Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 126840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
21
SHADOWBOXING
Hellen
He came as a surprise.
I sensed it would eventually happen, but the top dog coming himself?
That threw me.
Still, even as I saw Beck lounged in the entryway by the door to my apartment, I didn’t hesitate to pull in, park, shut down, grab my things, get out and walk right his way.
It had been two hundred and sixty-three hours since I ended things with Core.
And now it was time for it to be fully over. For me to assure the President of the Resurrection Motorcycle Club I’d keep my mouth shut about their activities, and we could all move on with our lives.
How I would do that, the moving on with my life part, I had no idea.
Things were not improving.
The girls had stopped giving me space, but I was still asking for it.
Kyra was getting increasingly upset.
Li was getting impatient.
Marcy was getting pissed.
Now Mom had started calling me.
Archie never stopped.
I still wasn’t sleeping. I had so much concealer under my eyes to hide the shadows, I should invest in the company that made it so I might get some of my money back.
Xanthia was freaking out and perhaps wondering if she’d made the wrong decision to accept my offer, because she kept catching me in my office, staring off at nothing.
Food tasted like crap, so I didn’t eat it.
I detested the sunrise.
I abhorred the sunset.
I woke up not knowing how to face the day, and I went to bed scared of another sleepless night.
I’d let it happen.
I’d lost myself to a man.
And I didn’t know how to start the journey back to me again.
I pulled my focus from that to focus on Beck, and something that never occurred to me in the times I’d been around him before hit me.
He was a very handsome man, but he had a huge scar on his face. However, he got it, it was so big, it had to be traumatic.
It wasn’t something you mentioned. Someone who endured something like that, unless they wanted to share, you simply let it be a part of who they were. I didn’t even ask Core after it because it wasn’t any of my business.
Now I wondered how he got that scar.
And I wondered if Janna knew what kind of man he was.
Beck’s gaze on me was careful, but open, rather than scary and threatening, which I had to admit was a bit of shock.
When I got close, I also noticed he was carrying what looked like a binder, his fingers curled under it with it resting on his hip, like guys carried their books to class in high school.
“Hey, Hellen,” he greeted.
“Beck,” I returned tersely.
I moved right by him, opened the door, went in, but held it and stared at him to indicate he should come in.
There was a hint of surprise before he accepted my invitation.
I shut the door behind him, went to my couch and threw my bag and briefcase on it.
I turned his way and said, “You’ll forgive me if I don’t offer you refreshments.”
“Hellen—”
I held up a hand.
“You have my promise, I won’t tell anyone. I haven’t even told my girls anything except Core and I are over. I tell them everything, but I won’t tell them this. I mean, obviously, they know you all dealt with the Greeks. But they won’t know what else I’ve learned. What little I know of your secrets are safe with me. Now you all can go your way, and I’ll go mine.”
“Can I ask who told you?”
“Why, so you can beat her down too?”
He flinched.
My body jerked.
Because there it was, easy to read.
Real pain.
No, anguish.
I stared.
He recovered and said, “So it was Nails.”
Fucking shit.
I just had to open my big mouth, and now I had to control the damage.
She was a bitch, but she was my cousin after all.
“She wasn’t nice about it, but she did me a favor. And since I’m not like all of you, she did you all a favor too. We’re not good for each other. So in the end, it works for both of us.”
“Do you think it’s working for Core?”
As that blade sunk true and I mentally staggered under the pain, suddenly, I realized my error.
This was not a good man.
And I’d let him in my house.
I’d let the quiet, contemplative brother of Core in my house, the one who helped build fences, the one I knew.
I forgot he was someone else.
“Respectfully, can I ask you to leave?”
He drew in a big breath.
It seemed to take forever for him to let it go.
When he did, he didn’t leave.
He said, “His father was a drunk.”
So it was going to be this.
Damn.
Right, okay.
He felt the need to do this, I wouldn’t fight it. I’d let him. I’d let him think I was hearing him out, so he could tell Core he did what he could, and more importantly for me, things right now wouldn’t get testy.