Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 82798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Aspen’s arms tightened around me. I hadn’t been able to save Kitty, but I was going to fucking save her.
Five
Aspen
The smell of leather, whiskey, and smoke gave me an odd sense of comfort. The man was a stranger. Sure, I’d met him and watched him get a blow job, and he was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen, but he was still a stranger. Those weren’t any of the reasons I had gotten on his bike. He had saved me—that was why I’d left with him. I had been alone, and he had been there like a superhero, stepping in to end the horror that my night had become.
I shivered as fear prickled my spine. Pressing my face to his back, I took several deep breaths. I was safe. Levi made me feel safe. Even though I’d heard him, everything he’d said to that man tonight. Even though he had pulled the trigger on his gun and taken the shot that killed the horrible man.
Irish had said he was dangerous. Warned me to never talk to him or open the door to him. She’d been so adamant about me staying clear of Levi. Yet, tonight, he hadn’t been the one who was going to hurt me. He’d been the one who came in and saved me. I was struggling with believing Irish about him being dangerous.
Was it because he had a gun? Was that what scared her?
Then, my mind went to, How had he known?
How had he known I needed rescuing? That was the one thing that had been nagging me since I had been curled up under the bed. I had wanted to weep with relief when he appeared at my door. It was like I had known he wouldn’t let that man get me.
The bike slowed, and I lifted my face from his back to see a big iron gate open before he drove through it. We continued down a driveway. The house that came into view was a beautiful three-story home. The lights on inside made it feel welcoming.
Did he live here alone? In a house this big? Or had he brought me somewhere else? Where ever we were, it didn’t look dangerous. Quite the opposite.
One of many garage doors opened, and we slowly eased inside a spot beside two other bikes. Levi cut the engine and stood up, getting off the bike with ease before taking my hand and helping me. He lifted the helmet from my head, and his hazel eyes studied me with concern.
“Where are we?” I asked when he said nothing.
“My house.”
I looked at all the cars, trucks, and SUVs parked inside the longest garage I’d ever seen.
“I don’t live alone,” he added when he saw me looking at the other vehicles.
The man who had broken into Irish’s place yelled at me while he stomped through the house. He said that my sister had a bullet in her head. To keep from letting out a wail, I bit my bottom lip so hard that it bled. The longer I stayed under the bed, the more I convinced myself he was lying. He had been trying to make me go to him.
Irish couldn’t be dead. She was at work.
“I need to call Irish. I forgot my phone.” I’d left it by the sofa in the living room.
The troubled look that came over him caused my stomach to turn. I could see something in his eyes that I didn’t want to see. I shook my head and backed away.
Was that why he had come to find me? Why he had shown up to save me?
Oh God, no.
“Where’s Irish?” I asked, feeling the panic unraveling inside me.
“Sweetheart,” he said so gently and reached out a hand to touch my arm.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Don’t say it.”
The pain in his expression as he looked at me said more than any words could. I grabbed my waist and doubled over as a sob broke free from my chest.
“NO!” I cried out again, not wanting to believe it.
“Come here.” Levi’s words almost sounded like a command.
He grabbed my shoulders, standing me back up, then pulled me against his chest and wrapped his arms around me. The safety that had come from him earlier was gone now. Sorrow engulfed me. All I had left in this world was gone.
How was it that I was alive when I should have gone before them all?
Irish had had a healthy heart. She had been promised a long life. It was me who had been born with the defect.
Levi murmured in my ear, “It’s okay,” and, “Easy, love,” and, “I’ve got you”—all things I knew he meant as comfort, but there was nothing that could comfort me.
Tears rolled down my face, and the anguish of loss consumed me. I realized I was clinging to him. My nails digging into his hard flesh. Nothing could ease this pain, but he was here. In this moment, I wasn’t alone.