Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 129460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 647(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 647(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
“And to think I thought your gallantry was cute.” I gag through frantic gasps. I can barely breathe since all my energy is devoted to beating the living shit out of him. My father let him stay multiple nights in a row when we returned from Munich. That was the beginning of his over-the-top controlling. “Get the fuck out of my house, Warren!”
He’s double my weight and almost a foot taller than me, but my anger gives me the advantage. His face is red from my hands, his hair tussled from where I ripped it from his head, and more than my nails are marking his arms when he lifts them to shield himself from my attack.
I’m certain I look like a psycho ex-girlfriend going rank on the guy who won’t commit, but I don’t give a shit.
He came into my home.
Onto my turf.
He deserves more than a beatdown.
“Leave now!”
I scream so loud I’m not surprised my shouted words wake my neighbors.
Regretfully, it isn’t the one I was aiming for.
With her eyes wide and her mouth gaped, Octavia enters my apartment with a similar bat as the one I knocked out of Warren’s hands at the start of my onslaught.
“Get away from her.” Her words are more a whisper than a demand, and they’re missed by Warren entirely, so she tries again, louder this time. “I said, get away from her!”
She throws her bat into the hallway table to get across her point. When it shatters a matching vase and ceramic bowl I was gifted from my grandmother, Warren’s death-tight grip on my waist loosens enough I can push back from him.
I topple onto my ass before springing back to my feet. Warren is hitting Octavia with the same evil glare one of the attackers still roaming free gave Serenity before he pinned her to her bed in the hostel by her throat and inappropriately roamed his hands over her body.
It should have Octavia backing down, but for some reason, it fortifies the rod in her back. “It’s too late for you. I’ve already called the police, so please do any of the things you’re thinking because it won’t be solely my word versus yours this time around. I’ll have witnesses. Many of them.”
Warren takes a moment to ponder a reply. His deliberation is cut short when the whizz of a police siren sounds through my dead-quiet apartment.
I thought Octavia was bluffing. I clearly have a lot left to learn about her.
Warren should be racing for the door, but like all men who mistake their importance, his lips curl into an evil smirk before he drops his eyes to mine. “You should cover up. Whatever your wearing during your arrest will be documented on your arrest docket.”
“Why would I be arrested?” When he answers me by dragging his hand down the scratches in his cheek, I scoff out, “You entered my home—”
“Because a disturbance was reported.”
“By you!” I scream, my voice unhinged.
My stomach curdles when I recall him having me pulled over for random breath tests multiple times a day during my first couple of months in Seattle. He used his position at Portland PD to his advantage until I threatened to take my complaint higher. And no, I’m not referencing the Police Chief. There’s only one man Warren fears. God.
“Is that why it took you so long to show up tonight, Warren? I entered an hour ago, but you had to wait for a disturbance to be reported before you could answer it, especially because Seattle isn’t in your jurisdiction.”
Octavia curses under her breath when Warren’s arrogant strut straightens enough to expose the detective badge on his hip.
Aware I need to goad him into making a mistake in front of a witness, I say, “It must have killed you wondering what we were doing while you were sitting in your car, waiting to strike.” His hands ball so firmly, his clipped nails dig into his palms when I murmur, “Was I sucking his dick in the shower, or did the festivities not make it past the stairwell of my apartment building?” My eyes almost pop out of my head when I remember how much he hates giving head. “Or maybe he was ringing the devil’s doorbell during our ride home.” His composure snaps when I murmur, “To save on ink, how about we say ‘all of the above’ in the report you’ll falsify like you did every damn aspect of your life.”
His hand is around my throat a second after his eyes darken with anger. “I never faked anything with you.” He drags me to within an inch of his face. “I loved you.”
“Enough to force me home?” When honesty flares through his eyes, my campaign to derail him kicks into overdrive. “Despite your eagerness for us to leave Munich, Serenity stayed back so she could give a DNA sample.”