Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 133975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 670(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 447(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 670(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 447(@300wpm)
He was done with being nice. That wasn’t his personality, and he couldn’t keep treating her with kid gloves. She knew better than to throw other men in his face. That was pure bullshit.
He stood over the narrow rushing stream, watching it run over rocks, the water flashing a glittery silver. He let his breath out slowly. It wasn’t like he could claim he was being fair and reasonable. He expected her to go back with him to Caspar. He was demanding she make the effort to fit in with his family.
What did he really expect her to do when she was there? Set up a hair salon in one of the empty business units the club owned? She enjoyed her salon, and she would make a go of it. She was that good. He wanted her to live in his home, so yeah, run the house, make it home. Right now, it was nothing, a place he retreated to for solitude, but it was as ice-cold as he was. As his life was. He wanted her to do something with it.
He picked up a rock and tossed it from hand to hand. What would he be doing while she was doing all that? He’d resume his life. Yeah, he’d go to the bar and pick up women to try to relieve the constant ache in his cock. He’d party hard when Torpedo Ink threw one. That was when he sometimes found two women to do at the same time. What did he expect Lyric to do when he was fucking other women?
His mind shied away from the answer. He didn’t want to go there, but to be fair to her, he had to. After work she often went to the bar to listen to music. She wasn’t a big drinker, but she enjoyed the company. She knew most of those who frequented the bar, with its atrocious music. She even would line dance with some of the women. Did he expect her to stay out of the bar after work?
Keys rubbed the bridge of his nose, appalled at his own thoughts. He did expect her to stay out of the bar. He wanted her to focus on him, yet by his own admission, he didn’t plan to be there for her. At least not physically, and now he was declaring he wouldn’t be emotionally.
He tossed the rock into the stream, cursing out loud. “She’s turning me inside out.” He hissed and cursed again. He had never been in more trouble than he was right at that moment, because he had to figure it out, and no matter which way he chose, he was well and truly fucked.
Bottom line, he’d told her the stark, raw truth. He couldn’t live without her. He didn’t want to live without her. It sounded dramatic as all hell, but that was the bottom line. So, knowing that, what was he going to do?
He watched the water tumbling over the rocks. So many sizes of rock. Some were like small pebbles, while others were very large. The water didn’t change direction, it kept flowing, strong. Steady. Staying on course. No matter the obstacles in its path, that water kept moving.
“Bottom line, baby, you belong with me. I don’t know exactly how we’re going to get there, but we’re getting there.”
It was too bad for her that she hadn’t had other experiences. He wasn’t a gentle man when it came to sex. He wasn’t all about pleasing his partner as a rule. He treated sex the way he did everything else in his life. It was necessary, and he did it on his terms. He liked rough sex. He always was the one in control, and that wasn’t going to change. Just maybe the way he approached it.
He’d always had multiple partners. Always. He always walked away without looking back. When he claimed Lyric as his, did he plan to be a one-woman man? That was a legitimate question any woman would want answered. He wasn’t a liar. He didn’t plan to give Lyric options. She was going to stay with him. Not only was she staying, he was going to be the only man who touched her. That was a given. Just contemplating for one moment sharing her with another man sent his monster into a killing rage. What did that mean? The monster knew more than the man.
Keys believed in justice, or he wouldn’t do the things he did. He believed in fairness. Living free. Making his own rules. But that came with a strict code of honor. It was skewed, but it was his. Bottom line, he couldn’t fuck other women unless Lyric could fuck other men. That was the balance. The fairness. But there was no way in hell he could allow that to happen.