Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 176012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 880(@200wpm)___ 704(@250wpm)___ 587(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 176012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 880(@200wpm)___ 704(@250wpm)___ 587(@300wpm)
But I want you.
Sliding my fingers into her panties, I rock with her to the music as I lick her mouth, coaxing her fucking tongue out. I don’t care who sees us, who’s watching, or about the cameras all over the street.
Everything is about to end anyway, one way or another.
Wrapping my arm around her waist, I sink into her mouth.
Twenty-thousand breaths.
How many will I last inside of her?
Quinn
I can barely catch my breath as he moves down my neck.
My mind races. He killed somebody?
Or he buried somebody?
Lucas pulls the strap of my dress down, and I stare at him, my eyes welling with tears as now—finally—the son of a bitch wants to touch me in front of everyone.
What I wouldn’t have given, for so long, to have him doing what he’s doing right now? In full view of people who will tell my family, even as the rain has us all in our own worlds. High Street rocks like a giant parade float around us as people dance, kiss, and coast to their own rhythm.
We could be just another man and woman like them, but now, I wish it was any other man but him. Did I ever know him?
I grip his shirt on his shoulders. “Look at me,” I tell him.
He exhales hard, pressing a finger between my legs, underneath my underwear. I squirm in his hold. No.
“Farrow knows the truth, and I don’t?” I bite out. “Is that really why you hid from us? Because of Drew Reeves?”
Someone who never knew him like we do or loved him like I do? He surrendered everything for fear of him?!
His chest shakes, and he tips his head back, letting the rain fall on his face. I jerk him, forcing his gaze to me again. The whites of his eyes are now red.
“Talk to me,” I say.
He searches my face as if looking for a way out, but there isn’t one.
If he ever spoke to me like I deserved to know the damn truth, I’d understand almost anything. Doesn’t he know that?
When he left me at the house earlier, I followed, because I couldn’t stand it anymore. I listened in the bushes and then dove into Carnival Tower and snuck up to the hatch in the roof.
He covered up a crime.
And he owns Green Street.
And Hugo gave him an ultimatum because he sees Lucas as a threat.
That’s all I know. Did he leave because he was forced to? Or because of the guilt?
“Out with it, Lucas.” Enough already.
His lids fall closed.
But just for a moment.
“Life is a force in itself,” he tells me, his tone soft and calm. “One way or another, the bill comes due. More than ever, when you finally figure out the one thing you want most of all in the world.”
He holds me tightly, eyes only for me as the party bounces around us. Aro and Dylan are somewhere, but I barely move, afraid he’ll stop. Am I the one thing he wants?
“Life always makes sure it gets paid,” he muses, a sad smile on his face. “I did what I thought was best for Madoc and for you and for…” He stops breathing. “…and for me.”
I shake my head, my throat swelling with a sob I don’t let out. I don’t understand. He might’ve lost his freedom, and maybe even a few people’s respect if he’d stayed and dealt with whatever happened, but didn’t he lose those things anyway? He’s not free.
He hasn’t been free. Not really. He gave up everything.
Gripping my ass in both of his hands, he holds me close, exhaling over my mouth.
“I don’t want to make another mistake,” he whispers. “Not tonight. I want to take you back to my old house and make love to you in my old room and not stop touching you once until the sun comes up.” Chest tight, he gazes at my mouth. “For once, I know exactly where I’m supposed to be, Quinn.”
My heart feels like it’s melting in a way that hurts. I close my eyes as his mouth captures mine and he tugs at my lips, sucking and devouring like he’s starving. Moving one hand to my hair, he presses us together, and I feel everything. The beat in his chest against mine. The cut of his teeth on my lip, my chin, my jaw…
And I feel everything that’s missing too. The happiness he used to have on his face when he talked to me when we were younger. The way I always felt safe with him. The calm and ease—and the trust—he inspired, just being close.
His teeth grab my skin through the dress, and I suck in air.
Twenty-thousand breaths. That’s what Hugo said.
What happens after twenty-thousand breaths?
“Lucas…” I pant, trying to pry myself out of his hold.
What about tomorrow? In the morning when he has to face everything again? Is he thinking about that at all right now? Is he even really thinking about me?