Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 136731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
“What, then?” Ethan wants to get down to business.
I shake my head. “You think I’m gonna take your word for it that you got these guys? C’mon.” A laugh through my nose. “No dice.”
Ethan Black sighs loudly before rolling his eyes and shouting, “What do you want?”
My statement is simple. “I want to be there. Present. As witness. Then you’ll get more from me.”
The chief looks unmoved. “No, Twitch. Now you’re asking too much.”
Ethan walks around the desk to stare out the glass of the office door. “No fucking way. I’m not taking you out on the field.”
I shrug carelessly. “Then I guess we’re at an impasse.” I stand and begin to move. “I’ll leave you to it.” I turn to the chief. “I’d wish you well, but—” I smirk lightly. “—I really don’t want to.” My feet take me to Ethan Black’s back, which is currently barring the door, and I say, “Get out of my way, Black.”
Ethan turns, his expression guarded, his mouth drawn in a thin line. “If you fuck me, I’ll fuck you right back.”
“I don’t have any intention of fucking anybody.” I repeat myself for the umpteenth time. “I just want to go home, be with my son, be with my woman. That’s all.”
I see the moment he loses his internal struggle. He sighs long and low and closes his eyes tightly, his face pained. “Okay,” he mutters quietly, then again louder. “Okay.” His eyes open and he looks toward the chief. “Have him ready in two days. We leave at dawn.”
My emotions spike, but I hold them at bay. I only have one thought going through my mind at this moment.
Yippee-kai-yay, motherfucker.
Something changed in Julius the night before.
What happened between us was still thick in the air as I made my way into his bedroom, the picture of obedience. I still tasted him on my lips, felt his body close to mine, but I told myself to shake it off, that dwelling on it would harm me more than it would him. So I did all I could and pretended that nothing happened, that there was no kiss, no moment between us.
Ling hadn’t returned to the house by midnight, and when he muttered something about lights out, it was obvious he was worried about her. I pondered why he wouldn’t just call her and demand she come home. After all, he was her boss.
But that wasn’t my business. What was my business is what happened when I entered the bedroom. I was expecting something.
I got nothing.
Nothing at all.
He didn’t cuff me to him, didn’t cuff me to the headboard, didn’t verbally threaten me in any way, he just left me be. He did, however, lock us both into his bedroom suite that night, and although I expected him to lecture me on what would happen should I escape, he simply undressed, changed into his sleep pants, turned off the lights and slipped into bed without looking at me or saying a word, turning his back to me as if I wasn’t even there.
My emotional response was puzzling to say the least. His overlooking me, disregarding me as though I was nothing, was beginning to build a curious reaction from me.
I was missing his eyes on me, missing the way they held me tight, glued to the spot. Strong feelings of unwanted desire caused my chest to ache.
His indifference was not only startling but also hurtful. Completely ridiculous and irrational, I know. And a shred of my stretched mind wondered if I was beginning to develop Stockholm syndrome.
It wouldn’t do.
I had a plan, and I was sticking to it, somewhat. If I was going to see it through, I couldn’t start to get attached to the sometimes-scary but more-often-considerate man.
It wasn’t fair. Out of all men to get stuck with, I got the one who stirred the butterflies in my belly with a humble glance from those stormy blue eyes.
How could a person simply stop being attracted to someone?
I wasn’t sure it was possible.
My mother used to say that when a man could hold a woman’s attention without a word spoken, it was a recipe for disaster. And for me, that was Julius. Regardless of my mother’s advice, I wanted to push the boundaries. I had nothing to lose. Literally nothing.
My own life was forfeit. I had nothing left to gamble with… apart from my body.
It was inviting disaster, knowing it would end in tragedy, but not caring in the slightest.
It was reckless and irresponsible, and I wasn’t too sure if I gave a damn about the consequences, come as they may.
As I lay in the darkness, a small smile pulled at my lips. Pushing the boundaries was sounding more and more thrilling by the minute.
It was exhilarating, even, to do something that wasn’t for the good of the family.