Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81694 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81694 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
My heart was racing as I placed my palms flat against his chest and tried to push him back. I needed air.
What he’d just said …
I shook my head, and he didn’t budge as I pushed against him. The knife wound, the broken leg and ribs. Someone could have shot him. A completely new panic started clawing at me. This life, what he did, he could die. I could lose him. He’d been beaten and stabbed.
“I can’t breathe,” I said, looking into his eyes as they watched me.
“You don’t get to back out now,” he said gently. “We’ll go back to that bedroom, and I will give you mind-blowing orgasms until you’re clinging to me, begging me to never leave. I’m not letting you go. You’re mine.” He reached up and tucked my hair behind my ear.
“He’s not lying about being better. Five years ago, Wilder would have been dead,” Levi said from where he now sat on the sofa.
“Stop saying that,” I said, not wanting to think about death.
“Let’s go,” Gage said, placing his hand on my back and nudging me toward the bedroom.
“Why do you kill people?” I asked, fighting against him.
My uncle couldn’t have known this.
Gage held my face with both his hands. His thumb brushed against my skin. “It’s what we do if needed. Not for fun.”
“When … why is it needed?”
He pressed a kiss to my lips. “Many reasons. The family has to protect what’s ours.”
I closed my eyes. He made it hard to concentrate. “Gage, this doesn’t make sense.”
“We’re the Southern Mafia,” he whispered against my lips as if he were telling me something sweet. Then, he pressed another kiss against them before using his tongue to lick the swell of my top lip.
Mafia. There was a Southern Mafia? The Hugheses? That was why they were powerful? I let it slowly sink in and realized that it made sense. He was serious. And Uncle Neil had known about this.
“Let’s go back to your room.”
Panic and fear were starting to take over, and my eyes flew up to meet his. “Why? What are you going to do?”
“I’ll start with eating your sweet pussy again,” he said, placing a hand on my back and pressing me to move.
I stumbled forward.
“Then, I’ll fuck you until you know exactly who owns that pussy.”
“Gage, stop.”
“No,” he replied.
“I need a minute. To think about all this. Adjust to it.”
He stopped and pushed me against the wall. “You can’t do that with my head between your legs?”
I inhaled sharply, angry at myself for being turned on by that. “No,” I said, but it didn’t sound convincing.
He started pressing kisses all over my face. “I love how you taste,” he murmured. “I’m craving more.”
“Gage,” I said, placing both hands on his chest to push him back. “Look at me.”
His eyes were hooded as he stared down into mine.
“I just need to let it all sink in and find some sense in all this.”
“I won’t let you go,” he repeated.
I closed my eyes, wishing this weren’t a completely twisted mess. “I don’t want you to.”
His eyes looked as if he was searching for a lie on my face. “You swear?”
I nodded, realizing that I was in love with him. That was the only reason I could honestly say that I didn’t want out. How could I want him and all the insanity that came with him if I didn’t love him? The man had crushed me yesterday, but he’d apologized, and I had been putty in his hands. It scared me that I thought I might be able to forgive him anything if he asked.
His mouth covered mine, and he kissed me like I was his source of oxygen and he couldn’t get enough.
Thirty
Shiloh
“I’m not rushing things, but I got some shit to do. Kye is waiting on me,” Levi said, standing up.
“She needs time. You can go. I’ll call when we are ready,” Gage replied.
Levi shook his head. “I’m not fucking leaving you here. She doesn’t know this side of you yet. Someone has to watch your crazy ass until she understands what sets you off.”
If it was jealousy, then we would be fine.
“I don’t think there’s any cause for concern if we’re in this apartment,” I told him.
Levi smirked. “You have no idea. One text from your neighbor, and this crazy son of a bitch doesn’t need a damn gun to do damage. He’s trying, but that don’t mean he’s got it handled.”
Gage scowled at Levi. “You can shut up now. You’re freaking her the hell out.”
I was already freaked the hell out.
Levi shrugged as if it was something that had to be said. “Maybe she needs to make a list,” he said.
Gage glared at him. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Levi held up my notebook and a napkin that had been on the table. “She makes lists. This napkin is a list of Netflix shows she wants to try in order. The notebook has lists—from what she needs to get accomplished that day to a list with questions about her past. You should answer them.”