Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“No.” I shook my head, trying to keep my shit together when all I wanted to do was fall apart. “Not at all. Is Danté around?”
“No, honey, he’s not. What’s going on?”
“Everything.”
“Oh shit.”
“Yeah.”
“He left for the night. Want me to call him?”
“No, yes… ugh… I don’t know. Where did he go?”
“He’s with Roy.”
Roy was Danté’s new flavor of the month.
“No. Don’t interrupt him.”
“You sure?”
I shrugged.
“Anything I can do?”
I shrugged again.
“Anything Jack, Jose, Jameson, or Jager can help with?”
As soon as he said the name Jager, I flinched.
“Oh, gurl, you got man problems.”
“I have everything problems.”
He gestured for me to follow him. “Let’s go. Nothing a little somethin’ somethin’ one of my J’s can’t solve.”
I was never one to take my problems out on a bottle but with the way I was feeling, I couldn’t have said no for the life of me. And for the first time, I honestly didn’t want to. I welcomed the sting for one night, anything other than what was already dragging me under.
Felix lined up a row of whiskey shots across the bar before handing me one.
“Now I know you don’t drink, bu—”
I clinked his glass with mine and took it down in one huge ass gulp. “Ugh!” I breathed out, feeling the burn of the booze in my throat, my chest, my empty stomach. Desperately trying to block out the memories of tonight.
Without words, he was showing me the deepest part of him.
His oldest wounds.
His jagged scars.
His regrets.
His life...
And the damage it all left behind.
Without thinking twice about it, I swiftly downed another shot.
Through a clenched jaw, he gritted, “Do you not know your place in this house?”
“I’m-I’m-I’m—”
“You are nothing but a glorified babysitter who does a shitty fuckin’ job cooking and cleaning my home.”
I closed my eyes for a second, fervently shaking it off.
He got right up in my face again, snarling in a menacing tone, “You’re fired! Now get the fuck out!”
I reached for another shot and swallowed it whole.
“Ma! Ma! Ma!”
“She’s going to make herself sick if someone doesn’t go to her! You want to make me the villain, then go pick up your daughter! Because she needs you more than she needs me!”
Two more shots, one right after the other.
“Ma! Ma! Ma!”
“This is what you wanted all along, isn’t it?! To take my family from me!”
“That’s absurd! I’m just trying to help and you’re doing the exact opposite of that right now!”
“Ugh!” Shoving away another memory, I reached for another shot.
“Oh, fuck…” Felix rasped with wide eyes, grabbing ahold of my arm. “If I let you drink that sixth shot, Danté’s going to kick my ass.”
“Ma! Ma! Ma!”
“She’s not your mother!”
“She’s the only mother Journey’s ever known!”
Even though Felix was talking to me, all I saw was Jackson getting backhanded across the face by his father. Making me abruptly pull my arm away to chug it right the fuck down.
The smell of Aiden, his voice, his dominating demeanor over me, suddenly knocked me on my ass as if he was there with me. I felt him everywhere, his looming presence caving me in.
Where all I could feel…
All I could see…
All I could hear…
Was him.
“Goddamn it.” I stood, swaying a bit. “Dancing, dancing would make me forget.”
“Camila—”
I slurred something along those lines and made my way toward the dance floor. My body suddenly held captive by the beat of the song. “Cure” by Tube and Berger blared through the speakers, searing its way into my soul.
Music always had the power to take away my pain. When words failed, music spoke volumes.
Once I was standing right up on the loud bass, it vibrated against my core, my very being, where all that was left was the rhythm to be one with the music.
I shut my eyes and allowed it to take over. I swayed my hips and made love to the music. My hands slowly worked their way up my waist to my head, running my fingers seductively through my hair as I lifted it up off my glistening neck. Rocking my hips back and forth, I wasn’t dancing for anyone but myself. Remembering how my body reacted to sensing Aiden for the first time in his hospital.
How there was a strong shift in the air, the space, the energy all around me. The resilient force steering me, guiding me was what I allowed to once again consume me.
It was happening all over again, every inch of my skin stirred with an awakening I’d only experienced with him.
My breathing tethered…
My pulse accelerated…
My heart started pounding out of my chest.
Slowly, I licked my lips, my mouth suddenly dry. Getting lost in the overwhelming emotions, the immediate connection I felt to him.
When almost instantly, I was engulfed in another familiar, husky, masculine scent that drove all my nerve endings to set on fire. I backed up into him, just wanting to forget about the man that wasn’t mine to remember.