Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 163089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 815(@200wpm)___ 652(@250wpm)___ 544(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 815(@200wpm)___ 652(@250wpm)___ 544(@300wpm)
And maybe he is.
I used to think love only came with pain, but this man showed me just how wrong that was.
He showed me how to love deeply, strongly, even a touch chaotically, until I know I’m not alone in this anymore.
And he’ll make sure I never will be.
EPILOGUE 1 — PRESTON
THREE WEEKS LATER
I’m so annoyed and offended right now.
It’s one thing to be shot and for the whole team to butcher my championship and bragging rights, but it’s another thing entirely when I don’t get to play for months.
Meaning season finito for me.
Goodbye, my college hockey career. You were fun while you lasted.
Everyone better remember the absolute legend that is the league’s prince.
Now, I’m reduced to a mere spectator with Vee and her sister, Depeche Mode.
We just finished watching a game where Marcus was simply an attention whore.
Does he have to look so hot while being rugged, sweaty, and a violent machine? Jude and Kane targeted him like crazy the entire time. Vee, the supposed “pacifist,” was screaming with excitement whenever Jude checked him.
Big man better count his days.
Listen, I don’t like Marcus checking Jude, but I totally don’t like it the other way around either.
The prick didn’t seem too bothered, though. Every once in a while, he would stare at me. Once, he pointed at me after he scored, and Vee thought he was taunting me.
He wasn’t.
Last night, he fucked me slowly—he’s only ever done that recently, no matter how much I tell him I’m feeling fine.
“You’re not fine. The doctor said no exertion,” he said, pulling me to the crook of his arm.
That’s where I’ve fallen asleep every night since I was discharged from the hospital. In the crook of his arm, kissing his throat softly or biting it, because I’m a vampire that way.
As I was nibbling on his neck, he said that if he wins tonight, I should move in with him full-time. Not in his mom’s house, but another place.
Only the two of us.
“Just because my highness isn’t out there doesn’t mean you can win. You’re underestimating Kane and Jude.”
“You’re underestimating how far I’d go to have you all to myself, baby,” he whispered in my ear, then bit down on the shell.
Apparently, I’m the one underestimating Marcus’s resolve after all. Despite Kane and Jude’s prowess and double-team effort, Marcus ends the game with one final goal just as the buzzer echoes in the air.
Talk about goal-oriented.
The spectators clap for the Vipers’ legendary performance. It was a challenging game, mainly because Marcus was every-fucking-where.
Yes, he has that type of inhuman stamina.
And even though I’m in the mood to bitch at our team for losing, I’m more distracted by the sight of him.
“Pres, you coming?” Vee asks me as Daphne grabs her arm.
“You go ahead.” I grin. “Meet you outside, Auntie Vee.”
She smiles. “That will never stop sounding a bit weird.”
“Hey, listen, Jude keeps taunting me that when he marries you, he’ll be my uncle, and that’s cruel. Weird is better than cruel. Just saying.”
She bites the corner of her lip. “He said that?”
“Sure did. Wait for that ring.” I point at her sister. “No ring for you, Denise.”
She flips me off with a smile. “Nobody cares about your opinion.”
“Joke’s on you, everyone does.” I flip her back, grinning. Vee, being Vee, smiles and pulls her sister away before we start our cat-and-mouse fight.
As the rest of the crowd filters out, I stare at Marcus, who’s being hugged and patted on the shoulder and put in a headlock by his teammates.
Those little bitches better get their hands off of him. Now.
Okay, I’m cool. I’m calm. I won’t actually cut their heads off in their sleep.
Probably.
I can’t really help these bouts of intense possessiveness whenever I see others touching him. The only ones who get a pass are June—who threw a literal party once she knew I was alive—and maybe Miley.
But even that little shit is pushing it since she keeps insisting that she’ll marry him one day. So much audacity in such a little body.
I will marry him, not her.
Not now…but, you know, one day. When I get better, and I’m not terrified I’ll hurt him in his sleep.
The nightmares are still there, but they’re not as frequent or intense. I still find it challenging to relax entirely at night, but Marcus is extremely good at distraction. And I mean, a fucking professional.
He’ll either lay me down and fuck me slow and raw, or he’ll rub our cocks together, take my cock in his mouth, or eat my ass until I’m screaming.
The man I love has lots of tricks up his sleeve.
And I’m seriously murderous at the idea of others having experienced that.
There were people before me who had him—his embrace, his smiles, his affectionate touch that makes me want to get better.
And now, as I watch him, I can’t help the flutter in my stomach.