Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 82132 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82132 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Stop it, Jay.
“I don’t see any snakes, so that’s good,” she says. “Hey, did you ever catch that one that tried to eat me?”
“It didn’t try to eat you.” But I might.
She faces me. “Did you catch it?”
“Yes, I caught it. You’re safe.”
“Good.” She looks around. “Are you ready to go back upstairs?”
“No more electrical for you.”
She huffs as I hand her the phone back. “You are no fun.”
Oh, but I could be.
Her eyes darken. “What did you just think?”
“About what?”
“What just went through your head?”
“Why?” I ask.
“Because you had this look in your eye, and I want to know what caused it.”
I consider lying to her. It would be the mature thing to do. But something tells me she’ll call me out for it and this conversation will take ten times as long—and I’ll wind up telling her anyway.
“You want to know what I was thinking?” My head screams at me to stop. To not put this into the world. To not go this far. “I was thinking how you’d sound bent over that wall while I nailed you from behind.”
Her breaths come out in quick gasps.
“Would you scream for me, even though you said you don’t?” I ask, holding her gaze. “Would you moan? What little sounds would come out of your mouth when you’re coming all over my cock?”
I watch as her chest rises and falls.
“That is what I was thinking,” I say before turning to the steps.
“Wait.”
I keep moving. I can’t stop. I shouldn’t have said that—I shouldn’t have taken it there.
Gabrielle squeezes between me and the stairs. She hops on the bottom one and faces me so there’s little more than our clothes between us. Her eyes are wild, and she’s panting as if she’s out of breath.
My blood burns with the need to have her on me and over me. An unbridled demand screams at me not to let this moment pass.
This is what I’ve needed to break the darkness I’ve lived in for so long. Her laugh. Her smile. Her playful demeanor.
But if I do that, how does it end? How do I guarantee it doesn’t end with one or both of us getting destroyed?
She lays a finger against my lips.
“I would scream for you,” she whispers. “I would moan your name. I would tell you how good you feel inside me, and I’d beg you to give me more.”
My God.
She pulls her finger away and searches my eyes. Finally, she smiles. Sadly, maybe.
“I don’t know what you’re doing, Jay, but you don’t have to be scared of me.”
Before I can reply, she walks up the stairs and leaves me behind. I’m grateful for it. Because I don’t know what in the hell just happened.
“I would tell you how good you feel inside me, and I’d beg you to give me more.”
No, I do know what happened. I played with fire, and now I’m about to be burned.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
JAY
How ya doing, Jay?” Mr. Thomas asks from the other side of the counter.
The door chimes as it swings closed. The THOMAS HARDWARE STORE sign vibrates against the glass, creating its own alert.
The hardware store can’t have changed much since it was built in the early 1900s. A layer of dust sits on just about everything, which would lead one to believe they aren’t busy. They are. Aside from Betty Lou’s, this is the busiest place in Alden.
“I’m good, Mr. Thomas. How are you?” I ask.
“Fine, fine. This rain could stop, though.” He whistles through his teeth. “Three days of it in a row is about enough for me and my arthritis.”
“Every sports injury I’ve ever had has been aching this week.”
He lifts a brow. “You played sports? Where at?”
“Back home in Indiana. A little town in the middle of a cornfield.”
He looks me up and down. “You look like a baseball player.”
“Thanks.” I think.
I chuckle, glancing around the store. I’m the only customer at the moment.
“How’s work goin’ these days?” he asks, busying himself with a stack of papers. “I know you’ve been in here a lot, so I reckon that means it’s good.”
“Yeah, it’s good. I’ve got one on hold until Monday and another . . . rained out.”
Mr. Thomas glances out the window at the overcast day. “Okay. Sure. I hear ya.”
I frown. It’s not rained out. I’m just a fool, and I’m sure he knows that now.
Whatever. I have bigger fish to fry.
Gabrielle has been out of sight since I left Monday after the whole breaker box incident. I caught a glimpse of her a couple of times, getting in and out of her car, but unlike every other day she’s lived on the street, she’s not been outside. And I hate it.
The rain hasn’t helped the situation at all. It started Monday evening, and there has been at least a mist since. I love a few days off work, but this time, I’m going stir-crazy.