Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 158635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 793(@200wpm)___ 635(@250wpm)___ 529(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 158635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 793(@200wpm)___ 635(@250wpm)___ 529(@300wpm)
Jeremy strides over to him, but I jump between them. I know precisely what Landon is doing by making him jealous. He wants Jeremy to be with me again, but I won’t stand by and watch him claim ownership he doesn’t have.
I stare at Jeremy, even as my heart beats in my throat. “Stop it.”
“Step away.”
“I said, stop it.”
“And I said to step the fuck away.”
My whole body shivers at the lash of his words. I haven’t heard the gruff timbre of his voice for so long, and now that I do, it’s fills me with a myriad of chaotic colors and twisted emotions.
“We’re out of here.” Lan is dragging a struggling and obviously angry Mia out of the storeroom. “Remember, Ces. You loved me first.”
I can sense the destructive energy in Jeremy before he acts on it. If he’s stroking his fingers, that stops. And he usually stops breathing for one fraction of a second before he chooses violence.
Despite being scared shitless of this part of him, I don’t think about it as I block his path again.
Jeremy slams into me, my head bumps into his chest, and he steps on my foot, but he swiftly pulls back and actually stops.
That destructive energy that I’m sure is always thirsty for blood slowly lulls, tucking itself beneath the surface of his apparent calm.
He flexes his palm and remains still, probably realizing that Landon is already out of reach.
When he speaks, his voice shimmers with thick tension and unveiled anger. “Are you hurt?”
I touch my forehead as if that will somehow camouflage the trembling in my chin. Why does he have to ask that when he was the one who ripped my heart open.
“No thanks to you.”
His hand reaches for me, and I go still for a second, waiting, imagining the impact of his flesh on mine.
He drops it back down as another presence appears at the doorway. Zayn. My colleague who’s also been volunteering at the shelter.
“I heard a commotion. Is everything okay?” he asks in a careful tone.
Jeremy’s savage attention slides to him and I can see that unbounded violent energy rearing its head. If I don’t defuse this situation, he’ll probably use poor Zayn as a punching bag and brutalize him. After all, he’s still on a high from the whole Landon encounter.
“It’s all good, Zayn,” I say calmly.
His gaze flits between me and Jeremy, a frown etched between his brows. “Are you sure—”
“Fuck off.” Jeremy’s lethal tone booms around us.
Zayn straightens and I nod with an awkward smile in a desperate attempt to defuse the situation.
“Let me know if you need anything,” my colleague says, then swiftly disappears out of sight.
I don’t blame him. No one wants to be in Jeremy’s orbit, especially when he’s enraged.
His harsh eyes fall back on me. “And who the fuck was that?”
“None of your business.”
“Cecily…don’t piss me off any further.”
“That statement should be directed at you! Why are you bothering me?”
“Why the fuck are you always in my way?”
“Why are you?”
“You’re fucking infuriating.”
“And you’re like a wild animal.”
“You didn’t seem to mind when I fucked you like an animal. In fact, you screamed and begged to be taken like my filthy little whore. But now that my mark has vanished from your flesh, you think you can let another man touch you?”
My starved body heats, but I force myself to remain calm. “Whether I let another man touch me, fuck me, take me like a filthy whore, or dirty me all up is none of your damn business. In fact, I might be tempted to take Lan up on his offer of taking me on a tour through the sex club.”
I won’t, and I really don’t know what’s come over me to speak like that, but I want revenge.
I want to hurt him for all the time he’s left me hanging.
He made me addicted to him and then forced me into the worst withdrawal.
And the best way to piss off a possessive man like Jeremy? Bring up other men. Especially Landon. He clearly has a beef with him.
“What did you just say?” he asks slowly, menacingly, and with enough tension to crumble a mountain.
“I said I’ll go to the club with Lan. Experiment a little and see what other men feel like. I’m sure they don’t all come with so much drama.”
One moment I’m standing there, and the next, he’s slamming me against the nearest wall with a tight grip on my neck.
The breath is knocked from my lungs for an entirely different reason.
I’m in a position where I’m overwhelmed by Jeremy’s power until it’s the only thing I inhale.
Until it’s the only beat that’s seeping into my lungs
“That was a rhetorical question, Cecily. You’re not supposed to fucking answer.”
My glare meets his fierce eyes.
I want to provoke him, anger him. I want him to feel an ounce of the pain he’s exerted on me.