Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 129027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 645(@200wpm)___ 516(@250wpm)___ 430(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 645(@200wpm)___ 516(@250wpm)___ 430(@300wpm)
Kira walks away from him, shaking her head. Drew strides after her, putting a hand on her arm to stop her.
Oh no, he doesn’t. Not on my watch.
I spring forward and grab his wrist on the pressure point of the radial nerve so that he lets go of her with a small cry of pain, looking at me with shock as if only now noticing my presence. “Who the fuck are you?”
I smile at him. “Her personal protection officer, remember? Hands off if you value life and limb.”
He shakes out his wrist.
“Not now,” Kira says, glaring at me as she steps in between me and her fuck of a fiancé. She looks back at Drew, then up and down the hallway. “And we shouldn’t be doing this here. Who knows who might be listening. Come on. Walk me to my Uber. I just called it.”
Drew nods begrudgingly and glances my way with a positively hateful look. I just keep grinning at him.
We all walk down the hallway.
“Where have you even been the last week? I tried stopping by twice.”
“I messaged you and told you I was crashing with a friend.”
“You didn’t say what friend.”
Kira waves a hand, clearly frustrated. “It doesn’t matter,” she hisses. “Look, what are we going to do about what just happened?”
“Nothing,” Drew says. “I’ll deal with my father’s disappointment, like usual, and life will go on.”
I’m several paces back, pretending like I’m not listening in, and I pause when Kira does. She takes Drew’s arm again, and I see the empathy and compassion in her eyes as she looks up at him.
“Oh god, Drew, I didn’t even think. I’m so sorry. Will it be bad?”
He just shrugs, looking down at her like they’re sharing some secret.
I don’t like it. Especially when she reaches out to rub his back, and he leans into the comforting touch. It looks like an old dynamic, and I really don’t like it.
“I missed you,” he whispers, reaching out a hand to caress the side of her face.
She smiles, but it’s a sad smile. “I know.”
I want to rip his arm off, and not just because he’s touching her face. He makes her sad. He’s not worthy of her. This whole place is wrong. The fiery woman who snaps back at me and bites my head off is subdued here.
It’s my job to protect her, right? All my alarms are going off in this place. If I was doing my job, I should be punching him in the face, throwing her over my shoulder, and carrying her fireman-style the hell out of this toxic, unsafe place.
Instead, I’m forced to impotently follow behind like a watchdog. But my time will come. I can feel it.
Her fire won’t be contained for long. She’s too big for this place, too bright. You stifle a fire if you put it under a dome, and I get the idea she’s been trying to burst free for a while now. I vow that I’m gonna help in every way I know how.
SEVENTEEN
KIRA
I see the face of the boy I loved for so long in the features of the man who now stands before me.
Drew is as handsome as ever, with his sharp jaw, smooth skin and artfully plucked eyebrows. He still plays basketball on the weekends, I know, and his tall, lanky frame is well-muscled. I’m not surprised women like Becca still lose their minds for him, just like they did in high school.
We’re finally outside. I called an Uber because I can’t stand to drive home with Carol’s spy listening in to my every word. Drew clutches the arm I gave him with a desperation that feels familiar. I feel the echoes of my love for him, and it makes my chest ache.
“You know I didn’t mean to embarrass you in there, right?” Drew asks. “Nothing’s changed between us. I want you to be my wife. You know that, right? Kira. Tell me you know that.”
I nod and try again for a smile. “I know, Drew.”
Drew’s standing so close in front of me that he’s crowding out my vision of everything else. The mansion. Everyone inside. There’s only Drew and the night sky.
But I can still feel Isaak somewhere in the background. A pillar of sanity and protection in the confusion of emotions Drew always stirs up in me.
“Tell me you want to be my wife. Tell me you want me for a husband.” He squeezes my arm slightly, and I can feel him shaking.
I swallow. The teenage girl still inside me urges me to give him what I know he wants to hear.
“Please, Kira. I need you.”
I remember how much I used to love hearing him say that and I nod, my stomach clenching and twisting in on itself. My whole life, all I wanted was to be wanted. Being needed by Drew was even better than being merely wanted, right? My teenage brain has tried to desperately convince me of this for the past year.