Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 49393 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49393 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Her breath shuddered against my lips as she came apart beneath me. I didn’t last long after that, one more thrust and I was gone, shooting out like I was sixteen again. In the aftermath, sweaty and spent, I rolled over, pulled her on top of me. She lay on my chest, my arms closed around her protectively. I kissed her tumbled hair and lay there, unable to move.
At some point she dragged the throw blanket down over us and nestled into my chest fully. Somewhere far away the phone rang, and we ignored it. We had voicemail for a reason after all. I didn’t care if it were hours or days we lay there wrapped up in each other. It had been an experience unlike anything else in my life.
12
DREW
After my morning job, I hit the gym before heading to the office. I downed my gross probiotic gut health shake and climbed in my truck. The group chat was pretty quiet when I checked my phone. When I arrived at the office, I saw a car across the street that set off my radar so I leaned out and snapped a photo, brought it close to study the detail. Alabama plate. It fit the description of the vehicle registered to one Christopher James Roberts of Birmingham. I fired off the photo to the group chat with a pin on the location.
First lesson in security is keep your head on the swivel for anything out of the ordinary. Except seeing a person sitting inside a parked car with its engine turned off in January was pretty goddamned unusual. It wasn’t freezing out, but Virginia in January was a damn sight colder than Alabama, so anyone from those parts would’ve hurried inside if they had a reason to be in the neighborhood rather than loitering in a car that would get cold pretty rapidly.
He was sitting outside my security firm, had applied for a job here. His audacity sickened me. It was like some obnoxious teenager seeing how far he could push before someone pushed back. I had to remind myself of my training, to focus on the mission and put my personal feelings in a box. Otherwise, I would have lost sight of the goal quickly and done something impulsive like dragging him out the driver’s side window and beating the shit out of him in the middle of a busy road. With witnesses and security footage they could pull from my own business. Not to mention, some felonies facing me when I was done.
For a split second, I thought it might be worth it, this asshole lying in wait outside the office door, probably expecting to pounce on her when she left work. He really underestimated the consequences of his actions here.
I swore under my breath and climbed out of the truck. This motherfucker needed a lesson in manners. I stepped close, just behind the driver’s door and rapped hard once on the window. I hoped it startled him so bad that he pissed himself.
I heard the click of the ignition as the engine started. He rolled down the window, looking like an all-American boy. Blonde hair, flashing a grin fit for the winning quarterback on your high school team. My fists clenched, wanting to punch him and hear those perfect teeth scatter on the pavement.
“Leave the premises and don’t come back,” I barked.
He gave a derisive snort. “Really? You own this street?’
“You’re close enough to my property that I might as well. You’re loitering in violation of city ordinance, and you will not be interviewed for the position at Vigilance. Let’s say you failed the background check.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m instructing you to leave the premises. Don’t let me catch you around here again.”
“You gonna call the cops?” he asked snidely.
“I don’t need them,” I said through my teeth.
“So which one of you is she screwing? You’re awful protective, maybe it’s you. She acts like she don’t like it rough, but you can give it to her hard. She can take it just fine.”
My vision went red. The next thing I knew, my hand shot through the window. I wrapped the seatbelt strap around his neck and pinned him to the headrest. His face went red and he made a strangled sound, clawing at the strap helplessly.
He tried to grapple with me, grabbed at my arm. I ignored him, yanked the garrot firm. “Never approach my family again. Or next time you die.”
I let go as swiftly as I’d seized him and he crumpled forward, clutching his throat and coughing, gagging. Even as he choked and panted, he shifted the car into drive. He peeled out and drove away, ran the red light down the block. I crossed the street to the office and fobbed in. We were going to have to talk about this at dinner, all of us. And maybe erase the footage of where I lost it and choked Jasmine’s ex.