Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36564 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36564 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
“Well? What did you do to her?”
“I kissed her.”
Again, Lemon’s hand shot out and smacked my face. The other side this time. And yeah, she was equally quick with both hands. I had to remember to compliment her on that. Once she’d calmed down. And no, I wasn’t telling her to calm down. I liked my balls where they were.
“Have you talked to her about what she went through before she came here? Do you know she was trapped in a compound, much like this one, with a cult?”
“I do.”
Slap!
“And did you discuss all the trauma she endured?”
I groaned. Hadn’t I just been thinking the same thing? “I think you know the answer, Lemon.”
Slap! Slap! One side of my face. Then the other. No, I didn’t even consider protecting myself. I deserved this for being a horny, possessive, stupid-ass motherfucker who didn’t use his fucking brain.
Surprisingly, Rocket hovered, but didn’t interfere. I knew he would if he even thought I’d fight back, but my president knew me well enough to know I’d stand there and take whatever Lemon gave me, whether I thought I deserved it or not. I didn’t hit women, and if I wasn’t man enough to take what they dished out -- as long as no guns or knives were involved -- I was in the wrong position within Grim Road.
“Lemon, stop! Please!” Calista looked like she was near tears, but she only put her hand on Lemon’s shoulder.
Lemon slapped me one more time before stepping back. She still looked ready to gut me, but the fact her knife was still at her hip and not sticking out the front of my throat meant she didn’t believe I’d done something so bad as to warrant killing. If she’d thought I’d deliberately hurt Annie, or forced that kiss on her in any way, I’d already be dead. Because if she hadn’t already ended me, Rocket would.
A long silence followed Lemon’s outburst. I didn’t dare take my attention away from her lest I end up with that knife in my gut when she thought I wasn’t paying proper attention to her. Yeah. I wasn’t that stupid.
“Now.” Lemon stepped back just far enough to be able to look at me comfortably without craning her neck. “Start over. What happened?”
“Start ov-- You didn’t let me start to begin with!” I stopped. Took a breath. This was Lemon. She was pushing my buttons. This is what she did. How she operated. Lemon never made sense. You know. Until she did. “Look, Lemon. I was careful with her. I asked every step of the way. I gave her every opportunity to tell me to go fuck myself. Even encouraged it. She was fine until… after.”
When I didn’t continue, she stepped forward and slapped me again. This time with feeling. She actually used enough force to turn my head with that one. One thing about Lemon, she was smart when she unleashed her temper. By using an open hand, her palm might sting as much as my face, but it did neither of us real harm and she got to make her point.
“You can keep slapping me all you want, Lemon, but what happened is between me and Annie. I will make it right. I think I accidentally triggered something.”
“If you triggered something --” she made air quotes -- “why didn’t you fucking stop?”
“It happened afterward.”
“Gonna need to know exactly what you said to her.”
“No, Lemon. And you can’t bully me into it. Not this time. If Annie wants to tell you she will. Go ask her. But not right now.”
“And what happens right now?” She narrowed her eyes at me, daring me to give her the wrong answer.
“I’m going to go home. Annie will be there and I’m going to find out what exactly happened to make her run, and I’m going to fix it.”
She slapped me again.
“Christ, Lemon.” Rocket gripped her shoulder and pulled her back, wrapping his arms around her from behind. “You gotta learn when to stop, sour puss.”
“I know exactly when to stop.” She never took her eyes off me. “I’m not sure he’s got the message yet.”
Rocket met my gaze. “He did.”
Lemon shrugged. “We’ll see.”
Chapter Nine
Annie
I couldn’t breathe. My chest was tight and my heart pounded. Sweat coated my body and my clothes stuck to my skin. My ears rang and my vision tunneled. I had to get inside the house. Lock the door. Hide!
The second I got inside and shut and locked the door, my stomach rebelled and I vomited before I even realized I was going to vomit. I knew I should clean it up, but I couldn’t do anything but sink to the floor where I landed.
“I’m not there. I’m safe. I’m not there.” I chanted the mantra I’d started repeating to myself when this happened. I hated feeling like this! It hadn’t happened since I’d come to Grim Road and I was pretty sure it was because of Dominic’s presence, but, in a way, the absence of this panic the last month had made this event so much harder. It blindsided me. And for no particular reason! Everything had been fine, then the memory of the last time someone had kissed me hit me like a physical blow.