Total pages in book: 156
Estimated words: 160192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
Why did she feel the urge to ask him to stay? She was being ridiculous.
What she should do is tell Jared to go with him. But she didn’t think she could be here on her own with an IV line in. Weirdly, Jared made her feel safe.
“I think that you’re telling lies. You might think you’ve eradicated your Little, but you have two soft toys that say otherwise.”
“Lots of people have soft toys,” she pointed out. “It doesn’t mean anything.”
“True. But you can’t just wipe that part out of your life. It’s a part of who you are.”
Fuck.
He wasn’t wrong. And she knew that her Little was still a part of her.
“She’s still inside you.”
“She won’t come out,” Angie told him, hearing the frustration in her voice. “Not when I want her to. Only when I’m ill or scared. For so long I had to hide that part of myself from Fergus so he didn’t use it against me and after . . . I don’t know. It’s like she’s locked behind a wall.”
He shifted her around carefully so she was facing him. She immediately missed his touch. Wanted his arms around her. She started to shake and he frowned, then he reached down to grab a throw from the end of the bed, wrapping it around her. “I want you to look at me.”
She’d reached the end of everything she could take, she really had. Angie didn’t think she could discuss anything else.
Jared tilted her chin up, studying her face. “If you ever want some help setting her free, I can do that. While you’re here, that is.” That last bit sounded like an afterthought.
Did he want her to stay?
No. You have to be imagining things.
“Are you a Daddy to North?”
“No, North is my sub. Not my Little. Although that’s not something that many people know.”
“About him being a sub?” she asked.
“And about him being mine. Being mine puts him in more danger.”
She nodded. She could understand that. People might use North to get to Jared.
He leaned back against the headboard with her still in his lap.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Something I shouldn’t be. But sometimes life hands you a gift and you just have to take it.”
She really didn’t understand what he was saying. “Are you going to let me leave?”
“I will.”
Something swirled around her stomach. It should have been relief. But it felt like something else.
“When?”
“When I’m certain that Zander won’t retaliate against North.”
Because North’s safety was important to him.
“And when I’m certain you’ll be safe.”
She should argue. She should tell him that of course she was safe. Instead, she decided just to give herself this moment.
Of having someone care for her who wasn’t obliged to because they were sort-of family.
“Just rest. You’ve been through a lot. Let me take care of you. For now.”
The next morning Angie sat on the bed.
She’d showered and dressed in some of the clothes that North had bought for her.
How he’d known all her sizes and what she’d like, she had no idea.
That was North, though.
The guy was an enigma. And she wasn’t certain that she would ever understand him.
Jared’s words kept playing around in her head from yesterday.
How he could help her with her Little while she was here.
She glanced over at the wardrobe and shook her head as she hugged her toys tight.
Groaning, she lay back on the bed.
What she should be doing was planning her escape. Because she was still a prisoner. Even if Jared said he’d eventually let her go. Her stomach rumbled. Was anyone going to give her breakfast?
Maybe she should attempt to climb out the window?
Getting up, she heaved it open. Okay, she’d expected it to be locked. It didn’t open that far, but she was certain it was enough for her slip through.
She hesitated. What if Jared or North caught her? What if they punished her like Fergus had . . .
Angie pushed those thoughts out of her mind. She was great at stifling bad memories. It wasn’t healthy. Her therapist had reminded her of that several times.
But, hey, it meant she could function. And right now, she couldn’t fall apart.
There was one issue, though. Even if she fully got the window open, how was she getting down the side of the building?
She half-slid out of the window, peering around. The house was made of a light stone. It was prettier than she’d expected. It was also pretty hard to scale. There were no footholds at all to support her.
She was going to need rope.
Suddenly, she realized what a precarious position she was in, bent over out the window. What if she slipped?
She’d land on her head.
Then get off the windowsill!
Yeah. One slight problem. She couldn’t manage to get herself back into the bedroom. She was still weak from being ill.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“What the fuck?” someone said behind her before hands landed on her hips and she was pulled back through the window.