Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 62197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 311(@200wpm)___ 249(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 311(@200wpm)___ 249(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
Blaise Hughes might be the boss, but he wasn’t going to also control who I loved. Noa had been the one thing that wasn’t controlled within the family. She wasn’t something I had to share. Fit into the darkness of our world. Being told that I couldn’t have the one person who could calm me, make me forget the other shit, wasn’t working for me.
I was glad I hadn’t admitted to Bane that this hadn’t been my first time to go check on her. If he knew I’d been four other times this month, then he’d really freak the hell out. I just hadn’t been seen or had to kill anyone the other times. Most of those visits, she was asleep, and I sat and watched her. It had given me peace.
“I’m not worried about Blaise,” I told him.
His head snapped around, and he looked at me. “You should be.”
“Didn’t Sebastian Shephard take his woman and run off with her? She’d been off-limits, too, and Blaise didn’t kill him.”
Sebastian was part of the Georgia branch, and when he’d broken command, it had spread through the family. He’d also lived, and he was engaged to the woman now.
“You’re not a goddamn Shephard,” Bane hissed. “Other than the Hugheses, the Shephards are the oldest line in the family. His lineage saved him. That, and his brother is a psychopath. One Blaise didn’t want to kill too. Because if he’d killed Sebastian, he’d have had to kill Thatcher. The deranged son of a bitch would have burned them all to the ground in Ocala if something had happened to Sebastian. THIS”—he held out his hands—“is a completely different situation. You don’t have a lethal psycho brother who is indispensable to Blaise Hughes.”
There was truth to that, but I was still holding on to the fact that I would be allowed to have Noa and live.
“Is she worth losing your life over?” Bane demanded.
I stared at him for only a moment before responding honestly, “She is my life.”
Bane’s shoulders rose and fell as he took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. “All right then. What is it you want me to do?”
A grin tugged at the corners of my mouth, but I didn’t dare give in and smile. Bane might have a change of heart if I pissed him off. And I did need his help.
“Cover for me. I need to go back and see her. Talk to her. She’s hurting, and I’m the cause of it. I can’t allow it to continue.”
Bane’s brows drew together. “And you suddenly need me to cover for you? How many times have you snuck off already to see her and not asked for a cover?”
I wasn’t going to tell him that. He was already pissed. “I don’t want to just watch her fucking sleep. I want to talk to her. Touch her. Fuck her. And I need more than a night to do that.”
“You can’t tell her anything,” he snapped.
“I’m not. I just … I need her to wait for me. To know that … that I love her.”
“Jesus Christ, Ransom. You had to go and decide you’re in love now? This is Hawkins’s first year to really understand the Santa thing and be excited about it. I can’t deal with trying to keep Hughes from taking you out and enjoy my fucking holiday at the same time.”
I knew she’d leave for Jellie’s house tomorrow. It was what she had been doing since college. But, damn, I wanted to see her before Christmas. I didn’t want her going through this holiday, thinking I didn’t care. She loved this time of year. It was killing me to think she was hurting.
“I was going to go tonight,” I admitted.
He shook his head. “No. After Christmas if you want my help. I can’t be distracted with your shit until then. Halo has our next few days completely filled with holiday fucking cheer.”
Dammit!
I needed someone to help cover for me. My going missing two days before Christmas would be noticed. There was the party at Linc’s that I’d be expected to attend tomorrow, and I wasn’t sure I could go see Noa and stay for only a few hours. I was a starving man the moment I was able to touch her. I wasn’t going to give a shit about anything else.
“What about Christmas night?”
“No,” he replied flatly.
Fuck!
“Midnight. On the twenty-six.”
The scowl on his face said he didn’t like it, but that was my limit.
“Fine. Just don’t get us both killed.”
Thirteen
Noa
Standing at the center window in my living room that overlooked Bond Street, I sipped from my cup of hot cocoa and watched the cars go by. The light dusting of snow wasn’t sticking, but it still gave a picturesque ambiance to the night. I’d never spent a Christmas Eve here. It was quieter than normal.