment. She doesn’t want to finish the story. I should change the subject and let her off the hook. I can’t bring myself to do that. I need to know.
“Finish it, Kitten,” I prompt and she grows completely still and then sits up in bed, staring at the wall. My eyes follow the way the sheet clings and drapes around her soft curves, hiding a body I’ve come to know better than my own.
“Daniel came into my room. I had my headphones on, so I didn’t notice him until he already had me cornered. When I told him to leave, he laughed,” she whispers like it was a dirty little secret. “I screamed at him to leave. I told him if he didn’t the others would find him, and he’d be in trouble. I stupidly threatened him with the law, anything and anyone I could think of.”