Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 113272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 566(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 566(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
“It’s . . . it’s awful!”
“You can do better than that,” Kellan prodded. “Tell us how you really feel.”
“I feel angry . . . why me? Why did I end up with such a terrible father? Why didn’t he love me? What sort of father doesn’t even tell their own daughter when her mom dies? A complete asshole, that’s who!”
“Give it to us, baby. Lay it all on us,” Eli said, moving closer to her. Now they were both in front of her.
“We can take it,” Kellan said.
“But I feel terrible because he never hit me like your father.”
“Our father was a monster,” Kellan admitted. “He hit me, hurt me, I’ve got the scars to show for it.” He stripped off his shirt and pointed to each scar. “All from him.”
“Kellan,” she sobbed, reaching out to trace each scar.
“But now I fight monsters. I punish people like him. So they can’t hurt others. That’s how I fight back at him.”
“And what do I do? Nothing,” she said bitterly.
“That’s not true,” Eli told her fiercely. “You take care of others. Look at what you’ve done for Shaw. How you look after your neighbor. You found a dirty dog on the side of the road and chose to sleep in your car rather than put him back out into the cold. That’s who you are. Kind, sweet and caring.”
“But you have to let all of the anger go or it will eat you up inside,” Kellan told her. “Yell.”
She let out a small scream. It was pathetic but it was a start.
“Louder,” Kellan told her.
“I don’t want to scare our neighbors.”
“Who cares about them,” Eli said. “I’ll explain it if they have a problem. Yell. Tell us what you’re upset about.”
“I came here to be safe! This was meant to be my safe place and now it’s been wrecked! Now it’s not safe! And I’m so fucking mad!”
“That’s it, baby,” Eli told her. “Let it all go.”
“It’s been taken from me and it’s not fair! Everyone always takes from me. My father, my so-called friends, that asshole at school. Nobody ever takes care of me, except for Pop-Pop. My father took my freedom, that asshole in high school took my trust in men, even Cole took my ticket to freedom. I thought coming here would make everything better and then some fucking asshole breaks into my house and destroys everything. It’s. Not. Fair.”
Holy moly.
She was actually surprised that she could make that much noise. And she was pretty sure she’d actually sworn too.
Breathing heavily, she stared at both men and waited for them to say something. Would they be shocked? Would they try to silence her?
“Good girl,” Kellan said, shocking her.
“We’re so proud of you.” Eli moved in behind her, hugging her tight as Kellan cupped her face between his hands.
She sagged in their embrace, exhausted.
“I’m sorry.”
“Do not apologize,” Kellan told her fiercely. “The last thing you need to do is apologize. You have a right to be mad, to be upset.”
“But just know this, from now on, we’re going to take care of you,” Eli told her. “We will never just take.”
“I know,” she whispered. “I know you won’t.”
“Come on, baby,” Eli said, lifting her. “Let’s get you into bed.”
They laid her down in the middle of the bed, climbing in on either side of her to hug her between them.
She quickly drifted off to sleep, safe in their embrace.
Kellan stepped into the house where his girl had been living.
The place was still a disaster. She wouldn’t be returning until it was cleaned
In fact, he didn’t think she would be coming back here at all. They’d need to find a different place to live. This one wasn’t safe and he wouldn’t risk her by bringing her back to this house.
Besides, they’d need somewhere bigger.
There was something going on here. He hadn’t seen anything suspicious yet. But he could feel it in the air. And it was more than just the fact that her house had been broken into.
This wasn’t a simple break-in. And if it was this Lee guy then why come after Arabella now?
He’d been right in thinking that Arabella was going to change his life. But he was willing to admit he’d been incorrect in thinking that it would be a bad change.
Kellan sighed. He wanted to be back in the hotel room with his girl. They’d finally gotten her off to sleep earlier. He hated seeing her upset but it had been healthy to get all of that out.
And the irony of that thought wasn’t lost on him considering he was fairly emotionally repressed.
But that was his personality. He wasn’t like Arabella.
Eli was the better choice to be there if she woke up. If she needed something. And she had Horse too. That dog seemed to be able to read her moods and know what she needed.