Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 72090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Apparently, my look of warning didn’t work on her. It sure as hell scared all the people who worked for me, but not Storee. She hadn’t so much as batted an eyelash at me.
She made me want to kiss her, and that impulse sent me reeling out of my chair, my back to the picture of Gabriel and his daughter, as if I couldn’t bear for the images within the frame to see my shame. I hadn’t had the impulse to kiss someone for so long, it physically hurt me to consider it. To say nothing of how guilty it made me feel. Not only was I contemplating kissing someone much younger than me, but I was contemplating kissing Gabriel’s daughter. His fucking daughter!
Forbidden.
Wrong.
So fucked up.
Once the idea formed in my mind, however, I found that I couldn’t let it go. It haunted me, sneaking into my consciousness when I least expected it. Visions of taking that little body and tugging it against mine, letting my hands sweep up into all that hair, bending her head back for my deep, passionate kiss, letting my lips slide slowly over hers—
I shook my head.
Fuck me. I had done a lot of bad things in my life. But these thoughts… nothing I’d ever done was as bad as this. She was still a damn kid. Legal age or not, this girl was no match for me. Angelic. Perfect. She had no business being pursued by the damn devil.
My thoughts were interrupted by my office door being thrown open.
“Locke, there’s something you need to see,” Braken said as he marched into my office without warning. He threw down a sheet of paper on my desk.
I cleared my throat and tried to focus my attention on the business he was presenting to me rather than where my mind had been.
“That’s the list of participants of The Hunt. I thought you’d like to know Storee Brooks is on the list.”
“What the fuck?” I stared down at her name in disbelief.
“You want me to remove her name?” Braken asked. “Although she already got the tests, signed the contract, and has the red light bulb. The Hunt’s tomorrow night. I’m not sure I can stop the ball that is already rolling.”
“Fuck!”
“Unless you go and get the light back from her, there’s no guarantee that someone won’t see it and act on it.”
I slammed my hand down on my desk. “Motherfucker.” I took a deep breath to control the rage coursing through me.
“I can get someone we trust to choose her to hunt. At least then you’ll know she’ll be… safe,” Braken offered.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“I don’t know Storee as well as you,” Braken continued, “but even if you stop this hunt, there is always next weekend and the weekend after. If she has her mind set on doing this…”
“I know.”
“You could forbid it. We could try to ban her.”
I shook my head. “I know Storee. There’s only so much she will take. She’s stubborn and if she feels we’re treating her like a kid or differently than any other woman on this island…” I took another deep breath. Picturing her with another man, even one hand-selected, gutted me. “She’s my responsibility. I’ll find someone. I’ll handle it.”
Braken nodded and made his way toward my door to leave, wise enough to pick up on the fact that I was in no mood for further conversation. “I’ll leave it with you then.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled, feeling as if the man had just punched me in the gut.
When Braken closed the door behind himself, I quickly pulled up the security camera feed on my camera to see for myself. I wasn’t proud of the fact that I’d had it installed a year ago. A hidden camera that I had facing Storee’s front porch so I could watch her comings and goings. And I also wasn’t proud of the fact that the security camera footage only fed this urge to always watch over her.
Always watching.
Every night. Every morning. Always.
I was trying to be good.
I was trying not to watch it every day and every night like I had.
I had been trying to break the addiction.
But look what happened when I fucking tried to pull away from watching her.
Look what happened when I took my eyes away for a minute.
She had turned the red light on.
Chapter 14
Storee
Throw caution to the wind for once in my life. It was time.
My father was the risk taker. I was not.
My father took chances. I did not.
My father was dead. I might as well be.
It was fucking time. It was time I lived. It was time I felt alive.
The night finally arrived, and I flicked on the red light bulb on my porch and waited.
My heart pounded in my chest as I counted down the minutes for my hunter to arrive. I stared up at the beacon of red. My signal that I was game to play.