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)
“I found them at her brother’s house just like you said,” the ass-kisser snitched. He didn’t mention that we had been getting ready to run again.
“Thank you, Kellan.”
The associate turned to go, but he surprised me when he reached out and squeezed my arm reassuringly as he passed. It worked to settle my nervous gut a little. I didn’t want to like his meddling ass, but he was slowly becoming my friend.
Kellan stepped back into the elevator, and then he was gone.
Still, Ocean said nothing to either of us as he stalked to the fully stocked bar.
I peeked over my shoulder.
Water from the small sink ran as he cleaned his hands. When he looked up, I faced forward again like an errant child awaiting punishment. I listened as he dropped ice into a glass before pouring himself what was probably a stiff drink. A few more seconds passed as he gulped it down, and then the glass slammed on the bar loud enough to make Coby and me jump.
Ocean finally spoke, his voice a dark promise of blood and vengeance. “Are you hurt?” he asked without making it clear who he was speaking to.
“No,” Coby and I chorused.
Suddenly, Ocean was standing in front of us, raking his gaze over every inch of me and then Coby before he seemed satisfied with our answer. Coby was staring up at him like he was her god, and he was staring down at her like he wanted to worship at her altar. I looked away and reminded myself they’d be married in a week (assuming that was still happening). They had every right to look at one another as if they couldn’t live without the other.
I stubbornly kept my gaze on the wall when I heard them kiss moments later.
For every second that passed, I felt my control slipping.
The kiss continued until I thought I might snap, and then I heard Ocean say, “Come with me.” They moved together toward the stairs while I stayed put near the elevator. I was contemplating riding it down and quietly disappearing to let them live happily ever after together when Ocean called out to me without turning around. “Hunter.” My gaze snapped to his strong back. “That means you, too,” he ordered sternly.
* * *
1 . Of the blood.
OCEAN
“Whose blood is that?” Coby asked the moment the three of us were shut inside her bedroom. Hunter was looking around the room, which looked like a palace, and I could tell she was impressed but didn’t want to show it.
“Someone who got in my way,” I answered.
My father’s men had tried to ambush me on the way from Glamis to Glainne, but it hadn’t gone so well for his men. Abel and I narrowly escaped, and my rage over the delay in getting to Coby and Hunter had me eager to go back out there and paint the streets red.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, mo aingeal.” I moved to sit on one of those ridiculous pink and gold chaises, and Coby and Hunter followed once I waved them over to join. They were both acting jittery and nervous as they sat beside each other on the opposite chaise. I’m sure my dark mood wasn’t helping. By coming for them, my father had severed the last of the tattered bond between us, and now I was going to kill his ass. “Tell me what happened.”
“What happened isn’t as important as what didn’t happen,” Coby snapped. “Why didn’t you tell us the woman your father wanted you to marry was Niamh?”
I winced and for good reason. The way they were both looking at me matched the feeling of a million fucking bugs crawling all over me. “It wasn’t relevant because there was no force on earth and no punishment my father could enact to make me go through with that shit.”
“Does Niamh know?” Coby asked. When I nodded, she didn’t look surprised, but I wasn’t hung up on it, and neither was Coby. “That’s why you were going to force me to marry you. You were trying to save Niamh.”
“Don’t romanticize what I did, mo aingeal. I was giving Niamh a choice by taking away yours.
“Yes, but…Ocean, I saw the way she looked when I told her we were getting married. She looked so scared and vulnerable, but there was hope, too. You gave that to her. And now I know why she kept thanking me every time we saw each other.” Coby wrinkled her nose like my cousin’s unexplained gratitude had been nothing more than a nuisance.
“And you?” I challenged, wanting her to never forget that I might not have been insane like my father, but I was still no hero.
“Me?” Coby shook her head when she caught on to what I was asking. “I was never afraid to marry you. You never gave me any reason to. I could have done without the kidnapping, but it is what it is.”