Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56378 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 282(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56378 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 282(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
But we can’t. My phone buzzes on the bedside table. It’s Arria texting me, my angel.
Arriana: Let me help. Don’t say I’m too weak. That it’ll eat away at me, or whatever. The only way that could be true is if Dominic or Enzo were good people. So let me ask you—do they deserve this?
Me: They deserve worse than what I’d do to them.
Arriana: So what’s the issue?
Me: The issue is YOU, Arria. Do you seriously think I’m going to let you risk yourself? Do you seriously think I’m going to give Enzo the chance to hurt you, too?
Arriana: What I said at dinner is true. If I can make my decision about us, why not about this?
I sit on the bed, groaning. She’s too gorgeously clever and beautifully stubborn for me.
Me: We shouldn’t even be texting each other.
Arriana: I know Dad wouldn’t approve. I get that. But I don’t care. Right now, I only care about The Nightmare, my savior, and he’s not making any sense.
Me: It’s not complicated. If something happened to you, Arria, I’d never be able to forgive myself.
Arriana: Maybe you should consider that I’d never forgive MYSELF if I let Aunt Lucy do this. She’s doing it for you, sure, but she’s also doing it to keep me safe.
I grit my teeth, my jaw clenching so hard it feels almost painful. There’s a fire in me that flares so hotly whenever I think about something happening to Arria. It goes beyond reason, beyond sense… common or otherwise.
Me: What sort of savior would I be if I let that happen?
Arriana: If Enzo hurt me, what would you do?
Me: I’d tear their whole family apart. I would wage a war on them. I wouldn’t let anybody stand in my way. If they think they knew the Nightmare before, I’d show them how wrong they were. I never had a reason like you before, Arria.
My body heats as I shudder and exhale.
Arriana: You had your mom and dad, though.
Me: You read what I just said. I meant it.
Arriana: If something happened to me, you could move on and find somebody else. If you and Lucy didn’t have to keep up the lie, you’d be free to live your own life.
Me: Are you trying to bait me?
My breath comes even quicker. I wish she were here, her curvy, perfect body pressed against mine so I could slide my hands up and down her voluptuousness. I wish I could sink my hands into her thickness, pull myself close to her, and let her feel my throbbing, solid length, growing thick with purpose.
Me: No one else will do. I don’t need anybody else. I just want you, Arria.
Arriana: I just want you too. You said when you saw me outside the cafe, you felt something for the first time. It was the same for me. When I walked into the cafe, do you know what I thought? I thought, no way, that can’t be my uncle. You immediately attracted me. Every text we’ve exchanged has just made me feel that even more. But you have to let me help.
Me: I wish I could hold you.
I confess this, though it’s wrong. Her father is sleeping in this very house. I’m a guest. I’m supposed to be here as a protector. But speaking with Arria, even over the phone, with just words in a text, changes me. It already has changed me. I’ll never be the same cynical, bitter man who walked into that cafe.
Arriana: I want that too. What if we’re quiet?
Me: No. We can’t disrespect your father like that.
Arriana: Don’t you want it too?
Me: I need it. If you were here, I’d wrap my arms around you, pull you close, let you feel the heat blazing through my body. I’d let you feel the fire you’ve ignited in me. Before you, Arria, my angel, I was cold. I was nothing. I was a husk. I was empty. I was soulless. Exhausted from my work as an enforcer, only my pro bono work kept me alive. My time in the mafia haunted me.
Arriana: Keep going.
I’m trembling all over. I’ve felt nothing like this before, an influx of hot emotion making me feel drunk, lightheaded.
Me: I never thought I could feel this NATURAL. That really gets me about us, Arria. Nothing ever feels forced. It should feel impossible. But texting you for a few minutes feels more natural, effortless, and easier than an entire night would with any other woman. Before Lucy, I tried to date.
Arriana: Tried?
Me: I say ‘tried’ because I did it thinking I had to, that it was simply what men did… they found a woman, they dated, they started a family. But it always felt forced. Like I was trying to make myself play a role. It never felt right. But then I looked out of a cafe window, and there you were. You changed my life the moment I saw you.