Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 119184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 596(@200wpm)___ 477(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 596(@200wpm)___ 477(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Why should a man like him limit himself? He didn’t want me because he wanted me, at least at first.
That came later.
Shit, but here I am.
Standing in front of him, red faced and unraveling by the second. Money aside, I’m not so different from Nancy Loomer, after all.
I’m prone to overthinking, wondering if he ever wanted me at all or if I was just a convenient fuck the minute I wound up under his roof.
“This isn’t real. I get that,” I say as he stares at me, apparently speechless. “But can you just be honest with me? If there’s someone else . . . I’d like to know.”
My voice breaks, and I bite my lip.
Have I mentioned I hate this?
His brows crease. He looks at me like the crazy woman I am.
“What? You think I’m seeing someone else?” he asks softly.
“If you’re not, I think you want to. Why else would you lie about texting?”
A hint of telltale redness creeps into his cheeks.
Feeling better yet? Bravo, Lena.
“It’s not what you think,” he says. Like every man with an excuse ever born.
“Oh, fantastic. So why don’t you enlighten me?”
He eyes me like he’s thinking of coming closer, but thankfully he decides to keep his distance. Queenie has the good sense to keep her distance, too, flopping down on the sofa with her chin perched on the top of the cushions, watching with worried eyes.
Leave it to a dog to tell you when there’s too much drama in the air.
“Fuck it, you want the truth?” he finally mutters. “I haven’t been one hundred percent up front with you, but it’s not another woman. I have zero interest in that, and I’d have told you if there was.”
Shields up.
I fold my arms, refusing to let myself feel the slightest relief. Even though it’s there, hopeful and pulsing in my chest, filling my entire body with this unwelcome warmth as prickly as a cactus.
But I haven’t decided if I believe him yet, so my body is getting ahead of itself.
He stops and swigs water, his throat moving. The sound seems too loud in this cavernous space.
“Well, what is it?” I grind out impatiently.
“Harry Jay,” he snarls.
Huh?
I blink.
“What about him?” I whisper. “Brady, I don’t get what you’re—”
“Ever since I saw that dickhead and you told me what he did, I knew he wouldn’t stand down. I’ve met his type before. I laid hands on him, I made it personal, and I knew I’d have to keep him the fuck off your ass if I truly wanted him gone.”
“Gone?” I’m so stunned I can’t breathe. “He’s my problem. I thought I told you that? What gives you the right to do anything?”
“He’s dirty as hell, Lena. I did some digging.”
No argument there.
I doubt there’s been a time when Harry was clean in any sense of the word.
“You mean his business? His real estate dealings?” I’m almost afraid to ask.
“Yeah. I had Luis help piece it together. I’ve got an entire report on his recent history and strong-arm acquisition tactics that should be illegal. Hate me if you want, that’s fair, but take a look.” He holds up his phone and swipes a few times, then shows me a document on the screen.
I don’t take the phone.
I don’t dare.
Right now, I’m just frozen and confused.
Also, fuck Harry Jay.
When Brady came in guns blazing and Doc accepted my offer, I honestly thought that was a wrap. The end. Time to move on and forget his ugly, cruel face with a mustache I’ll never have the pleasure of ripping off.
But now time itself feels stalled.
The very real fear that Brady might’ve had good reason for playing defense, even if he overstepped my boundaries . . . it’s too much.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask with a sigh.
“Because he threatened you. What choice did I have?”
“That’s just what Harry does. That’s my past and my issues.” I step forward, taking another look at his phone, now flat on the island between us. Just waiting for me to see the nasty truth.
God, it’s so tempting.
To take the information he’s unearthed and behold the nightmares Harry has been weaving all over this city.
But Brady did this behind my back.
He went and sunk his brave, stupid teeth into my mess when I told him point-blank not to.
Especially when he doesn’t understand what a loose cannon Harry Jay is, and his retribution won’t stop with me.
Last time, he broke my mother’s heart and shuttered Raven Swirl. He murdered her dream, and he used her own daughter like shrapnel to shred it to pieces.
Not even deliberately.
I’m not sure if he ever knew about the collateral damage he caused, but in the end, it doesn’t matter.
Not when the result was the same.
Not when I can’t stand to let him take another shot and hurt Brady in the process.