Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 102335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
I step backward. “I didn’t know, Wicked, I promise. I didn’t.” Saying his name never felt weird on the tip of my tongue, it’s as if it belongs there.
He backs me up against the table, his fingers wrapping around my chin. Sucking in deep breaths, I try to keep myself balanced by squeezing the edge of the wood. “You’re everything I fucking hate in this world, Ruby.”
“Then why are you so close to me?”
Leaning closer, his lips hover above mine. I hold my breath when they graze over mine. “Close enough to kill you.”
I smirk, looking between his eyes and his lips. “Or fuck me.”
He chuckles, arching his hips into me and I fight a groan when his cock rubs against my stomach. “Never again.” Then he shoves me backward and makes his way to the door. Before he can leave, he turns over his shoulder. “I expect an invite to the wedding. Oh, and Ruby? You take my kid anywhere near him and I’ll kill you.” He storms out and I let out a long-held breath. My throat swells and I lean over the table, squeezing my eyes closed. He’ll never forgive me for this, I know that, but somewhere deep in the back of my mind, I think I wanted him to fight harder. Harder for me? I don’t know.
My steps are slow when I finally exit the room. “He’ll forgive you, baby.” Papa usually calms the fire that’s in my veins. “You and he are inevitable. Everyone knows that.”
Shaking my head, I swipe the tears that fell down my cheek before I could catch them. “No, Papa. He won’t. Why?” I narrow my eyes on him. “Why didn’t you tell me it was Mikhail Volkov’s father who ordered that kill?”
“Would it have mattered, Bubba? You and I both know that there’s no way out of that.”
Sighing, I start making my way outside.
“Where are you going?”
I turn around and study him. I’ve trusted him all of my life, but I can’t get rid of the itch in the back of my head that knows he’s hiding something from me. “You’re back now. I can go back to being my age.”
“Ruby,” he says gently, but I ignore him and the stares coming from everyone else.
Val is standing on the other side of my Aston Martin, wiggling his brows. “You can’t get rid of me now.”
I slide into the driver’s seat. “I don’t even care at this point.” I had thought about the day that Wicked would come home multiple times over the years. They all played out differently in my head. But not even I could think up what just happened.
I start up the car, looking out the window to catch him with Sloane on his lap, her legs wrapped around his waist and their mouths on each other.
I wince.
“I’m sorry, principessa,” Val murmurs softly as I put the car into drive and floor it forward.
“Don’t be. I’ve got my life back now that Papa is back.”
“Partly…” Val interferes. “Since you are engaged to be married in a month.”
I swallow the bile rising in my throat. “Yeah. I guess.”
Sloane rubs her ass into my crotch and I pull back, staring up at her. “Go with Jade and Poppy.”
“But am I staying with you tonight?” she whines, running her finger down my neck and over the tattoo on the side.
I move away from her slightly. “Nah, you can stay with Roy.” I tap her away and she follows Jade through to the back of the clubhouse. I’m trying to keep it right since it’s Jade’s friend, and I’d be lying if I said Sloane wasn’t helpful when it came to pissing off Ruby, but my dick is bored. Now that I have my son to think about too, everything has changed.
“We all staying at your hotel?” Royce asks, dropping down onto the chair beside mine. “Everyone’s at the barn, helping burn it to the ground.” I can smell the burning flesh and metal from here; he didn’t have to say a fucking word. “You alright?”
“No,” I answer honestly, reaching over the bar and grabbing the first bottle my fingers land on. “I think I’m fucking cursed.”
Royce chuckles deeply, taking the bottle of some cheap whiskey off me and wrapping his lips around the tip. “Nah, man. You’ve just found your curse. There’s a difference.”
“Fuck. I can’t be a dad, Royce. The fuck? Me?”
When he doesn’t answer, I shift my seat to face him. “The shit I’ve done?”
“No offense.” Royce swipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “But I’m going to go right ahead and say that his mother has done worse.” I ignore the cut through my chest at the mention of Ruby. Fuck, if she isn’t everything I despise. The only problem is that I don’t.
“It has been years since I had seen her, bro. And every bitch I fucked after her didn’t exist in my head,” I say low, under my breath. “I knew the second I was inside her that there would be no one walking this earth powerful enough to replace the way she felt around my dick.”