Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77016 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77016 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“This isn’t as simple as you think.”
“Of course it’s as simple as I think. Make her stop, legally if you have to. I don’t appreciate being spied on.”
“Do you think for a minute that I don’t have more tails on her than she has on me?”
Her mouth drops open.
“I’ve told you before that I have her watched. Why does this surprise you?”
“What’s up with the cat and mouse game, then? Why are you letting her do this?”
I draw in a deep breath. “There are things you don’t know.”
“Only because you won’t tell me.”
I feel for her. I do. She loves me, she opened up to me, and she has the right to expect the same. I’m on edge about my meeting tonight. I won’t walk into any trap without protection, and I have a pretty good idea who’s behind the texts.
“Have you considered that I may not be able to tell you?”
She widens her eyes. “What?”
I pace away from her for a moment and stare out the window in the living area. Manhattan is gray, as usual. Why do people live here? Boston is so much more beautiful.
“Braden, does she have something on you?”
I turn toward her but don’t meet her gaze.
“Why are you protecting her?” she asks. “What am I supposed to think? You won’t tell me. I can only deduce that she has something on you.”
“She doesn’t. At least not in the way you’re thinking.”
“How can you possibly know what I’m thinking?”
“I know you, Skye. You think what Betsy told you is true. You think I did something to Addison that I shouldn’t have done. You’re wrong.”
“Prove it to me. Prove to me I’m wrong, then.”
“I shouldn’t have to prove anything to you. If you will never trust me, how can you still be in this relationship?”
She opens her mouth, but no words emerge. Because I’m right.
If she doesn’t trust me, she has no business being in a relationship with me.
She promised she’d give me time like I gave her time. And now she’s welching?
“I’m sorry,” she finally says. “I promised I wouldn’t push. I do trust you, Braden. I know you’re a good man. I couldn’t be with you if I didn’t believe that.”
I stride toward her and pull her to my chest. “I know you trust me, Skye. You’ve proved that many times over. You have to trust me with this as well.”
“I do.” She nods into my shoulder.
I push her away slightly and meet her gaze. It’s time. She’s waited long enough, and she deserves to know the truth about Addison and me. “I will tell you what you want to know, but I need your promise that it goes no further than you.”
“I tell Tessa everything.”
“Not this. I can make you sign an NDA like you did for the club.”
“That’s not necessary. I won’t tell Tessa about the club, and I won’t tell her anything you don’t want me to.”
“Good. And it’s not just Tessa. You can’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you. Especially not Addie or that friend of hers.”
“Who?”
“The one who owns the dog supply store.”
“Betsy? She and Addie aren’t really friends.”
“Maybe not, but she knows some of this. You can’t tell her anything more. Got it?”
She looks into my eyes.
Does she see my torment? My subtle sadness? I wish I didn’t have to do this, but I will. I’ll do it for Skye.
“Of course, Braden. You can trust me. With anything.”
Chapter Forty-One
Skye looks so beautiful.
And she’s listening. I know she’s listening because I taught her how to listen when I showed her how to focus on only one sense at a time.
I close my eyes, breathe in.
I go back in time, and I begin to tell a story I’ve never told another living soul.
…
She was beautiful, if you like blondes. I had always favored darker hair.
“They’re both on the prowl,” Ben said to me. “And they’ve got their eyes on us. Might be a lucky night for the Black bros. We can get some high-class pussy.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I said.
“What’s up your ass?”
“Nothing. I’m just not in the mood.”
“Not in the mood for sex?” Ben laughed. “Fine. Have a drink. Have five drinks. I’m going to get me some of that.” He walks toward the Ames sisters.
Identical twins, both blond and beautiful. Ben began working his magic on the one with longer hair. Soon they disappeared.
The other one, though.
She was… I couldn’t put my finger on it. She was staring at me, trying to get my attention all night, but something was off with her.
Still…I hadn’t had sex in a while. When you worked construction six days a week in the hot sun, you were dirty as a pig and fucking exhausted the rest of the time. What little free time I had I spent researching. I had an idea—an idea that could be big. I just had to figure out how to get it off the ground. With so little time and even less money, it didn’t seem likely. Still, it was my dream, and I spent my off time working on it. No time to get dressed up and cruise for chicks. How could I find women who liked what I liked, anyway? Not all girls let a guy tie them up. At twenty-four, I was getting too old for casual sex. Ben was barely twenty-one and still liked flashing his ID at bars.