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)
The headlights ate up the pavement, the forest whipping by in a blur as I flew down the winding road.
“I was as surprised to see him as he was to see me,” I told her, eyeing her for a clue.
Her expression twisted, more of that confusion. Gut told me she didn’t know how Jarek had ended up sitting there any better than I did.
She fidgeted, shifting in hesitation and dread, before the haggard question tremored from her tongue. “Is he dead? I heard a gunshot.”
“Do you want him to be?” It was bait.
Aster flinched before she turned to stare out the passenger window at the slur of snow-laden trees. Her voice was quiet with strain. “He’s my husband. What do you think?”
“Don’t worry, Aster. Your prince is just fine.” My teeth gritted as I spat it, and I floored the accelerator, flying down the winding road.
As if there was any fucking way to leave that fact behind.
I whipped my car into the rounded drive of the hotel on the outskirts of the small city. Severity bound the cab of my car, that energy thick. Every mile that passed had been painful.
Aster sat up higher in her seat. Uncertainty had her gaze darting to every corner. Her nerves scattered like the wind that gusted through the valleys of the mountain.
“What are we doing here?” she wheezed.
I smirked over at her, though it was bitterness that leaked out with the words. “What, did you think that I was taking you to my place? I’ll pass, but thanks.”
Hurt blistered through her expression.
My chest squeezed.
Shit.
I had no goddamn clue how to handle this. How to treat her. How to even look at her without coming unglued.
I came to a quick stop in front of the doorway and jumped out before I apologized.
This was the girl who’d fucking wrecked me. Destroyed the good thing I was trying to build. She didn’t get my sympathy or worry.
I stormed around to her side and ripped open her door. “Let’s go.”
She fumbled out, and I could feel her trying to keep up as I strode directly to the lobby clerk. I grabbed a room while Aster wavered behind, unsure of what the hell was going on.
Join the fucking club, baby.
I didn’t know what had possessed me to make that proposition. Nothing but how good it’d feel to see the shame written on Jarek’s face.
I had his wife, and now I didn’t know what the fuck to do with her.
Keep her.
There my head went, deep diving into dangerous things.
“Here you are, Sir.” The clerk handed me the key to a room at one of the nicest hotels in Redemption Hills. It was situated on the farthest end of downtown, about a mile from my apartment.
It would be a safe place for her to stay until I figured out a plan because I sure as shit wasn’t delivering her back into the hands of that prick. Maybe I should have ended him rather than standing down when Oz had fired the warning shot.
But I knew what putting a man like Jarek Urso into the ground would incite.
A war.
It would endanger my family. My brothers. Their wives. Their kids. I couldn’t go there.
No doubt, my actions from tonight already had me neck deep.
“I have a room.” I pressed my hand to the small of Aster’s back.
She shivered.
I rejected the way it wanted to seep into me and take over.
The way her spirit washed and swam, different but familiar.
I had to stop myself from leaning in and inhaling her warmth.
I guided her to the elevator, pushed the button for the third floor, and swiped the card at the door. It opened to the lapping shadows.
We stepped inside the bated silence.
I could feel every violent beat of her heart. Could taste every ragged breath. Could smell her aura coming off her in waves.
Hyacinth and magnolia leaves.
This decadent, exotic scent that sparked the type of memories I couldn’t bear.
They drilled a hole through the middle of me.
Resentment.
Hurt.
A new obsession that twisted my guts in a tangle of greed.
It was a volatile, dangerous combination.
I felt the impact of it tremble down her spine as she reluctantly stepped inside. She edged deeper into the living area of the hotel room as I let the door drift shut behind us.
My eyes caressed her shape as a fresh round of those memories surged.
The way she used to be a picture of joy.
The way my heart used to beat out of my chest every time she came into a room.
What a fucking injustice that it still did.
Aster was harder than she’d been then, though. Her once soft, round cheeks were now angled and harsh. Her eyes sharpened and telling. She remained petite, small tits and slim waist and full thighs I could get lost in for days.
She lifted her hands out to the sides. “So, what now, Logan? Have you had your fun? Are you finished playing games?”