Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 26557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 133(@200wpm)___ 106(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 133(@200wpm)___ 106(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
I barrel around the curve at the top of the stairs. Nothing.
I stomp down one hallway, opening doors, seeing all the glory of what goes on behind closed doors at these type of events, and my heart speeds knowing she’s up here somewhere. Without me. Without the protection I provide, either in person or with the bodyguards I attach to her whenever she’s out of my sight.
“Lennie!” I bellow, drawing looks, phones raised all around while their owners start recording. Everything is a fucking event these days and no publicity is bad. At least that’s what I tell my agents, but it’s not true.
Another hallway, glass walls with curtains veiling drug-fueled orgies, and my panic pushes into the red. If he’s touched her, harmed her, if anyone has touched her or harmed her…
Five minutes later, I’m on the last hallway in this monstrosity of a home, banging on doors, when I hear it.
I’d know that chirping sound anywhere. Like a beacon calling me, it’s Lennie’s voice. It’s not a scream, but it’s not right.
“No, yes, I—” I barrel through the door without a knock. She’s mine and where she goes, I go, no quarter.
What I see almost brings me to my knees.
The glass of champagne is spilled on the table. Ryan Nolan’s arm is around her shoulders, her blue shirt torn with the black ribbon on the white carpet.
And his hand, his fucking hand…
From there, it’s fists and the sound of bones breaking. His scream when I smash his head against the wall. He drops to the floor in a ball, saliva and blood dripping from his gaping lips as I break every finger in that hand that was touching Lennie.
“Stop!” Her voice gives me a breath as Ryan’s bloodied face turns the carpet red. “Don’t! You have to stop or they’ll take you away from me!”
Take you away from me.
The room fills with muscle as I instinctively grab a thumb drive lying on the floor and brush myself down. Ryan must have dropped it. It’s probably nothing, but hell, I drop it in my pocket anyway since nobody else seems to have noticed me swipe it. Both my two guys and ten others that belong to the host or who the fuck knows, dragging me back, but my only focus now is her.
There are other strangers in the room, phones up again, when I shove though everyone, covering Lennie with my body and hauling her ass into the bathroom across the hall as I listen to Ryan Nolan puking behind us.
“Baby.” I close the door, turning to hold her face in my palms. It’s the most contact I’ve had with her ever and it lights up my heart and my soul. “Are you okay?”
Her shirt is open, buttons gone, her bra pushed below her billowing tits. And fuck, forgive me but the starting pistol has fired and I know, there’s no going back.
Her eyes link to mine, she knows I’m looking and she does nothing to cover herself. Instead, she leans forward, presses her cheek to where my heart is beating like a drum against my ribs and slips her arms around my waist.
“I was trying to sign him. I knew him from before, with Mom a long time ago. I saw him at that Homeless Benefit last week. He said he needed a new agent and he would meet me here tonight and we could talk about it.”
Little fucker. He doesn’t need a new agent. He’s a little monster born from bigger monsters. I know them all.
“It’s okay, baby. But I told you, this world is fucking dangerous. That’s why you don’t go anywhere without me or Davis or with a guard.”
“I’m sorry. I thought with so many people around…it would be okay. And I wanted to surprise you. Do something right, for once. I know I suck at my job, but I want to do well. I want to be the best agent you’ve ever had.”
“You are.” I fucking lie but her feelings trump the truth any day.
“I am not.” She counters, then says, “Just hug me, Daddy.” She whispers the words and my whole world changes. “Hug me back.”
Fuck. If I die in the next ten seconds and this is how I go? I’m okay with that.
But if this is the only time in my life I allow myself to touch her?
I’m not okay with that.
Her softness curves into me as I crush her against me from head to toe. Her body goes stiff when she feels my erection but I’m done hiding.
Something far worse could have happened in that room and I would have surely killed that little entitled asshole. Instead, I have a second chance and fuck it all.
I’m taking it.
“I’ll hug you, baby, but Daddy’s going to want more than that.” I tip her chin up with my fingers, then gather her ass in my hands, lifting her to sit on the counter behind us, then turn on the water, washing my hands and my mouth while Lennie watches, perplexed, as I soap up my lips, rinse them then dry them with a towel.