Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 107118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
“I couldn’t leave,” I continued, voice croaking just remembering all the shit he’d put me through. “He kept me in his home. I . . . I didn’t dare cross him. Then one time, I did.”
I stepped away from Cowboy. He radiated pure rage, his thick arms showing off every vein and muscle under his golden skin. I wasn’t sure my legs would carry me into the center of the living room where they both could see me.
Where Hush could see.
“I only made that mistake once.” I drew in a deep breath. “It only took one punishment to make me understand that I could never betray him again.” I closed my eyes and willed myself to do this. For Hush, I told myself. I thought of him on the floor, the seizure taking control of his body. Of his face in the aftermath, his eyes looking up at me with such need, such desperation for comfort. My comfort.
My fingers loosened on the towel and I let the material slip down to my waist. I didn’t care that my breasts were bared. I knew they wouldn’t be the focus anyhow. Cowboy hissed behind me. But my eyes found Hush . . . and his gaze, staring at my back. “Acid,” I whispered. I felt my bottom lip shake.
“You are mine, bella. I will ruin you for all other men but me.” He ran the tip of his finger over my burned flesh. I screamed, my voice echoing off the walls of the large bedroom where he’d forced me to lie. My body convulsed in pain. I was freezing everywhere. Except my back. My back felt like it was on fire. Burning my skin.
Juan moved from the bed to crouch at my face. My terrified eyes found his. He ran his hand over my hair. “Like spun gold,” he murmured and smiled his devastatingly handsome smile. “A doctor will be in later to help you with the pain.”
“Please,” I whispered. I couldn’t stand the pain . . . I couldn’t keep smelling the scent of my burning flesh.
“No, bella. I must leave you with this a while longer. Only then will you learn to never cross me again.” He leaned in and kissed my lips. His tongue pushed inside my mouth and wrapped itself seductively against mine. I whimpered, needing him to stop; he moaned, wanting to devour me. When he pulled away, he smiled at me. The smile that showed me how obsessed with me he had truly become. “I love you, mi rosa negra. But if you defy me again, this punishment will be repeated. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes,” I said quickly. He just smiled.
“Good.” He laid a kiss on my forehead. “Now, get some rest. We want you to heal.” Juan stood and rounded the bed. I could feel his hand skirting around the covers. “Beautiful,” he said and kissed the center of my back . . . exactly where the most acid had been poured. I screamed, tears flooding the comforter beneath me. But those tears soon dried when I thought of what I had seen to make me run . . . what he had done to her . . . what he had done to all of them . . .
I blinked back into the here and now. My throat was dry from telling them about what he had done. The room was thick with silence. Goosebumps swept over my exposed ruined skin. My legs shook, and just when I feared they would no longer hold me up, arms came around me and swept me off the floor. I looked up into Cowboy’s eyes. He cradled me against his chest and carried me to the couch. He kept me close, running his lips over my forehead. “We got you, cher,” he whispered. I almost cried when I threaded my arms around his neck, holding on tightly . . . and his rough fingers found the acid scars. I froze. No one but the doctor, Juan, and me had ever touched what I kept well hidden away.
“They’re beautiful,” he whispered as I tucked my head into his neck. “Because you’re so fucking beautiful, cher.”
I held him tighter, inhaling his fresh scent. I shed all the tears that had been trapped within me for years. My skin, which had been ice cold, thawed to a newer, warmer type of numbness. Stinging tears dried to leave behind a heady state of peace. Wrapped in Cowboy’s arms, I felt safe, for the first time in years.
Taking a deep breath, I pulled back from Cowboy’s neck and met his blue eyes. He gave me one of his smiles and stroked back the hair stuck to my damp cheeks. My lips shook as I smiled back. “Thanks, darlin’,” I rasped.
His hand moved up to cup my neck. I leaned into his touch, my eyes fluttering shut for a moment as a soft breath left my throat. When I opened my eyes again, it was to see Cowboy searching my face. Then, clearly seeing whatever it was he wanted to see, he brushed his lips against mine. The minute I tasted him, the tension, the hurt, and the years’ worth of pain that suffocated my chest broke free from my skin and ghosted away like a twirl of smoke from a campfire. My hands hung on to Cowboy as he caressed my lips with his own before pulling back and pressing his forehead against mine.