Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 151097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 504(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 504(@300wpm)
Hunter closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, they were brimming with tears. I pulled her into me and wrapped her in my embrace.
“I don’t—” Her voice broke. “I don’t remember picking up the knife. I could hear the disgusting things those men were saying about me in the other room. I was so scared of what they’d make me do. My father grabbed my hair, and I grabbed the knife I’d used to slice my bagel that morning. And then I stabbed him with it before running away.” I felt her nails digging into my chest and welcomed the pain if it meant she didn’t feel any. “I didn’t get far before I was picked up as a runaway.”
Hunter suddenly pushed away from me, and I gave her the space she needed.
“I tried, you know,” she said as she stared at the ground. “I tried to tell the cops what happened, but my father got to them first. He had witnesses. Those men he brought home to fuck his underage daughter couldn’t let the truth get out, so they backed the lie. They told the police that I stabbed my father unprovoked, and it was their word against mine, so I pled down to simple assault and did a year in juvie just to get away from him.”
“And you’ve been training to protect yourself ever since.”
It wasn’t a question, but Hunter nodded anyway. “As long as my father lives, I will never feel safe. I’m sure he’s forgotten about me by now, but I haven’t forgotten him.”
“Who else knows about this?” I asked while fighting to keep the violence out of my tone.
“Only Coby,” she answered. Our gazes met. “And now you.”
“You may not care to hear it, but I need to say it anyway. Your father is a dead man. I want names. Every single man who was there. I want their names, and if you can’t give them to me, I’ll find them anyway.”
“I don’t need you to protect me,” she said weakly.
Losing my fight to be honorable, I pulled her into me. She didn’t fight me as she stared up at me, looking so innocent and vulnerable. “Someone has to.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“I know you can, Vengeance, but I want that honor. Tell me I can have it,” I pleaded.
“You’re marrying my best friend,” she reminded me.
“I am.”
“How can you not see it? What you want will never work? I wouldn’t mean as much to you as Coby. She would always own more of you than I ever could, and I know it’s not a competition, but it doesn’t seem fair. I’ve never done anything like this, but shouldn’t there be a balance? If you tip the scales too much one way, wouldn’t it all topple over? If I thought for one second that I could be the other woman and not let the jealousy consume me…”
She didn’t let the rest fall from her lips.
“You would say yes,” I finished for her.
“I would say yes.”
“Hunter…” I felt my frustration bubble and forced it back down. “I have to marry. It has nothing to do with wanting Coby more than you. You wouldn’t be the other woman, and I don’t care what a piece of paper says. You would be my wife as much as Coby.”
“But it’s how I would eventually feel if you married each other. I would still feel on the outside.” I felt her palm on my cheek; it was the first time she willingly touched me, so I closed my eyes to savor the moment. “Promise me you’ll keep Coby safe and make her happy when I’m gone.”
I turned my head to kiss her palm. “You don’t have to leave, Hunter. Even if you don’t stay for me, you can stay for Coby.”
“I doubt Coby wants me to stay anymore. She hates me now.”
“No, she doesn’t. Not yet. But she will if you leave.”
“Ocean, I told you I can’t stay.”
“I don’t mean for that. We both want Coby safe, but as my wife and the woman I love, she’ll be in more danger than ever. You’ve proved capable and willing to keep anything from happening to her. What if I gave you another reason to stay?”
Hunter’s hand dropped from my face as she stared at me in disbelief. “What are you talking about?”
“I want to hire you.”
The furrow in Hunter’s brows deepened, and I forced myself to let her go. “To do what exactly?”
It seemed like the entire world had gone still, waiting for my answer. “I want you to protect my wife.”
HUNTER
“I want you to protect my wife.”
My wife.
My wife.
Protect my wife.
“She’s still sleeping.”
The unexpected sound of Coby’s voice in the cabin startled me awake, but the responding one with a deep Chicago accent had my eyes flying open.