Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 76953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“I’d rather it was me.”
“I’m fine,” I reminded him.
“But—”
“I know it’s easy to underestimate me, but I can take care of myself.”
“Not if he had a gun. Not if he’d knocked you out instead of grabbing you. Not—”
“I’m safe now,” I cut him off.
“We’re gonna keep it that way.”
“I know you will,” I agreed. “How are you?”
“What?”
“How are you?”
“Nothing happened to me.”
“Perish, come on. A former friend tried to kill you.”
“You left out the ‘again’ there. Think I might be more pissed off that I screwed up in the first place. Now the whole club is in danger because of my past.”
“To be fair, the club is constantly in danger because of the members’ pasts. Or their girlfriends’ pasts.”
“Guess that’s true.”
“It’s why Fallon and Uncle Reign were so calm about it. It’s one of those ‘another month, another crazy threat’ kind of deals.”
“Maybe. Still don’t like bringing danger here. Especially to you.”
“I’m fine,” I reminded him, nudging him with my shoulder. “Now hush. This is my favorite scene.”
We ate in companionable silence while I tried not to notice how his body brushed mine from shoulder to knee, how if I just scooted slightly closer, I could rest my head on his shoulder, I could wrap an arm around him.
Eventually, Sully came back, and Perish offered to help him bring my things in and down to the basement.
He never came back up.
I knew I couldn’t ask where he was without rousing suspicion.
So I stayed upstairs a little while longer, stealing some sweets from the supply Dezi came back with before making my way down to the basement.
To find that not only had Perish carefully unpacked all my clothes and placed them in one of the cabinets he’d cleared out for me, he’d made my bed with my warm blanket, my pillow, and my squishy plush that I used as a mini body pillow, since I was a side sleeper. He’d even found an old desk and brought it over to the end of the bed, setting up a small office space with my laptop, notebooks, and tablet.
For goodness’ sakes, he’d even set my slippers near the bed and hung my robe from the top bunk.
It was so incredibly sweet to set me up with a little home inside a safe house. Like he somehow knew I needed that, that I was someone who really loved their creature comforts.
I glanced over toward the glass room, weighing the chances of getting caught going up there, and deciding it was worth it.
“Baby, no,” Perish said as soon as my head peeked through the trapdoor. “Your uncles are walking around outside.”
Well, yeah, that certainly put a damper on the desire that had been building since he first started to undress me.
I rested my arms on the floor, going for as casual as possible.
“I was just coming up to say thank you.”
“Didn’t do shit.”
“You set up all my stuff.”
Or had I read that wrong? Did Sully do it? It did seem a bit more characteristic for someone like him. I mean, the guy had set up a whole date night full of craft stations for his girl because she liked doing crafty things.
But no.
No, Sully had come up too quickly and headed out to do something with Voss and Valen.
There was no way he could have done all of that so quickly.
“My fault you’re stuck in a fucking basement.”
“No one is blaming you,” I reminded him. “Least of all me. But thank you. It looks a million times more cozy. I appreciate it.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Well, it’s something to me. I’m thanking you. So accept my gratitude, you pain in the butt.”
I got a smile for that.
Probably because I said ‘butt’ instead of ‘ass,’ but either way, it was a good look on his face.
“Goodnight, Perish.”
“’Night, Gracie.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Perish
I planned to stay in the glass room all night.
It was my damn aching back that had me deciding to climb down, grab some medicine and some pillows, then head back up.
I sucked in a deep breath when I reached the bottom of the ladder, meaning to steady myself.
The problem? The whole basement smelled like Gracie’s coconut scent. So strongly that she had to have applied a fresh coat to her body.
That knowledge, of course, gave my mind things to think about.
That bare body of hers, her hands sliding all over it…
My cock twitched, and I debated going back up into the glass room and just suffering.
But I found myself moving forward, advancing toward the steps.
When a little cry had me stopping short, my heart accelerating, my hands curling into fists, ready to pummel anyone who might be hurting Gracie.
But she wasn’t being attacked.
Of course she wasn’t.
The gate was closed, and there were half a dozen guards walking the grounds. No one was getting in.
No.
Gracie was alone and unharmed.
Except for whatever was going on in her dream that was making her cry out and move around in her sleep.