Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 169013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)
A wistful smile played across her entire face, and the love that we’d found pounded around us.
A snare.
A base drum.
A beat of life.
“I felt you everywhere. Swirling around me and gliding right under my skin,” she whispered.
“Guess it’s true what they say. Hearts always find their way home.”
“And I’m so thankful I found you.”
I swept the pad of my thumb over the sharp cut of her cheek, then I edged back and resituated myself back into my jeans.
Taking her by the hand, I weaved our fingers together. A knitting that couldn’t be undone. “Come on.”
Her cheeks pinked as she slipped off the table and onto those heels, and one of her lush curls brushed my jaw as she leaned into me. “I’m sorry that we came here. I just…I really needed to see you.”
Worry gushed from her spirit.
I turned her to face me and tipped up her chin. “Everything’s going to be okay. I promise you.”
That oath was cemented inside me.
It had to be. This all had to be put to an end because it was time that all of us lived.
Hurricane eyes flashed, tenderness glistening in the flecks. I stood there in the emotion rustling between us before I swallowed hard and turned on my boot, still holding onto her hand as I led her out the door.
The massive, ominous wood clanged shut behind us, and I squeezed her fingers in mine as I hauled her all the way down the hall and to the swinging door that led into the bar.
I didn’t hesitate.
I shoved it open and dragged her through it.
Our fingers bound because our souls were tied.
Everyone there must have felt the gush of crackling flames surge out with it because every eye in the place swiveled toward us.
And I lifted my head in a show of power as I strode with her out onto the floor, shuffled her out in front of me, and wrapped an arm around her chest, bringing her back to the thunder of my heart.
It didn’t matter that the music screamed. My voice lifted over it with the claim. “This is your notice. Brinley fucking belongs to me, and she’s not going anywhere.”
I met the shocked stares of all the men gaping back, a challenge in the lilt of my chin, daring them to say something about it.
Trevan only fucking smirked.
I told you so.
But at the far corner of the bar, I could feel the disappointment radiating back.
Phoenix glaring from the shadows, demanding to know what I’d done.
FIFTY-SEVEN
BRINLEY
The faintest morning light infiltrated the drapes, glittering tendrils of gold that curled through the darkness and brushed across the harsh angles of Silas’s foreboding, beautiful face.
I would have never guessed that the time would come when I would find complete comfort in it.
He kept running the pad of his thumb over my cheek as he stared at me through the gauzy light like he was also having a hard time believing that he could look at me this way.
The connection we shared hummed between us.
Commitment.
The claim he had made in front of his entire MC last night twining us together.
But fear was also present.
A feeling that had crept into the room the moment we’d woken tangled with the first rays of morning light.
“I’m scared,” I finally admitted on a whisper into the stillness that wrapped us whole.
Everything that had brought us together culminated tonight.
Knowing eyes slowly blinked. “I won’t tell you not to be, but I will promise that I will come back to you. There is nothing in this world that could keep me away from you, Brinley Webber. Not when I just found you. I would decimate a fucking army. Topple a thousand cities. Crawl through Hell to get back to you. Nothing will stop me. Not when I finally have this light to guide me home.”
Relief swelled, my belief in him, and I scratched my fingernails through the stubble on his jaw.
I was inundated with a rise of old sorrow and pain mixed with the peace of his promise.
My mother’s weathered, broken face.
Her one request of me.
Dereck’s eager, innocent smile before everything had gone to shit.
I felt overwhelmed by the love I would always have for him, no matter what.
“Bring my brother back to me?” It was a coarse, harrowed plea.
The arrow that slaked down Silas’s spine was almost imperceptible, but I felt it like I was the one being staked.
His gaze churned in unease for a beat before his chin dipped. “I promise you.”
He paused, attention darting to the wall as he gathered himself, swiping his tongue over his dried lips, before his focus returned.
“You probably won’t see me for the rest of the day. We need to prep and prepare before we roll out. I’ll have seven Crows here standing guard, plus a bunch of prospects.”
He winced with the last. I could tell he hated it. Hated that he had to leave us, and he kept brushing his fingers through my curls like in doing it, he might be able to leave a piece of himself here.