Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 136731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
I take a step toward her, taking both her hands without permission and squeezing them tightly as I implore, “Give me a reason to help you.” I let go of her hand and reach up to cup her cold cheeks. “I’m all ears. Just say the words, baby.”
Her eyes fill with tears, and she shuts them tight before they have a chance to betray her. She sniffs prettily and lets out a hoarse whisper. “I wish I could trust you, Julius.” As she dips her chin, I let go of her, and my hands fall to my sides. She hits me hard with her next softly spoke words. “You seem like the type of guy that a girl would do just about anything to have on her side.” In her voice, I find traces of pensiveness.
And with those words, my chest caves. I want her to stay with me. Permanently.
Shit.
Is this what happened to Twitch with Lexi?
What the fuck was this little sparrow doing to me?
Because I get it now. I get it. And I owe Twitch an apology for all the ribbing I gave him.
As she turns to walk into my bedroom, a feeling of dread passes through me at the realization that I have someone special in my grasp and that I may have to let her go. Knowing this, I panic.
My next offer stuns even me. “What if I said I’d protect you?”
She pauses at the doorway and, without turning back, responds, “I would tell you not to make promises you can’t keep.”
My body rigid with unease, she closes the door behind her, the soft click of the latch echoing in my mind.
“You rang,” Ling utters as she walks into my bathroom.
I don’t exactly feel good about this, but I also don’t have a choice. “You’re up tonight. I have a meeting that I can’t miss.”
Her eyes narrow dangerously. “So you go out and drink with the boys, while I get stuck babysitting the little cunt who likes to backchat?”
Fixing my hair in the mirror, I put no heat into my next comment. “Don’t call her that. And yes, every now and again, you’ll have to do something you don’t want to. It’s called working, Ling.”
“No,” she argues. “This is not working. Working is guns and men in suits and shoot-outs.” She leans her hip against the counter and moves to place her face in my view. “This is bullshit.”
This is the closest to pouting I’ve ever heard Ling get. I glance at her, my brow raised in surprise.
She lowers her face and sneers. “I’m not going to like her just because your cock stands to attention whenever she’s in the room.”
My eyes on her, I lean in, and warn, “I’m getting real tired of this petulant bullshit attitude of yours, Ling. On a five-year-old, it would be cute. On you?” I look her up and down. “Not so much.”
She opens her mouth to fire off another round, but I cut her off with, “I expect I don’t need to tell you that if she’s harmed in any way, there’ll be hell to pay.”
Her mouth set in a grim line, she nods once. “I get it.”
“No, you don’t,” I tell her. “You don’t get it. This shit I’m spouting is serious.” Taking a step closer, I lock her in, me at her front, the vanity to her back. I lower my gruff voice. “If you lay a hand on her, touch a single hair on her head, look at her the wrong way, I swear to you, Ling”—my breath heats the apple of her cheek—“you will be out on your ass without a dime, blacklisted.” My hand comes up to caress her cheek. “Now do you get me?”
A moment’s silence.
“Yeah.” A look of pure hatred shines in her eyes. “I get you.”
“Good.” Dropping my hand, I move to the mirror, looking at myself one last time, and mutter clinically, “That’s real good.”
Julius walks out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom as I continue to clean the healing wound on my heel. He approaches the bed and kneels when he reaches my side. “Still sore?”
I don’t look up at him because I’m afraid he’ll see too much in my eyes, see inside of me, see the anxiousness of knowing he’s leaving me alone with Ling. It’s now with the apprehension I feel that I comprehend how ridiculous I had been to have once felt safer with Ling as a buffer between Julius and me. I realize he wouldn’t leave me with her unless he had to, so I don’t embarrass myself by begging, mainly because I’m sure if I did, he would stay. And that would just confuse things between us even more. “It’s getting better.”
He watches me in quiet as I put my all into my task, doing my best to ignore him.