Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Laughter rolled out of me, and I clapped him on the shoulder. “You know you love me.”
“Barely.” He fought a smile.
“I’ll see you tonight,” I promised.
“Seven,” he reiterated.
“Yes, Daddy.” I winked.
Since the dude had basically raised me, doing the best he could even though he was nothing but a kid himself, trying to keep me out of the clutches of our piece-of-shit father, I doubted much that he’d ever stop looking at me like I was five.
I didn’t think there would have been a thing either he or Jud could have done to stop that spiral, though, the fact our father had manipulated each of us into who he wanted us to be.
Our father had been the president of a brutal MC back in LA.
Iron Owls.
The club had been steeped thick in every sort of crime, and before they could even drive, Trent and Jud had been seeded deep.
Roots getting tangled in ugliness.
They’d tried to protect me from it—from the hooks that sank in and drained out innocence and life before it filled it back up with death and immorality. I figured they’d been so wrapped up in surviving, it was easy for me to slip into the debased, even before I’d realized it myself.
“Later, man. Be good.” Trent gave me a jut of his chin as he moved to the driver’s side of his car.
“Always,” I said as I backed away.
I couldn’t help the twinge of guilt over what had gone down last night. He would flip if he knew my vices. If he knew the thirst that could never be quenched.
It was the one sin I’d never let go.
It was who I was. Who I’d been bred to be. The numbers came easy. Manipulating them came easier.
Because I’d never again allow anyone to own me. Control me. Would never allow anyone to look at me as less than because I would be the one to dominate.
But I’d always done it in ways that it wouldn’t blow back on my family.
I wasn’t sure that was the case this time.
They pulled from the curb, and I watched them disappear down the road. The second they were gone, that antsy feeling was back full force. The sense that something was off.
No doubt, it was the traces of Aster Rose that clawed under my skin and made me feel like I was coming unhinged.
How many times had I had to stop myself from going back there? From trying to convince her that she belonged with me?
But I’d never forget what she’d said that night.
The look in her eyes.
“I hate you.”
I’d known she meant it.
That it was all for naught.
A goddamn waste.
And here I’d let her come in and stir up my life again. Let her feed the vengeance.
It felt like I held two fistfuls of white-hot coals in the palms of my hands.
The sick, twisted truth that I wanted to hurt Jarek Urso.
That I’d wanted to keep her like some kind of aberrant prize.
Or maybe I’d just wanted to torture myself.
Turning on my heel, I moved back up Main Street. I drained the rest of my coffee and tossed the cup into a bin, working my way toward my office that was half a block up from my apartment since I needed to check in on a couple accounts.
No rest for the weary.
I tried to clear all thoughts of her from my being. To pretend last night had only been a wicked dream.
Instead, I needed to focus on what I’d been given.
Gage.
Trent and Jud’s joy at finding the good life.
Their amazing wives and kids.
It was all we’d ever wanted for each other, and I’d done my best to find my own satisfaction in that.
Not to mention what I’d worked to become. The power I’d gained so no one could look at me like I was garbage again.
Still, I itched.
I sensed the crawl of something unfathomable at the base of my neck, whispering in my ear and tickling down my spine.
I glanced behind me into the mass of bodies that were out to enjoy Saturday morning.
A puff of frustrated air gushed from my nose.
I was losing it.
I pushed the key into the lock of the office building and let myself into the quiet, stilled space. I walked past my office manager’s desk and into my office at the back.
I tossed my keys and my phone onto the black, metal desk, and I moved around to the chair and sank into the soft leather. I breathed out a sigh of irritation.
That was the second before every bit of oxygen was suddenly sucked from the room when the door opened.
I sat back in my chair and forced myself not to shoot to my feet when I saw her standing in the doorway.
Disheveled.
Gorgeous.
Hopeful.
The sight of her stopped my heart in my chest.
My teeth gnashed as a fist of greed tightened my stomach.