Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 133182 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133182 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
“They killed my dad… or are just as guilty of pulling the trigger as whoever did kill him,” she whispers.
“They did, and they’ll pay for it, my love. I’ll bring everyone one of them to their knees,” I say, kissing the back of her head.
“Will you really?” she asks.
“They’ll kneel before you and I’ll kill them all.” I say and pull her tight to my chest.
We lay together for a long time, just Sophia, me, and our fur babies. And maybe… maybe there’s a baby in in her sexy tummy too.
I know Sophia’s head is full of swirling thoughts. Deep, dark thoughts that hurt and cause her pain. My first instinct is to put her at ease and erase those thoughts from her brain. But I can’t. It won’t help her in the long run.
It won’t do a damn thing to fix what’s been done and will be done.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the laptop, Sophia?” I ask, and I’m generally curious why she hid it from me.
“I didn’t think about it honestly, James. I swear I didn’t,” she says and rolls out of my arms for a moment to reposition herself facing me.
“Then what happened?”
“I saw Amanda and it clicked in my brain that she might have it. I don’t know why I didn’t instantly tell you. Maybe I was afraid of what I’d find… But I should have told you, should have trusted you because…”
Her words trail off again and fade away.
“Because?”
“Because you would have been there with me, and you would have known what to do,” she says meekly, like she’s ashamed of what happened.
“We’re a team now, baby, like it or not. We can’t keep secrets like that if they’ll affect your safety,” I say and slowly trail my fingers up and down her spine.
“I know,” she whispers. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. Fuck, James, it hurt so bad when I read those things my dad said. Finally finding the truth was so awful, so vile, I couldn’t breathe,” she says.
I feel her hips moving toward me so I keep moving my hand up and down her back.
“You have to remember to breathe, though. It’s what’s going to get you through this. Breathe and understand that shit happened, but I have you. I’m going to make sure they pay for this,” I say.
Lapsing into silence, we simply hold each other, sharing the same air and space. It’s not a perfect moment with all the death and destruction hanging over our heads like a gallows noose, but it’s the best we can hope for right now.
Expecting Sophia to fall asleep in my arms after all the shit that’s happened, I’m surprised as fuck when I hear her taking a deep breath.
Then quickly another.
Like she’s smelling me…
“James?” she asks suddenly.
“Hmm?”
“What’s that smell?” she asks.
“Raw man?” I ask in confusion.
“No, that’s not it,” she says and leans in closer to sniff my shirt.
A breath later she quietly retches.
“You feeling sick again, babe?” I ask and pull back to look at her.
“No.” She shakes her head. “Your shirt… it smells awful.”
Again, she softly gags.
“What?”
This is a clean fucking shirt…
“Yeah,” she says and turns her head away from me. “Get it away from me, it smells really bad.”
Pulling back more, I yank the shirt up my body and over my head. “I’m sorry, babe...” Tossing the shirt across the room, I move back into our embrace and ask, “Is that better?”
Leaning in close to my chest, she sniffs and nods her head. “Yeah, I think so.”
Then she starts sniffing lower and gags again. “James…”
What the fuck?
“Yeah?” I ask, confused as fuck.
How the fuck do I smell bad?
“It’s the pants…” she says quietly.
“Are you for real?” I ask, raising my voice a little.
“Yep.” She looks up at me with a smirk. “They smell like douchey frat boy.”
I’ll fucking kill her.
“That’s it,” I growl. “Little brat needs a spanking.”
Smirking at me, she says, “Give me my bras back and I won’t have to call you out.”
Shaking my head, I sigh at her and her little games. I was trying to be good and calm for her, but she doesn’t know what the fuck she does to me. She just doesn’t understand the barely controlled fucking monster I keep inside me.
“Shower time,” I grunt out as I pull her body close to mine.
“What?”
“Yeah, you smell like puke,” I say and stand up from the bed, dragging her with me.
She starts to protest but yelps when I lift her up and toss her over my shoulder.
“Shower time,” I say and walk toward the bathroom.
Sophia slaps at my back, trying to get me to put her down, but her blows do nothing to stop me.
“Put me down, James,” she shouts.
“No,” I say firmly.
“Fine,” she snaps.
Grabbing the waistband of my sweats, she yanks them up, toward my head.