Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 160042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
Like I did.
Like I have for the last week. I’ve burrowed my face there while we rode for hours through the treacherous woods. I’ve slept with my nose buried in it. I found comfort in it last night when he saved my life. But now it’s hers, that spot, and God, I…
I want to punch something. I want to punch him. He’s responsible for this. He’s responsible for all my misery and these crazy conflicting feelings.
She finally breaks away from him, and he puts her down. And then, just like Axton, maybe-Annie rears back and punches him in the face. This time the sound isn’t as loud as before, but I still wince. She grimaces before shaking out her wrist. Then, pointing that same hand in his direction, she declares, “You deserved that.”
This time, he does touch the spot on his jaw as he drawls, “Apparently, that’s the consensus.”
She’s not amused, however, and swats his chest. “Do you have any idea how scared we all were?” She doesn’t wait for Arsen to reply as she keeps going, “Any idea at all? All Mr. Grayson said was you weren’t going to be home for another few days. That you got held up.”
This time, Arsen does try to intervene. “It’s—”
“After eight years,” she cuts him off. “You were in prison, Arsen, for eight years. And then you get out and you can’t come home? What are we supposed to make of that?”
“I’m fine,” Arsen says in a low voice.
“No, you’re not,” she insists. “You can’t be. You’re out of your mind is what you are. I overheard Mr. Grayson the other night, okay? I did. Your brother never shares anything, but I overheard. You married the Turner girl. Are you crazy? Are you absolutely insane? Are you out of your mind? Because those people—”
At this point, all proceedings come to a halt, because finally, they all notice me. It’s not their fault, though, for not doing so before. I’ve been kind of shrinking away since Axton broke into the scene. It just didn’t feel right to be standing so close to them. To all the Graysons. Not because of who they are but because they’re clearly a family. The kind I’ve never experienced before. No matter how or under what circumstances I’m here, it still feels like intruding. In any case, there’s no hiding now. I’m the center of their attention.
Axton leans toward the girl and mutters, loud enough for me to hear, though, “Think it’s time to shut up.”
She turns toward him and punches his arm, which makes Axton go, “Ow!” Then, turning back to me, she apologizes. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t…” But then she trails off as she really looks at me. Her pretty dark eyes go from my unruly, messed-up hair to my dirty bare feet, and everywhere in between. My scraped-up knees, my dirt-caked arms. But mostly my attire.
The T-shirt I’m wearing that’s too big on me and clearly belongs to someone else. Like the man standing behind her. My forced-husband and her… whatever.
Annie turns back to Arsen then and pushes at his chest. “What did you do to her?”
He takes a deep breath and his nostrils flare. But before he can respond, his eyes fall on something behind my shoulders and his face hardens. Actually, his entire demeanor goes on alert. Not only his, but Axton’s too. Even maybe-Annie’s. They all sort of fall in line, with Arsen widening his stance and Axton clearing his throat. But the biggest change comes over her. She goes from being this spitfire of a girl to a demure-looking one. She tucks her gorgeous hair behind her ears and lowers her eyes, wiping her hands on her thighs. Somehow it makes her look younger than before, and I had put her in her early twenties. I follow their gaze to discover the reason for this sudden change, and there it is.
A man.
Tall and broad, even more so than Arsen, and very grave-looking. He has dark hair—from what I can see, because he has on a black-colored Stetson—much like Arsen and Axton, but it’s threaded with silver. It also curls like Arsen’s, not like Axton’s, though, whose hair, now that his hat’s off, I see is straight and spiky. His eyes are dark as well but with a little bit of brown. Which is more similar to Axton’s eyes, as Arsen’s more often than not appear pitch-black. But unlike both his brothers—because I think I’m looking at Marsden Grayson right now—he has a mustache. A classic horseshoe shape that makes his square jaw look even more angular and broad.
Silently, he takes in the scene, his eyes going from one end of the line, starting with Axton and then to Annie and then to Arsenal, where his gaze stays for a long moment. Then, with a gravelly voice that also matches Arsen’s, he goes, “You made it.”