Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 137176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
I avoided Axel’s glances as he got the car moving again and simultaneously calmed down the actress as she demanded an explanation for what had happened. I didn’t pay her any attention because I was too focused on one question and one question only.
Would Cass leave and never come back as I’d ordered?
The question wasn’t really the issue, though. It was the answer that had me rattled. Cass needed to go anywhere that I wasn’t.
Problem was, the knot in my stomach didn’t ease at the thought of never seeing Cass again. It only grew and tightened until my body was so rife with tension that it had Axel asking me, “You okay?”
No.
I definitely wasn’t the fuck okay.
“Yeah,” I said as evenly as I could. “All good.”
I glanced at Axel, who seemed satisfied with my response.
At least someone was, because I sure as shit wasn’t.
CHAPTER 5
Cass
“Tell Sully to get his fucking ass down here!” I snapped the second I yanked the front door open to reveal the Targes lobby.
Michael jumped to his feet behind the reception desk. He backed up so fast that his head hit the bottom of the Targes logo sign which was made of a combination of metal and glass. I knew I should apologize for scaring the kid, but my blood was boiling and it felt like every nerve ending was raw and exposed.
What the fuck had I done?
I’d kissed JJ, that was what I’d done. Worse, I’d let him kiss me back. If I thought I’d just wanted to bury my dick inside the man one time so I could be free of him forever, JJ had just proven to me that I wanted to do so many more things to him. I wanted him to do those things to me too. I just… wanted.
“Fuck,” I muttered. I looked up in the direction of Sully’s office. The building was a renovated warehouse, so it was mostly open space except for the few offices that were on the second floor, much like a loft layout.
“Sully!” I yelled. I could still taste JJ’s sweet flavor on my tongue. I could feel the way he’d taken over the kiss… and me.
I could also still hear the ice dripping from his voice as he’d described the way I’d supposedly killed a little girl and her mother.
I had no fucking clue what kind of game Sully was playing with me, but I was done. I was out. Fury clung to every part of me. It was now a constant, painful itch beneath my skin. God, I’d been so sure that JJ would admit what had really happened that night—that he’d have some kind of reasonable explanation for locking me in a cell for two years of my life.
“Sully—”
“I’m here,” Sully said quietly. He appeared from a side door, presumably one of many that led up to the offices as well as down to the lower level where the training equipment was located.
Sully’s voice and movements were calm and slow.
Like he was talking to a cornered wild animal.
An injured animal that only wanted to escape.
“Mikey, why don’t you go take a break,” Sully said softly, easing his big body between mine and Michael’s. The kid was shaking like a leaf, and I could see silent tears sliding down his cheeks. Jesus, the kid hadn’t been as freaked out the day I’d pointed a gun at him. What the hell must I look like to warrant the dramatic response?
I wanted to apologize to the young man. I really did. But no words came.
“What happened?” Sully began once his assistant had left the room. I hadn’t even noticed that several men had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. They were all large and fit with a few of them dressed in crisp black suits and a couple who’d clearly been sparring, based on their shirtless bodies and taped hands.
Most of the men looked at me with disgust. After all, they had a murderer standing in their midst.
A part of me wanted to take them all on. I wanted to cause pain just like I wanted to feel it. Anything to escape the emotions JJ had stirred up inside me. Emotions I’d been so sure that I’d had under control.
Sully waved the men away. They disappeared as silently as they’d come.
“Find someone else because I’m done!” I snapped. I began pacing back and forth in the large lobby.
Despite the high ceilings and long hallways, the place still wasn’t large enough. All my senses were on alert and adrenaline was spiking through my veins.
“I’ll go to my grandmother to get the money to pay you back,” I continued. Then I was striding for the front door.
“You talked to him,” Sully said quietly.
I laughed out loud. “Talked” wasn’t exactly the word I would have used to explain what had happened on that canyon road.