Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 44902 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44902 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Lily chooses that moment to let out a soft wail.
Samara glances down at her, her expression softening. “I think Sleeping Beauty is hungry. You take care of her. I’ll go see about getting you something to eat.”
“Thank you,” I say, but she’s already sailing down the hall, leaving me and Lily alone. I stand there briefly, just trying to get my bearings before Lily cries again, flailing her little fists in outrage.
“I hear you, sweet angel,” I croon, striding toward the chaise to feed her.
She lets out a grunt and settles, latching on as soon as I have her against my breast. For long moments, she just eats while staring up at me intently. She reminds me of Keegan in that way, always watching attentively with those not-quite-hazel, not-quite-green eyes. She’s always so calm and quiet.
Eventually, however, her eyes drift closed again. Her head lolls to the side, a little bit of milk dribbling from her parted lips. I gently wipe it away and then change her diaper before placing her in the bassinet.
She settles with another little grunt. I watch her momentarily before crossing to the bed and sinking down.
My head is spinning.
I feel like I stepped out of my world into an alternate dimension where a real future is possible. Where people are genuinely kind and caring, for no reason beyond being built that way. It’s disconcerting in a good way, but it makes me anxious, too.
I’m used to running. To always looking over my shoulder and questioning everything. To seeing the worst of humanity, not the best.
Silver Spoon Falls is unexpected, and that makes the ground feel shaky beneath my feet, like it might crumble at any moment.
When it does, I have a feeling it’s going to hurt even worse this time. If Garrick and the Sons of Loki find me after I’ve spent time here, with people like this? It’ll feel like being plucked from heaven and dragged to hell. I can’t let myself get used to this. And yet…I want it so damn badly.
Chapter Eight
Landry
“Hey.”
I bounce up from the bed when I hear Keegan’s voice, my heart pounding an erratic rhythm. My gaze flies to him to find him standing in the doorway. Somehow, he looks even better than he did an hour ago. Or an hour before that.
“Hey,” I whisper, hating the way my voice shakes, and I stutter. It’s a nervous habit I never outgrew.
His gaze drifts from me to Lily, who is still passed out in the bassinet, blissfully unaware of the existential crisis I’ve been having on the bed beside her since Gloria brought me a sandwich half an hour ago.
One minute, I convince myself I need to run to keep everyone safe. The next, I’m grasping for reasons to convince myself it’ll be just fine for me to stay. My head is a mess.
Hell, maybe I’m a mess in general. Maybe that’s what happens to girls like me. We don’t get it together when good things happen. We fall to pieces instead, so convinced that it has to be some trick, some way for the universe to fuck us over even harder a little bit later, that we ruin it ourselves. We’re Macbeth, paving the way to our own sad demise.
“She’s sleeping,” I blurt to Keegan. Great. I’ve been reduced to stating the obvious now. I squeeze my eyes closed and take a deep breath, trying to get myself under control.
“Come here,” Keegan murmurs, his voice soft.
I peel my eyes open to see him holding out his hand toward me. Of course I take it. Like a freaking moon being drawn into his field of gravity.
His arms close around me, and even though I shouldn’t, I burrow in, burying my face in his throat. I let him hold me, hoping maybe he can stitch all my broken pieces into something that makes sense again.
He did it once before.
That day in Colorado Springs, he gave me strength in a way nothing ever has. I felt powerful when I left his room. Even though it broke my heart to leave, I left with a purpose beyond just running. This time, I wasn’t running from something. I was running to protect something that mattered. Him.
It made all the difference in the world.
I didn’t bend or break. I protected him. And then I protected our daughter. I want to keep doing that…protecting them. But I want to do it here, with them. Not locked away as some MC slave. Not sold to the highest bidder. Not buried in a shallow grave, wherever Garrick decides to stash my body.
Keegan places his hand beneath my chin, tipping my head back until our eyes meet. With deliberate slowness, he dips his head, brushing his lips across mine.
I can’t fight the whimper climbing up my throat. I can’t fight the way my body responds to him. I can’t fight him.