Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Fear throbbed, heavy and dark.
But I stood up straighter and held my ground.
I had to cover my shock when I saw his face marred in the black and blue bruises that covered the entirety of the right side.
There was a scab on his lip, compliments of me.
Clearly, his perfected arrogance had been knocked down by a notch or two.
And oh, man, he did not look happy about it.
“You need to leave right now.” There was no use trying to keep the tremoring from my voice.
Karl already knew what he’d done.
The line he’d crossed.
I would never look at him the same.
“I’ll call the cops if you come any closer. You are trespassing.”
I held the phone out between us like I was wielding a weapon.
A sneer curled his expression in hate. “Have at it, Tessa, and I’ll gladly press charges against the thug you brought into my house.”
I almost scoffed.
Milo was the thug?
“Good. Then we get to tell them all about how you attacked me, nearly choked me, then tried to force yourself on me.”
My chin quivered, half in fear and half in defiance.
After everything, I couldn’t believe he would come here.
Or maybe I should have expected it.
I’d already warned Milo that I was worried we’d only pissed him off more.
Karl was not the type of man who liked to have his ego stripped.
Feigned confusion twisted through his features. “Are you sure about that, Tessa? How could I force you when we’ve been together for years, devoted to each other? And after I’ve been taking care of your brother, providing for him? Poor guy.”
Artificial sympathy cut into his expression.
Sickness clawed at my being, and I swallowed around the bile that coated my tongue. “I ended it with you, Karl. There is no devotion. It was all a sham.”
One so different from the one I was parading with Milo.
“And even if we were still together? It doesn’t give you the right to touch me when I tell you no.”
“You owe me, Tessa.”
“I don’t owe you anything.”
I lifted the phone higher, ready to push send.
He froze for a second before rage flash-fired through his eyes. “What the fuck is that?”
The ring.
Crap.
I inhaled a sharp breath. “It’s none of your business.”
Disbelieving laughter tumbled from his tongue, the sound coated in disgust. “Were you fucking him? The whole time that you kept running off to that club, you were fucking him, weren’t you?”
“No.” I didn’t need to defend myself to Karl, but I didn’t want to incite his wrath, either.
Retribution flashed through his glare and flitted through the malign of his grin. “I don’t like being played for a fool, Tessa.”
“I didn’t—”
He stepped forward, and the words locked on my tongue.
Every cell in my body was cut in a razor-sharp edge.
Ready to dial but also knowing it would cause a bigger mess for Milo if I did.
A blight to the picture we were trying to paint.
Karl cocked his head. A severe, ugly warning. “You owe me, Tessa. Make no mistake, I will collect.”
Then he turned and pushed back out the door.
I bent in half, and my hand shot to my desk for support. Ragged gasps of relief and fear rushed from my lungs.
I swallowed it down, grinding my teeth, searching for fortitude.
Because I couldn’t back down, even when Karl had me backed against a wall.
Night had taken hold of the sky as I eased my car down the winding dirt road that led to Milo’s cabin tucked deep in the forest. Stars blinked from the heavens, and the spiked tops of the soaring pines danced beneath the darkened expanse.
My tires crunched on the gravel, and my heart continued to batter at my ribs.
Pained affection stretched tight when my headlights illuminated the front of the cabin.
So quaint and quiet within the storm that raged in the periphery.
Both his truck and his Tahoe were parked in the front.
Milo was home.
I came to a stop and shut off the engine, then I took a steeling breath before I got out and climbed the steps to the front porch.
I put my key into the lock, my chest squeezing at the memory of Milo offering that to me, too, telling me this was my home for as long as I wanted it.
And our lines seemed so very blurred right then.
Boundaries set that I didn’t know how to live within.
I pushed open the door.
Silence echoed back.
Shutting and locking the door behind me, I tossed my bag and keys onto the entryway table, then slowly moved through the space.
Instinctively, I knew he wasn’t inside.
Drawn, I edged to the glass-paned door and peered outside.
It was still out back, no sign of movement.
It didn’t matter.
I carefully eased open the door to the lapping night.
Rays of moonlight shimmered over the placid lake, and I gulped for a lungful of the crisp, clean air before my feet took to the planks of the porch. I eased down the steps and traipsed across the lawn to the nearly completed treehouse.