Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 69155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Alarick jerks a thumb in my direction, and Kendric leans over the table a little, palms pressed against it, jaw tight. “Do not fuckin’ tell me what I do and do not know. You were not there the night she let them treat me like a fuckin’ dog.”
“I had no choice!” I yell, frustrated. “I have a career, a job, people that depend on me too, Kendric. I couldn’t just give it all up. I will get your justice, you have to believe that.”
“The way they treated me was fuckin’ vile!” Kendric roars. “You stood back and let them do it.”
“I was scared!” I bark back. “I was scared because you’re not the only one who can go down for this, you’re not the only one who doesn’t trust a single person around you. I don’t know who is good and who isn’t anymore, and out there, in the woods alone with them, I wasn’t about to risk everything. I have a son.”
“Go fuck yourself,” Kendric seethes. “Go to fuckin’ hell.”
I jerk at his words, and my heart feels like it explodes in my chest. I take a shaky breath and try to calm my nerves, but they’re sparking left right and center, making my entire body feel like it’s going to just burst right open. I can’t take the pressure and immediately shove the chair back and stand before I say or do something I will regret.
“I want to leave,” I whisper to Alarick.
Alarick stands and looks to Kendric. “It ain’t her fault, brother.”
“Isn’t it?” Kendric hisses. “She’s meant to protect the innocent, meant to rid the world of scum and make it a better place. She’s meant to be honest and fuckin’ good. She was none of those things when those cops did what they did. She was fuckin’ weak.”
That hurts, it hurts so god damned much because he’s right.
I was weak.
I could have defended him.
Could have fought.
But, instead, I stood there—I stood there and let them hurt him, let them treat him like a dog.
I could have reported them. I could have told them to stop.
I could have done anything other than what I did.
I’ll regret that for the rest of my life.
Every damned day, it’ll torment me.
Which is exactly what he wants.
2
ZARIAH
I arrive home exhausted after my visit with Kendric at the prison. It didn’t go anything like I would have hoped, and if anything, I feel a whole lot worse right now. I know I deserve his wrath, but if he isn’t going to let me help him then we’re never going to find Dax and get him out of this.
I get out of my car as I pull into my drive and see Reece standing at my front door. No matter how many times I lay eyes on that man, I feel the same thing deep in my chest. A range of broken emotions wrapped up with confused cotton wool and finished off with a terrified bow. He makes me feel things I can’t even begin to understand, and that scares me. It scares me more than I’ll ever admit to another human being.
I should walk away, yet I find myself drawn to his toxic love.
Drawn to him in a way that isn’t healthy.
I’m a cop, I should know better, and yet here I am ... Weak.
“What are you doing here, Reece?” I ask, walking up to the front door where he’s leaning, waiting for my return.
His eyes study me and, as always, I shudder. Not in repulsion, but not exactly in excitement either. It’s my body’s weird way of acknowledging just how dangerous he is, and yet at the same time it wants his touch.
I hate it for that.
Hate it.
When you don’t have your own back, how are you supposed to protect yourself?
“You look troubled.”
His words come out low and husky, in a voice that I once loved so very much.
He pushes off the door and steps toward me, reaching out a hand. I flinch away, but he catches me by the back of the neck and holds me firmly enough that I can no longer pull back. He knows that I won’t fight, not right now at least.
I have, though.
I’ve fought, and I’ve won.
I’ve fought, and I’ve lost.
It never ends the same.
That’s what’s so scary about him.
About all of it.
Reece’s eyes travel over my face, reading me in a way I’ve never been able to understand. I can hide nothing from him. Nothing at all. He knows me so well, it’s terrifying. In front of him, I’m like an open book. Pages flapping in the breeze, words scrawled everywhere. I meet his slate-grey eyes and swallow.
Reece is gorgeous, in a way that is deceiving. It makes you think he’s kind and loving and beautiful, but he’s none of those things. He’s dangerous and dark and very, very twisted. His blond hair is messy atop his head, and he sports a beard that is not too long, not too short. Just perfect, really. His jaw is chiseled, his mouth is full, and his skin is olive.