Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 121755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
After…
We could see what that kiss was all about.
We could see what the sizzling tension that had been blistering between us the last few days was about. Tension that led to that kiss.
Who was I kidding?
That tension had been building between us since we met, it was just that there were things in the way.
Now those things (yeah, freaking Kevin) were not in the way anymore.
But I couldn’t say any of that.
And I wouldn’t.
Damn it, I was going to have to find some more strength.
Not my strong suit.
I dug deep and scratched at the dregs.
“I didn’t miss it,” I replied. “But I think you’re missing where I might be at right now, considering my choices and where it’s landed, oh, I don’t know, everybody I care about.”
“Don’t take his shit on,” Gabe ordered.
“Oh, okay. Sure,” I stated blithely, then gave myself an overdramatic physical shake. “There! All those women who were scammed by my ex and his bestie, Harlow’s apartment being tossed, everyone spending all their time trying to solve a freaking murder”—I lifted both hands in front of me, fingers curled in, and I flashed them open—“poof. All gone. All good now.”
“None of that is on you,” he rumbled, and I could see he was getting pissed.
It was a little frightening and a little exciting, which pretty much defined Gabriel Stark.
(Okay, no, the “little frightening” part was spot on, but it was more like “a lot exciting” if I was honest, something I was not going to be for the sake of my own sanity, not to mention my heart.)
“No, you’re right. It’s on Kevin.”
“So let him face whatever consequences he’s set up for himself.”
“I will.”
“Then what was that shit about not going there with me?”
“Because, dude…you have a dick,” I pointed out like he wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box.
Mistake.
Huge mistake.
His head ticked back almost violently.
And I would so get why when he said carefully and oh-so sinisterly, “I am not him.”
“You’re all some version of him,” I retorted.
Another mistake.
Huge.
Colossal.
“That’s some seriously fucked-up shit to say,” he bit off.
“Uh, hello,” I shot back. “When we got home, you had to walk through my apartment to make sure it was safe.”
“Right, so you’re gonna transfer all his damage to every guy you meet?” he asked.
“Sure,” I said breezily. “His and Trev’s.”
And your dad’s. And high school boyfriend number one, along with high school boyfriend number two. Oh yeah, and your former bestest bestie Jen’s winner of a man, Logic added.
Oh, shut up, Dreamer snapped. You ruin everything.
“We are all not that guy,” Gabe said dangerously.
“Guess what, Gabe. After all this crap with Kev and Trev, I’ve learned, and my pick is henceforth gonna be the bear every damned time,” I returned.
With alarming slowness, he turned, looking down the hall where he, not ten minutes ago, just put himself out there to any potential…something…that might be lurking, in order to make certain my space was safe.
He then turned to stare at the front door, an eloquent reminder that, for the last several days, he hadn’t been doing his normal job as he should be doing it—this, to be sure I was safe.
After that, he looked at the ceiling, indicating, I was sure, Cap and Raye’s apartment, which could more aptly be described as a love nest. Because Cap was one of the very few good ones (even Logic could see that).
Changing his aim at the ceiling slightly, and that indicated one of Eric and Jessie’s places (they hit whoever’s space struck their fancy—his house, or her apartment—so they had two love nests). Because, you guessed it, Eric was also one of the very few good ones (and, again, Logic couldn’t argue).
Only then did he come back to me.
But now, I was getting mad.
“You cannot pretend you don’t get why I’m not all fired up to jump into another situation, considering the situation all of us are in right now…because of me.”
“Not a fan of repeating myself, woman, but I will right now to say it is not because of you,” Gabe replied.
I opened my mouth to say something but didn’t get it out.
Gabe kept going.
“And life is too goddamned short to waste it on other people’s shit. Their shit hits you, or they force it on you, when you clean it off, you take from it what you gotta take. You learn from it what you gotta learn. You shake it off. And you keep moving forward.”
“Thank you, oh Sage One,” I returned.
And yeah, I was being a bitch, with a purpose.
His eyes narrowed.
I figured Gabe didn’t miss much, and he certainly wasn’t missing I was being a bitch.
And maybe because I was being such a bitch, he laid it out and laid me out doing it.
“So some clown plays you, and just to say, you weren’t the only one who fell for his shit. You and your women have been investigating him and his bro for months, so you know that even better than me. He cons you…and by the fucking way, the ‘con’ part of that stands for ‘confidence,’ and if you let his bullshit change you, you’re letting him win that game too…you allow yourself to become bitter and paint all men with his brush, that”—he lifted a very attractive, strong, veined hand with a long, square-ended finger jabbing my way (a hand I had more than once, even before his guarding-my-body gig started, fantasized doing many lovely (and naughty) things to me)—“that is on you. It isn’t on him, babe. It is one hundred percent on you.”