Total pages in book: 174
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
Cash scoffed. “If you knew the things I’ve done, you wouldn’t be here, Daisy. And you sure as hell wouldn’t be asking me to take care of your kids.”
“How?” It whispered off my lips on a plea. “What are you involved in?”
Something I couldn’t read flashed through his expression. “I can’t let you go there, Daisy. What I already let you in on is so far outside of what I should be giving you. You should go.”
Pain slashed between my eyes, and I moved around the end of the island, steps both bold and feeble as I edged toward him.
I sucked down every reservation and asked him the only thing that mattered.
It might be my only chance.
“Would you hurt them?”
Cash reared back like I struck him. “Never. I would die for them, too.”
“Then that’s all I need to know.” Tears blurred, and I swallowed around the turmoil that had chased me for months. “I know you hate what I’m asking of you, Cash, but you are the only person I trust. The second I was in trouble, you were the one my heart immediately told me to find.”
“And maybe the reason for that is because of who I became. Because somewhere inside you, you knew that I am the one who will wipe his stain from the earth so you and those kids can live the life you deserve.”
A shiver rocked down my spine. The threat in his voice was a pact.
“And what if he gets to me first?”
“He won’t.” It was a growl.
I took another fumbled step toward him. “Then do this for me. If you’re so sure that it won’t come to that, why do you care about pretending with me for a little while? It won’t make any difference in the long run.”
I realized I was begging. So close to dropping onto my knees.
Surprise blanched his face, before he angled his head. Vitriol spilled out. “That’s right, it won’t make any difference.”
“Then give me this peace,” I pleaded as I took another step toward him.
It brought us so close that I could smell him.
Leather and pine and the faintest trace of sweat. Something that wasn’t unpleasant in the least. Nothing but pure, unmitigated man.
Energy ricocheted between us. So hot that I could almost see the snaps of electricity blister through the night.
Sorrow pulsed through his expression, and he brushed his fingers over the tattoo on my wrist.
In Silence We Must Endure.
As if he were giving voice to the fact that I’d been so alone. That I’d been left behind by every single person I loved.
“I’m all wrong for what you need,” he said, bleeding regret.
My hand trembled as I lifted it, a fool who reached out and placed it over the thunder of his heart. Over the hard, packed muscle and the bristling, tattooed flesh. “I think you’re exactly what I need. Exactly what they need.”
“Daisy.” Pain leached into my name.
A burn lit me through when he covered my hand with his and pulled it closer to his heart.
My pulse raced and rushed, and my stomach twisted in a way it shouldn’t.
God, I’d missed him. Missed him so badly that sometimes I thought I wouldn’t survive. That old love wasn’t what this was about, but it was hard to ignore the relief at being with him like this.
Even though what we’d shared was mangled and torn.
“I’m not the same person, either, Cash. Every single person I’ve loved has left me. I’ve lost so much, but what hurt the most was when I lost you.”
His eyes slammed closed like he couldn’t handle what I was admitting.
“And then I had my children, and I got a spark of that life back. And I need to know they’ll be safe. I know what I’m asking is so much. Too much. But when it comes to my children, too much doesn’t exist. I’ll do anything or ask anything, even if it makes me pathetic and a beggar. I need to know if something happens to me, they won’t be taken into the foster system, or God forbid, end up with that monster.”
He opened his mouth like he was going to refute what I said, so I rushed before he could speak, “And I know you’re going to stop that from happening. I believe you, and I trust you. But I need this assurance. And once you find him and you…” I trailed off, unable to say it aloud.
The truth of this base, brutal act he promised to commit.
One that maybe made me a horrible person because I hoped that he did.
“Then we’ll leave and let you live in peace, and I promise, I won’t ever ask you for anything else.”
Torment wound around him, and I scratched my nails gently across the hot skin of his chest.
“Please,” I whispered.
A long groan left him, and he opened to me, those eyes swallowing me down as he stared at me through the fluttery, flimsy light.