Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
God, he was going to make her spell out all the appalling details. She shook her head.
“Tell me.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.” He was so strong and warm beneath her. All she wanted to do was lean in and let him hold her against that strong chest. Maybe then she could pretend the real world wasn’t knocking at her door with a ticking bomb.
“Hey.” He squeezed her legs firmly but gently. “You’re not responsible for your family’s sins.”
“Maybe not, but me being here has led them straight to you.”
“Baby, just tell me what the fuck they’ve done.”
“My brother came to see me the other day.”
“Your brother?” Ty frowned.
“Yes. He showed up when I was with the girls. I told them who he was. I’m surprised no one told you.”
Ty half laughed, half grunted as he rolled his eyes. “Fucking Jinx.”
“What?” Kelsie frowned. She was missing something here.
Shaking his head, Ty said, “Jinx texted me to tell me someone showed up to talk to you. He made a point to mention he was hot.”
“Ew.” She wrinkled her nose. “Why would he do that.”
“To fuck with me. It’s what Jinx does best. Forget that asshole. Tell me what happened.”
“Um, okay. Well, my brother came to tell me, order me, to return home. My father wants me back home. I refused, and he made some vague threats against the club. He has to be the one Trina talked about who wants to buy the building you’re negotiating to purchase.”
“Fuck that for right now. Why do they want you back?”
God, how she didn’t want to say this. Tyler would flip his shit. “They want to control me, and they’ve found the perfect way to do it. I’d do anything to keep them from hurting you, Ty. Even go back. And they know it.”
He narrowed his eyes as he slid his hand back, filling them with her ass. After a sensual squeeze—dirty trick—he said, “Nice avoidance of my actual question. Why do they want you back? Specifically.”
“My father has aspirations to run for political office.” She chuckled without mirth. “Even on house arrest, he’s still trying to take over the world. And, uh, he’s been flirting with various powerful politicians, hoping to get a strong backing. There’s one in particular he wants. Someone he’s willing to sell his soul for.”
“Who?”
“Cameron Tinsley.”
Ty’s eyes flared. “The Speaker of the House? That guy is crooked as fuck.”
“Yeah, well, so is dear ol’ dad.”
“I’m not following what this has to do with you.”
“Tinsley has agreed to put his considerable weight and wallet behind my father’s senate race for governor. Hell, I don’t even remember what position he covets, but Tinsley has agreed to back him if…”
“If…” He nearly snarled the word.
Fuck.
“I marry his son. Um, the son has a terrible public reputation that is beginning to hurt his father politically. Cameron will join my father’s team if they can marry him off to a ‘nice girl’ and clean up his image.”
“His son?” Ty frowned, then went completely rigid beneath her, but not in the way she’d have preferred. “Wait one fucking second. Cameron Tinsley’s son is Andrew Tinsley.”
Here it comes.
His hands tightened on her ass. “They want you to marry Andrew-fucking-Tinsley? Over my dead body. That guy was arrested only a few months ago for a domestic altercation. He beat his girlfriend bloody. And if I’m not wrong, it wasn’t the first time he’s been in trouble with the law for pounding on his women.”
Her stomach twisted. “Yes,” she whispered. “Hence the bad reputation. My brother called a few weeks ago to tell me the plan he and my father concocted to bring me back into the family fold and marry me off, and I—”
“A few weeks ago?” His eyes spit fire and had her brother or father been in the room, he’d have no doubt torn them apart. “That’s why you ended up in the hospital, right? That’s why you hurt yourself.”
Shame washed over her, hot and sharp. “Yes,” she said in barely a whisper. “Lorenzo told me they knew where I was. That this wasn’t an offer. I was coming home, and I would be marrying Andrew Tinsley. He claimed they’d let me ‘tantrum long enough’ as he put it. It was time for me to grow up and do my part.”
“Motherfuckers.”
“It sent me spiraling. I was so frozen with fear I couldn’t eat or drink. I didn’t leave my bed for days. I was… not good. The thought of marrying a man like that, of having him touch me, made me have horrendous flashbacks. I tried every trick I’d learned to ground myself and bring myself back to reality. Nothing worked. It was so bad. I could see my life playing out before me being used and abused by Andrew Tinsley. I became so desperate to feel something that I grabbed the knife.” She shrugged. “And you know the rest.”