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)
“I didn’t see it.”
His hand is shaking. He has a tremble in his voice too. Jesus, he’s scared as shit. I forget that things like this aren’t normal for everyone. He was attacked last night, and now he doesn’t know if people are after him. I left him alone on his first day back in his dorm, while he was sleeping. Of course he would wake up and be afraid. “Jesus, Kitten. Come here.”
“I’m fine.” He shakes his head.
“There go those claws again.” I reach for him, but he sidesteps me.
“I can take care of myself.”
“I know. You almost bludgeoned me to death with a broom.”
He wrinkles his nose, squinting at me in his cute, annoyed way that definitely shouldn’t be making me hard in this situation, but it is.
“I got you dinner,” I add, wondering why in the hell I’ve suddenly become such a caretaker with this guy.
“Oh.” His gaze darts to the bag of food and then back to me. “That was nice. You didn’t have to do that.”
It’s clear he thinks that was the sole reason I left, and maybe I should be okay with it, but the last thing I want is Ollie thinking I’m anything other than who I am. “Well, I was hungry, and I was already out there selling. The people who share your building are good customers.” I wink, and he scowls.
“You have drugs in my dorm. You can’t have those here, Cillian. You need to take them back home. Now.”
“Fine. Then you need to come back and stay there with me. I have shit to do, and that doesn’t change while I’m here with you.” The words might sound harsh, but they’re true.
There’s no hiding Ollie’s slight shudder, the fear he’s trying to hide. Still, he squares his shoulders and says, “Selling drugs is wrong.”
“I know. It’s still my job. But I’m also the man who won’t let anyone fucking touch you, and I’m not the kind of man who would do what those guys did to you last night. Maybe you still don’t see it, maybe it will never matter to you, but there’s honor in who I am and how I do things—just not in the way you’re used to or one you can accept.” I pick up the bag of food and set it on the small, two-person table. “Now, are we eating dinner or what? You need food in your stomach, or you’ll make yourself sick.”
I feel his eyes on me, feel them heat my skin in a way I’m completely unfamiliar with. When I glance over my shoulder, Ollie nods, then joins me at the table.
I get rid of my backpack, and pull our food out, setting his in front of one chair and mine in front of the other, before going to his small fridge and pulling out a bottle of water for each of us. Neither of us talks at first, Ollie picking at his food while I dive in, fucking starving.
“I still don’t want you to kill them,” he finally says.
“I already said I wouldn’t.” It’s still a lie. Maybe one day he’ll find out and hate me for it, which honestly is probably for the best.
“I’ll pay you back…for dinner. They left the cash in my wallet.”
“I don’t need your money.”
“Well, I need to give it to you.”
I shrug. “Your loss.”
He doesn’t say anything else, and once he’s done eating, he gets the money and I stuff it in my pocket. It’s not worth the argument.
Ollie calls his work to let them know he won’t be back for a while, then sits at his desk with his laptop and books spread out in front of him. I relax on his bed. It’s against the wall, which I lean on. “You’re really into school.”
“Why would I be here if I wasn’t?”
I chuckle. “I’m not. Tiernan is. He’s into all these weird-ass fucking books that are supposed to be so philosophical and shit like that. He hated it when he was pre-law, but now that he’s a literature major, he’s here for more reasons than just getting the chance to be away from home.” Being away from home and with Tiernan and Rory are the only reasons I’m here getting a business degree.
“Why did he go into law in the first place?”
“He didn’t have a choice.”
“Why would he not have a choice?”
“Because not everyone was raised like you.”
For the first time in what feels like too long, he looks at me. “Do you have a choice?”
“Yes. My father doesn’t give a fuck about me—not that Tiernan’s did about him, in the traditional sense, that is. I could disappear off the face of the earth, and my dad wouldn’t notice.” My skin prickles uncomfortably.
“I’m sure that’s not true.”
“You know him?”
He rolls his eyes, but then they soften. “That’s why you’re the way you are with Tiernan, Rory, Aislin, and Dean? I’m assuming you treat Aislin and Dean the way you do Rory and Tiernan. You hold on tightly to them because he didn’t hold tightly to you.”