Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 67510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Her chest started to rise and fall with each word I sincerely expressed.
“I know the sound of your voice from a mile away… every part of you is mine. From your heart, to your soul, to every bone in your body. It all belongs to me because you belong to me. You’re a part of me, like I’m a part of you. And nothing’s going to change that, do you understand me?”
Neither one of us said anything. We didn’t have to. I think we both knew what was coming. I said it before, and I’ll say it again. What goes up must come down. It was just the way the world went around.
With trembling lips and tears forming in her eyes, she whispered, “You need to leave, Aires.”
Tearing at my insides, she ripped my heart from my chest with her bare hands. “Bay…”
Please…” She paused, trying to gather the strength to continue.
I grabbed her face between my hands. “I love you. I fucking love you. Don’t do this…”
She held onto my wrists as if she needed to feel me as well. I pulled her into my arms, wrapping my body around her petite frame. Being the first to pull away, I gripped the sides of her face again and kissed her like it was the last time.
She was gasping, trying to breathe, so I did for her…
Darkness settled over us.
Mimicking our minds.
A heavy presence filled my lungs, making it hard to breathe. Tonight was the night I might lose her when I needed her the most.
I hoped.
Prayed.
Thinking she wanted to believe me. Deep down knowing I’d never hurt her.
I felt it.
She felt me.
She bared it all…
Her pain.
Her worry.
Her love for me.
She showed me the girl who sought comfort in me by making love to her, leaving the world behind in our own reality. The one we wanted to be a part of so badly when we were kids, but we were young and had already lost so much time.
So many years.
I couldn’t lose her again.
Not when we’d just found one another.
I grasped right then and there. I had been right from the beginning of our love story. Bailey was the one who got away. She was the reason I kept women at an arm’s distance. She was the reason behind the wall I kept up.
She was the reason I was so jaded.
I didn’t believe in love until her.
I may have owned her heart, but Robert was determined to…
Own her soul.
chapter thirty-one
Bailey
I could only take so much.
“Aires, please stop.”
“No! I’m not going to stop it! Not until you at least understand that Robert is a fucking snake.”
I could feel my resolve crumbling.
“I can’t breathe,” I admitted. “I feel like I can’t breathe.”
With his face on the side of my face, he glided his cheek along the crevice of my jaw and then along the side of my neck. Moving his lips to my quivering pout.
He kissed my lips, murmuring, “Then I’ll breathe for you.”
My mind couldn’t process all this fast enough, and I don’t know how long I lost myself in thought for. Minutes felt like hours.
I needed to go with my instincts. “Aires, I can’t—”
“You can,” a familiar voice chimed in, yanking our attention to Aires’s agent, Thomas.
What the hell?
This was like an episode of The Twilight Zone.
I didn’t have time to give it much thought when Thomas suddenly appeared beside us. This only added to my afflicting thoughts of where this was going, fueling my emotions all over again. My head pounded, spinning with every sentiment known to man, mixing in with all my unraveling thoughts and questions.
Aires asked him, “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here for you. It’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, but you’ve been blowing me off.”
Aires eyed him skeptically as he grabbed the iPad from his suitcase.
“What’s going on?” Bailey questioned.
“I need to show you both something.” He quickly pressed play on the screen for the video.
“What the fuc—”
Robert didn’t finish his words, hearing his voice on the recording like we all were.
“Bailey was on drugs, hooking up with Aires the night he got arrested.”
I gasped, bringing my hand up to my mouth.
“This is the footage from that night. I was able to buy it off the owner of the house. Cost me about a hundred grand, so how much is it worth to you?”
The host of TMI laughed, throwing his head back. “You’re a rat bastard, but I love you for it. I’ll pay whatever you want for that evidence.”
“I have more.”
In less than a minute, Robert confessed to all the information leaked about Aires and me last month. If I thought my head was spinning before, this was a whole other level. I felt as if the space was closing in on me, which was crazy since we were on an open beach without walls.