Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 146477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
I’m selfish. I’m wretched.
My mom was right about me. I’m a horrible person.
The thought has more tears falling, and I’ve never felt so weak in my life, and realizing there’s no chance in hell that I’ll be capable of pulling myself together now, I put the remaining bodies away in the refrigeration unit, pack up my things, and get the hell out of here.
Ten minutes later, I show up on a familiar doorstep, tears streaming down my cheeks and staining the top of my scrub shirt. Knight opens the door, and the moment those intense, dark eyes land on mine, he steps out into the chilly night, scoops me right off my feet, and holds me to his big chest. Then he turns his ass back around, kicking the door shut, and taking me straight into the warmth of his bed.
27
HARPER-RAYN
Knight’s lips linger on my temple as his warm arms surround me, holding me to him as we spend the day in the comfort of his warm bed. I stayed up for hours, crying into his chest as I told him about Laith and the target now painted on his back, and after the tears ran their course, I’ve been feeling numb.
It’s barely been twelve hours since I found Laith on my table, and despite having been the one to perform the external portion of his autopsy, I’m still in disbelief.
How can he just be gone? It doesn’t feel real.
“I promise you, doll,” Knight murmurs, his big hand claiming my thigh. “I’m going to find this bastard. He won’t get away with this.”
I attempt a small smile, but it falls flat. “I wish it were that easy, but there is no ending this. He won’t stop until there’s nothing more to take,” I say as the numbness begins to morph into emptiness. “He’s going to take and take until everything I love and care for is gone.”
“I won’t let that happen.”
I appreciate him, I really do. But how am I supposed to respond to that? There’s no doubt in my mind that Knight would go to the ends of the Earth to end this thing, but I don’t think catching this guy is even possible. We know nothing about him. His name. His purpose. Even why he’s doing this.
He’s too careful. Every scrap of evidence that’s dangled over our heads is quickly taken away. It’s as though the bodies he leaves behind are just part of the twisted game, used as a tool to torment me, to prove that he’s always ten steps ahead.
“If something happened to you because of me,” I say, my heart already breaking at the thought of Knight being next. “I . . .”
Knight takes my waist and rolls us until he’s hovering over me, his hips pinning me to the mattress while he holds both my hands above my head in just one of his. “That’s not going to happen, Harper,” he vows, that dark, delicious gaze locked on mine, and for just a second, I believe him. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m riding this bullshit right to the end with you.”
I swallow over the lump in my throat, my emotions nothing but a train wreck right now. “Why?” I breathe. “Why do you care so much?”
He shakes his head, a slight smirk pulling at his lips. “Even if I knew, I probably still wouldn’t tell you.”
A stupid laugh bubbles up my throat, recalling the very moment I hit him with those exact words. “You’re an asshole,” I tease.
Knight grins. “I’m well-fucking-aware, Morticia.”
As I hold his powerful stare, I realize without a doubt that I’m quickly falling in love with this man. On any other day, that thought would terrify me, and I would have already raced out the door, but today, I welcome it. Love has only ever brought me pain, and sooner or later, Knight will bring the same, but I need it. I need to loathe myself, need to be punished for the lives that have been lost in my name, and what better way than to have Knight rip my soul right out of my chest?
I don’t know when it happened, but at some point, this has gone from a wild fantasy to needing so much more than that. Something has changed. We’re no longer just curious about one another, we’re in deeper than we ever anticipated.
Lifting my chin, I let my lips brush across his. “Make me forget,” I beg.
His dark gaze holds mine for a moment longer before he finally drops his lips to my neck, still holding my hands hostage above my head. I open up for him, tilting my head aside as his warm lips skate across my sensitive skin.
His hips drive between my thighs, and I lock my legs around his waist, desperate to feel him slide deep inside of me. His other hand braces against my thigh, holding me so gently that I didn’t even realize it was possible. Knight has always been so rough with me, not afraid to throw me around. He knows my limits and exactly what I’m willing to handle, but it never occurred to me what I’d find at the opposite end of that line.