Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 110721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Taryn didn’t know the reason, or even the answer to how to help her. Taryn wasn’t a therapist, she was a mother. Unfortunately, she often questioned if she was a good one herself.
She could only do her best and hope it was good enough. Stone needed to do the same.
She had to remember if she gave up on Stone, she’d be giving up on Sunny, too. Despite her attitude, Taryn had no doubt Sunny was either a hurt or scared little girl deep inside.
Damn him for tugging on her heartstrings. For using his daughter as an excuse to keep her there. But he was right, not only should she stay for Wren’s sake, but for Sunny’s as well. His daughter needed a better female influence. One who wasn’t a sweet butt or a woman in prison, even if that woman gave birth to her.
“So, about the bed situation...”
“No discussion needed. Already decided.”
“I didn’t have a say.”
He put his lips to her ears. “Sayin’ you don’t want me slippin’ between your thighs later?”
A ribbon of heat wove its way through her, landing between her legs.
“Don’t want my tongue flickin’ your clit?”
Her eyes slid shut with that memory. She squeezed her thighs together to stem the ache his words caused.
“Don’t want me makin’ you come so fuckin’ hard you claw my back and scream my name?”
The only time she screamed out his name was when the kids weren’t asleep down the short hallway. When they were, she contained it in her head. Too many times to count.
“Pussy got your tongue?”
Her eyes opened when she rolled them.
Was she going to let him back in the bed? Did she really want to continue a relationship with someone like him? Because them sleeping together, having those intimate moments, was a relationship. It might not be a serious one, but was one none-the-less.
She could deny it.
Stone could deny it.
But they’d both be lying.
Another worry was: if she stayed, she’d only fall harder.
Did that scare her? Hell yes.
She pushed at him hard enough to give her enough space to escape. But before she could slip out of his reach, he clamped a hand on her arm, stopping her.
She stared at his hand but he didn’t remove it. Instead, he spun her to face him again. “Had enough time to get the fuck over it, Taryn.”
“You killed one of those men. And badly hurt the others.” She was having a hard time wiping the gaping throat of one of the Twisted Souls from her mind. He lost his life just for being on the wrong patch of Earth.
“I didn’t kill the fucker.”
Semantics.
She lifted a palm. “You had a part in it. You also didn’t do anything to stop it.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“No shit. There’s a reason for that.”
“Yes, you explained it to me already. I don’t think what they did deserved a death sentence.”
With a shifting jaw, he straightened, then stiffly strode over to the window and looked out into the backyard, most likely checking on Wren.
On his way back to her, he began talking. “Gonna explain somethin’ to you, Taryn, so maybe you’ll get where the Kings are comin’ from. Hell, where I’m comin’ from when it comes to other clubs and why we don’t tolerate other bikers violatin’ our fuckin’ boundaries. Don’t usually talk about this shit but figured you needed to hear it so you can finish processin’ it.”
Her gut told her this wouldn’t be some feel-good story. “Should I sit down for this?”
“Up to you.”
She took that as a yes.
He leaned back against the counter next to the sink and waited until she was once again settled in her seat at the table before explaining, “My blood brother, Rubble, was a King. He encouraged me to become one, too, and sponsored me as a prospect. He showed me all the good that could be found in an MC but he also became a victim of the bad side of this life.”
Taryn wasn’t sure she wanted to hear this story. Not with how Stone was acting and he’d only just begun.
White-knuckling the counter behind him, he dropped his head and took a couple of slow, deep breaths before carrying on. “Rubble was killed by a nomad club called the Shadow Warriors. They loved to fuckin’ trespass in other clubs’ territories and create havoc wherever the fuck they went. Now, my brother had some huge fuckin’ balls. Too big for his own damn good. He confronted six Warriors by himself when he came across them in our territory.” Stone shook his head. “Not sure what the fuck he was thinkin’ since he was outnumbered. Like I said, balls too goddamn big for his own good.” He pulled in another deep breath. “Those motherfuckers beat the fuck outta him, sliced off the colors tattooed on his back, and when they were done with him, dumped him on The Castle’s front lawn. If it wasn’t for the ripped off name patch they threw on top of his body, might not’ve even fuckin’ known it was him right away.”