Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Not that any of that mattered. I had other things to focus on, like why the hell I was here and what my plan was now. I’d come with my fucking guns blazing as some possessive beast had taken over my actions. But having a moment of reality, seeing the place, realizing that Salem was probably having the time of her life, getting to do one of the things she’d missed out on before…
I questioned this decision.
I didn’t need to go in there to see what I already knew. She was the most stunning creature here. Every eye would be on her. It was her Cinderella moment, and I’d come to snatch it away from her because I couldn’t stand the thought of her belonging to anyone else. She was still too young, but fuck if I was going to let some dick have her.
I was moving home. If I lived there, I could make sure no one took her from me. I’d wait for her. Until she was old enough, I could wait. If it meant she’d be mine. In the meantime, we could be friends. Get to know each other. I wouldn’t have to wonder what she was doing or what she looked like when she woke up in the morning. I’d get to see it every day.
Mom might be an issue, but I would work out a story that she’d buy into. Besides, she loved Salem. She loved me. Why not be happy about the two of us being together one day? Once Salem was old enough—legal age—then Mom would be okay with us. I could work around it until then.
As much as I didn’t want Salem being here with another guy, I wanted her to be happy more. I wanted her to have all the fucking things. If this was one of them, she could have it. But I was going to see her having it and hopefully not have her see me. I’d be quick.
I would also be following them when they left here. The experience after the prom was not one I was willing to let her have. It might be hypocritical because, up until an hour ago, I’d had a girlfriend or something like that. I wasn’t sure I could really call Shana that. She’d been a fill-in. Someone to keep me from seeking out Salem and doing more of what we’d done in my truck. I thought about it every fucking day and jerked off to it in the shower.
Locking the door to my truck, I tucked my keys into my pocket and made my way toward the open doors of the barn. There wasn’t much in the way of security here.
When I had driven onto the property, a man was just inside the white fencing, and he asked me if he could help me. I told him I was here to pick up my sister at the McIntosh prom, and he’d not only waved me in, but pointed me in the right direction.
I strode into the building like I belonged, and no one questioned me. I hadn’t gotten a fucking tux, but I had put on a pair of black jeans and a white oxford that my mom had bought me to wear to my great-aunt’s funeral last spring. My shoulders had gotten broader and my biceps bigger because I was stretching the shirt that had been a perfect fit almost a year ago. The black combat boots on my feet were the best I could do. It wasn’t like I dressed up for shit—ever.
I moved through the people, not making eye contact with any of them, but scanning the room for the raven hair I dreamed about wrapping around my fist. Taking a spot in a corner, not wanting to stand out, I continued my search. It wasn’t until the music slowed and “Crash into Me” by Dave Matthews Band started that I saw her. In that pink dress against her perfect skin and her black hair pulled to the side in a cascade of curls, she was led out onto the dance floor by that kid star, Tyler fucking what’s-his-name.
Her back was to me, and all I could see was his smile as he stared down at her while his hand was entirely too close to her ass. I could hear my teeth grinding as I used every ounce of self-control I could cling to so that she could have this. He was talking to her, and I imagined landing my fist in the center of his face, then watching him crumple to the floor. Some other couple moved over toward them, and the two guys spoke. Then, as if the gods had pity on me or perhaps they liked to torture me—I wasn’t sure their angle with this move—he turned them until it was her profile I saw.