Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 97195 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97195 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
He’d been texting me throughout the week, mostly at night though when I was finally done working on schoolwork. He was honestly so sweet, and he wasn’t overbearing. It was…nice to have someone like him that cared.
“What are you working on?” he asked me as he walked around the counter, leaning over to look at the chemistry textbook on my desk. His arm brushed mine, his cologne filling my nostrils. My breath hitched in my throat, my heart pounding in my chest.
Was it normal to be affected so much by someone?
“Ah, chemistry sucks,” he commented. He grabbed another chair and pulled it over next to me. “Here; I’ll help. What has you confused?”
I flushed. Was it that easy to tell that I was lost and frustrated?
An hour later, my chemistry work was finished. He didn’t make any passes at me, keeping everything focused on my schoolwork. I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally closed my textbook. “Thank you,” I told him as I pushed it aside, setting my notebook on top of it. I’d have never gotten through it without his help.
He flashed me a heart-melting grin. God, he really had to stop doing this to me. “No problem, beautiful.” He grabbed my hand from on top of the desk, linking his fingers with mine. I sucked in a sharp breath, watching the way his hand engulfed mine. But I didn’t feel trapped—terrified.
I felt protected.
“I missed you this past week,” he told me quietly, his eyes serious. I swallowed nervously. “I’m proud of you for focusing on your schoolwork, though.”
I couldn’t stop the small smile that slipped onto my lips. He brushed his thumb over the back of my hand. “You’re a pharmacy major, right?”
“Yeah,” I told him quietly.
“Why?”
I shrugged, looking away from him, my throat closing up, terrified to tell him the exact reason. He gently gripped my chin, turning my head to face him. “Tell me,” he coaxed in that low, smooth voice. “I’m not going to judge you, Ally.”
I shook my head at him. “I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I just—I can’t.”
A small, reassuring smile tilted his lips. “That’s fine,” he assured me. “One day, you’ll trust me enough,” he said, sounding completely confident in that statement.
I frowned slightly. I didn’t think I would ever be comfortable enough to tell him how many medications I’d been put on, how many medications I was still on.
How I was still so fucked up that I had to have yet another medication added to the ones I was already taking.
He dealt with freaks like me on a daily basis. He wouldn’t want to be with someone like the people he dealt with all day.
And in a lot of ways, I was worse than them.
“Axel has invited me to dinner again.” I arched my brows in surprise. “He said you went back to your place on campus, but will you come?” he asked, sounding hopeful.
“Why?” I asked him.
He leaned forward, his dark eyes running over my face. “Because I like you, Ally. I’m drawn to you. There’s something about you that is always pulling me in your direction—like the moon. You’re like the moon.”
Axel stepped up to the counter. He raised a single eyebrow at us but didn’t comment. “Hey, Christian, I need to cancel tonight. Meghan is having a bad night,” he explained, worry for his wife in his voice.
I frowned at my brother, worry clenching my chest. “Is she okay?”
He tried to smile at me, but it was more of a grimace. “She will be. I don’t have any other appointments today, so I’m closing early. I need to get home to her.”
“Go,” I told him as I stood from the chair I’d been sitting in, waving him off. “I can close up here. She needs you.”
He leaned over the counter to press a kiss to the top of my head before he walked out of the door, pulling his car keys from his pocket. “Does Meghan have a lot of bad days?” Christian asked me as he turned to me, a frown on his lips.
I shook my head. “Not as much as she used to.” I sighed softly. “But some things are triggers for her. Axel and Julian will take care of her.”
Christian’s frown deepened as he gazed at me. I moved out from behind the desk, going to lock the front door so I could begin the closing procedure. “Ally,” Christian called, making me pause and turn to face him, “who’s taking care of you, beautiful?”
My throat closed up. Without responding, I turned around and continued moving to the front door of the office so I could lock it.
Christian
I jerked out of my dream, blinking up at the ceiling, kind of pissed that I was awake. I’d been dreaming of a perfect brunette with brown eyes that had flecks of gold in them standing in front of the moon as she smiled at me.