Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 83927 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83927 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“The morning is fine,” she smiles.
The two officers get up and Miller escorts them out. He returns a moment later and instantly scoops me into his arms. “Are you okay?” he asks as I stare off into the distance.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” I tell him. “I just want to shower and get him off me.”
“Okay,” he nods, getting up and leading me down the hallway. “I’ll wait for you out here.”
“No,” I say urgently, grabbing onto him in a panic. “Don’t leave me. I don’t want to be alone.”
“Are you sure?” he asks. “I figured you wouldn’t want me touching you right now.”
“You’re the only person who could possibly help me forget everything that just happened. I need you.”
“Okay,” he nods, leading me into the bathroom. He helps me undress, and I watch myself in the mirror as he exposes my skin. There is a shallow bruise appearing on my face and red marks around my right breast. Miller kisses me on the forehead as he takes in my body, and I realize seeing me like this is just as hard for him as it is for me.
I turn around and pull off his shirt, then move onto his jeans, letting them fall to the floor. We step into the hot water, and he washes my body clean of any reminder of Brett. Miller holds me tight as the hot water rushes over us and eventually turns cold.
We silently make our way into the bedroom. I do my best at towel-drying my hair and slide into bed beside him.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him as he turns the side lamp off.
“Sorry about what?” he asks, coming up behind me and holding me close to the pillow.
“For not telling you about the messages,” I say. “I just didn’t want you to worry. I never expected him to do something like this.”
“It’s okay, babe. I understand,” he soothes. “Just don’t hold back anything like this again. I want to know. I need to know so I can protect you from things like this. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I promise,” I tell him as I nuzzle into his body.
“I love you so much,” he reminds me.
“I know. I love you, too.” I say, rolling in his arms and planting a kiss on his chest as the world falls to darkness around me.
Chapter 18
Miller
I have never been so scared in my life, being on that call with Dani and hearing her being sexually assaulted by a violent man. A man who just happens to be her ex. Fuck, my body shakes with anger every time I think about it. Which happens to be all the fucking time.
What the hell would have happened if I hadn’t called Dani? Or if I hadn’t gotten there in time? Fuck, I know exactly what would have happened. That bastard would have raped my girl, would have taken away her innocence, her light. He would have taken away everything she has fought to get back, which he stole from her in the first place.
And all I did was knock him out. Shit, I should have put him down like the animal he is.
I stayed with Dani all night after the cops left. She fell asleep in my arms, and I can’t even explain how happy I was that she still allowed my touch after everything she went through. What cut me to pieces though was how she slept in my arms—waking up every thirty minutes, jumping in her sleep as her unconscious mind replayed it over and over again. If I didn’t have my girl in my arms, I would have been down at the hospital waiting for that dickhead to wake up just so I could knock him out again.
She woke this morning looking like she hadn’t slept a wink, which she really hadn’t. She sat down with Sophie and had a coffee while they both sobbed. They got dressed and headed down to the station together to press formal charges and get the paperwork sorted for the restraining order while Tank and I headed out for training.
I skate along the ice with my mind clearly not in the game as I miss shot after shot with Tank clapping me on the back each time, urging me to continue on. I grow more frustrated with myself as the session goes on. I drop Jaxon twice after shooting sloppy passes and lose my shit at a few of the boys.
Coach sends me off the ice for ten minutes to calm down and asks to see me at the end of the session.
We’re about twenty minutes from the end of training when the two cops from last night make their presence known. Coach calls for us to stop, and I make my way over, my gut already knowing exactly why they’re here.