Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 104802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Which honestly, is some fucked-up shit. I shouldn’t give a fuck about Ollie. We’re not in the bodyguard business. People need protection from us, but I’m over trying to dissect my behavior when it comes to Ollie.
He doesn’t answer right away, head against the window. It takes me a moment to wrap my brain around the fact that he’s probably scared. That he isn’t used to this.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” I say, trying to console him.
“I’m not your responsibility.”
This unfamiliar…possessive feeling sends fire through my veins. “Yes. You are.”
“Why?”
Now that’s a good question, isn’t it? But again, not bothering myself with all that shit. I can want to fuck him and protect him without it meaning anything. “Because you are.”
He sighs. “I don’t understand you.”
“That makes two of us.”
“Do you really think they’ll come after me?”
“Not unless they’re idiots. The issue is, I think they might be. They have no reason to—you can’t ID them, you didn’t prevent them from stealing the car—but people don’t always do what we expect.”
Ollie nods. Finally, after what feels like incredibly too long, he looks at me. “My dorm. Just for a few days, though.”
His answer makes things difficult for me—I’ll be running around between the house and the dorms—but still, I nod. “You want me all to yourself. Got it. We can make that happen.”
“That’s not what I… I’m not…” When I smirk, he says, “You’re such a prick!” He crosses his arms again, pissed off, and I can’t help but laugh.
“God, you’re fun, Kitten.” I think I might enjoy this situation a lot more than I should.
CHAPTER TEN
Ollie
I have no idea if I’m making the right decision by letting Cillian stay with me. I still can’t wrap my head around why he wants to. He pretends to flirt with me, and okay, maybe he wants to hook up with me—though I’m surprised he’d choose me—but the sex part is a lot easier to explain than the protection piece.
Is it simply because I’m friends with Dean? That’s the only thing that makes even a shred of sense, but then why isn’t it Dean doing this stuff instead of Cillian? Maybe it’s the rules of how the mini mob run things. Maybe Tiernan told Cillian to be responsible for me because he didn’t want Dean to do it, and now he’s stuck with me.
“What?” Cillian asks.
“What, what?”
“You made an annoying grunt.”
“No I didn’t.” Did I? “You hit a bump. My ribs hurt.”
“I didn’t hit a bump.”
“Okay, my ribs hurt. Jeez.” I take my broken glasses off and massage my forehead.
“Do you feel okay? I can pull over. Maybe we should go back to the hospital. How’s your vision? I shouldn’t be arguing with you. The doctor said you can have no rise in your blood pressure for forty-eight hours.”
Well, that was a lot of questions and what sounded like real concern. “I’m fine. I just have a lot on my mind. And I don’t like knowing I’m missing school today. That stresses me out. I sacrificed a lot to be here, and I won’t mess that up.”
“It’s just a day. You’re smart as shit. You’ll be fine.”
“How do you know I’m smart?”
He shrugs. “Just do,” he says, pulling down a driveway, and my breath catches in my throat. Maybe because he thinks I’m smart, but also because I’m about to go to his house…where he’s going to get supplies to sleep in my dorm with me. Should I change my mind and stay here?
Looking up at their mini mansion, I know I won’t feel comfortable here. I’ve been through a lot, and I don’t know if I have it in me to step out of my comfort zone this much. “This is…a huge house.”
“It’s something we were given. Yes, we sacrificed in our own ways, but we’ve also been very fucking privileged, Ollie.”
Ollie. It’s almost weird to hear him say my name. It makes my stomach feel fluttery.
But even more than that, I’m thinking about my reaction to this house. The part of me that hates it on sight, hates him for having it because I know that privilege he’s talking about comes with having blood on his hands, with hurting people, addicting people to drugs, and whatever the hell else it is they do.
That should be the only thing I feel. It should be all disgust, not just with this lifestyle, but with Cillian in general, and yet…that’s not all I feel when it comes to him. He’s nice to me. He’s leaving this place to stay in my dorm because he doesn’t want anything to happen to me. He hovered ever since the moment he came into my hospital room last night. Right or wrong, it wipes away some of the hatred I feel about the things he does…or at least, it disguises it in a prettier package.