Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 103141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
He groans, changes directions, and walks into my en suite, turning on the faucets and scrubbing his hands.
Did he kill someone tonight or just hurt them? Whoever it was, I know they aren’t someone completely innocent. They live in the same violent world that Rian does, but two wrongs don’t make a right. If we all walked around doing whatever we wanted just because other people did, this world would be even more fucked up than it is.
“I can’t go with you like this,” I say. “You need to talk to me.” I’ve never seen him like this, but then, there are a million situations I’ve never seen Rian in. Somehow, I still know him though…know that whatever this is, it’s important. More than that, I know he’s scared.
Is he on the run? Is someone else after him? There are too many possibilities.
He turns off the water and dries his hands.
I’m not sure he’s going to answer me, but then he’s stepping closer, not stopping until I can feel his breath when he speaks. “I did what I do,” he says again. “We found the men we thought put a hit out on me. We strung them up. I beat them, tortured them. I made them bleed, and every time they passed out from the pain, I started over again. Is that what you want to hear?”
I flinch, because it really isn’t. “No, but I needed to hear it.” Pretending Rian is someone other than who he is won’t change anything. If I’m going to love this man, I should at least be able to not hide from who he is. “Why are you here?”
He draws back, just the slightest bit, so little that I’m not even sure if I saw it at first, but the way his eyes blank over, it’s impossible not to see the mask fall into place—the one that says he’s hurt and trying to hide it.
Still, my question is important. He can’t just come into my house making demands of me, certainly not after he just killed people.
“Toward the end, when we finally let them speak, they told me that word on the street is the hit wasn’t for me at all.”
“Then who…” My words trail off as it clicks into place that there had only been the two of us there that day. If they hadn’t been there for Rian, then… I laugh. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Who would want me killed?”
I walk over and sit on the edge of my bed. It’s not until then that I remember I’m naked. That I’m so fucked in the head over this man that I’ve been sleeping naked in hopes he would come to me again and fuck me. How pathetic is that?
“You’re the governor’s son.”
“So? That doesn’t mean someone would put a hit out on me. What could they possibly gain from that?”
“I don’t know, but none of this ever really made sense. Yes, I’d killed their brother, so they would want revenge, but usually people who actually plan to kill someone don’t go talking about it around town. That’s what someone who is all talk does.” Rian paces, then walks over to the window, separating two of the blinds and looking out. “They were at the hospital, and sure, they could have followed me and sat there all night, but it just doesn’t make sense for them to have done it there. They weren’t waiting anywhere near where I parked…they were in your row, Abbott.”
What he’s saying makes sense. Would they have waited all night for him when they didn’t know what time he would leave? Wouldn’t that draw attention? If they knew a rough estimate of how long I would be at the hospital, then they could have come right before I got off.
Knots tighten in my gut, but I try to ignore them. “Maybe they got lucky…or hell, maybe they just drove around at the right time. I don’t know, Rian, but there is no reason someone would plan to have me killed.”
He walks over and kneels in front of me, taking my face in the warm hands that just minutes ago had blood on them…they will always have blood on them, even when I don’t see it.
“You said you feel like someone has been watching you. When I was here the other night, that’s the first time I’ve come here. I haven’t followed you. I hadn’t been in your house until that night.”
My skin gets cold as ice. It can’t be… I’d felt someone watching me when I was running.
I’d felt it more than once.
“Conan?” I ask.
“Him either. He hasn’t come here at all. I warned him off you.”
“Someone had been in my house, Rian. I could tell when I got home. Things were moved, even just slightly. My drawers were messed up. I—”