Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 59413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
“What do you want me to say?” I whisper hiss. “I gave you so many chances, Gage. All I wanted was to be loved, protected, to feel like I fucking mattered. Someone nearly took my life, and still, you are acting like it never happened.”
“Told you I’d kill whoever did that.”
I laugh, but it’s bitter. “Oh, how wonderful. What about taking care of your wife when she was fucking terrified? No, Kael did that. He came in when you couldn’t.”
His eyes flash, and I know I’m pushing his buttons, but I don’t care.
I too am done with these fucking games.
“I will fucking kill him, do you hear me? I will gut him,, and the last name on his fuckin’ lips will be mine.”
“Oh, fuck you, Gage. You don’t get to be jealous,” I snap, even though my entire body is trembling. “Not after you fucked two women without thought. It’s over, do you hear me?”
He slams his fist into the bricks, a short, mean punch that rattles the air. He steps in, pressing every inch of himself into me. “It is not over, Sable.”
I try to laugh but my throat closes, and something stings behind my eyes. “Yes, Gage. It is.” I try to shove him again, but it is pointless. “You ended it when you sunk your dick into two women.”
The air between us goes so silent it is terrifying.
I don’t know how he is going to react; his next move could be anything. Literally anything.
“I can’t—” He stops, his jaw tensing as he tries to find his words. “Fuck, I can’t watch you with him. I can’t—” His voice dies, and for a second, Gage’s eyes glisten, gone almost glassy. He wipes them hard with the heel of his palm and turns away, shoulders rising and falling with each shaky breath.
Oh god.
I have never seen emotion from this man. Not ever.
It crushes something inside me, a deep, aching pain that feels like it will never heal. It breaks me into a thousand tiny pieces for the man I so desperately wanted all these years, the one I clung to with both hands, hoping against hope that he could show me even an ounce of love. I want to reach for him. I want to run. I do neither.
I stand frozen, caught in the limbo of my own making, where hope and despair coexist in a delicate balance. The silence stretches between us, heavy with all the things left unsaid, and I wonder if he can feel the turmoil that rages inside me, the silent plea for something more, something real. But the moment passes, and I remain still, trapped in the prison of my own heart, waiting for a sign that may never come.
He finally looks back, and there’s a broken emptiness in his face that hurts. “Don’t do this, Sable. Don’t be with him.”
My voice comes out raw. “You made this choice, Gage.”
He shakes his head, at himself, at the ground, at everything unspoken. “I know.” Another tug of his hands in his hair. He looks wild now, untamed.
“I’ve always had your back. I have been so fucking loyal to you and your club. I was so grateful you saved me. But you could never give it back. You could never let me in. No matter how badly I wanted it.” My words pour out, a final, desperate attempt.
His head snaps up. “I can live with a lot of fuckin’ mistakes, but you bein’ with ... him ... is not one I can live with.”
I should turn. I should bolt down the dirty street and never let him puncture me with words again. But I stay anchored.
“If you cared so much you wouldn’t have—”
He shoves me against the wall again, causing the breath to leave my lungs in a rush. “I never wanted anyone else. You think I don’t hate myself for what happened?” His hands grip my jaw, not rough, but unyielding. “You ruined me, Sable. A long fucking time ago.”
The old part of me, the one that wanted to believe every word he threw at me, rises to the surface, messy and frantic. “Then why couldn’t you just give me what I needed?”
He kisses me. It is not soft or slow, it’s hard and desperate. His mouth crushes mine, taking instead of asking, like he can drag out the last pieces of himself he left with me years ago.
My hands fist in his shirt, his heartbeat frantic beneath my palm. I fight him, because it’s what we do—it’s always been what we do. He doesn’t stop until I finally push him away, forcing the kiss to end even though a tiny piece of me wants it to go on forever.
“Don’t be with him, fuckin’ please,” he breathes into my mouth, words broken.
My throat burns. “I never thought I’d hear you beg, Gage.”