Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
“Gonna get your day, man.” Silas’s voice was mollifying. His head tipping to the side with the promise.
I roughed a palm over my mouth. “Been waitin’ on that day for a long, long time.”
“And that day is just around the corner.”
Guilt clotted my throat, and Silas seemed to know I was spiraling because he pushed around it, nudging me toward safer ground.
“Your girl’s car is still a long way out. Still waiting on parts.”
My girl.
Yeah, that subject wasn’t safe at all.
I ignored the chaos that churned in my guts. “Figured as much, which is why I’m here for a different reason. Need something safe and new, and I need it in cash.”
A smirk lifted on one side of his mouth. “Really?”
“Don’t fuckin’ ask questions, yeah?”
He chuckled. “Sure, man. Whatever you need. Think I’ve got something you might be interested in.”
And as he led me to an SUV sitting across the lot, I tried to ignore the shame nipping at my heels, telling me I was nothing but a liar and a traitor.
TWENTY-SEVEN
THEO
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OLD
“I guess I thought I was different. I thought I was going to come to LA and show up at an audition and I was going to be discovered the first day.” Scarlett quietly murmured the words into the darkness of Theo’s room where she was tucked beside him.
She’d been there for almost a week. Slowly healing. Each night creeping into Theo’s room and curling up at his side.
He knew it made her feel safe, so he didn’t mind.
The smile that pulled to his face was regretful. “Yeah. I imagine that’s what most everyone thinks. You don’t realize it’s the most corrupt, depraved place, and before you know it, you’ve been devoured.”
Whether by the streets or your competition. The ruthless industry or the dumps that cost a fortune that you ended up not being able to afford in the end. It all made surviving here nearly impossible. Only the luckiest few ever got that break.
Scarlett nodded against his shoulder. “Yeah. The first couple months, I was so determined. I researched and studied, and I thought I knew exactly what to say to get me through the door, and all I ever got were those doors slammed in my face. And my parents…they warned me if I went…if I didn’t go to college the way they expected me to, I wasn’t welcome to come crawling back.”
She trailed off, sorrow winding into her words.
Theo’s spirit thrashed.
He knew exactly what it was like to be rejected by your parents. Going hungry. Sleeping on fuckin’ concrete because you weren’t the person they expected you to be.
He’d never been. It wasn’t like it was a surprise to him.
But when it came to someone like Scarlett…
“Fuckin’ sorry. You don’t deserve that. You deserve to explore and fail and figure out who you’re really meant to be. You should be allowed to chase a dream without being condemned for it.”
Her chest trembled. “I hoped they would see it that way, but they told me it was a lesson I had to learn, and I had to figure it out myself.” She choked a self-deprecating sound. “It didn’t turn out so great.”
His guts twisted and his arm tightened around her. At least he’d had the pleasure of hunting down that monster Jimmy who hurt her. Theo had a smile on his face when he put him in the ground.
“Until I met the most amazing man in the worst of places.” Scarlett’s voice tremored through the shadows of his room, whispered at his chest.
“I’m glad I could help you. We’re gonna figure out a place for you to stay that’s safe—”
He broke off when she suddenly moved to straddle him. Air locked in his lungs, and his hands shot to her waist to stop her. “Scarlett, this isn’t—”
Her brown eyes were giant in the night. Filled with trust and a longing he should have recognized before then. “Please, Theo.”
His own eyes pinched closed. Something in his guts warned that this was all wrong. Him helping her hadn’t been about this.
He loved to fuck. What man didn’t? But he always kept it to the Owl bunnies who knew the score when it came to riding his dick. He didn’t have the time nor the heart for anything more than that.
And Scarlett deserved more.
“Think you’re confusing your relief at my helping you with something else, Scar.”
“I’m not, Theo. I’m not. I know what I feel.”
Except, Theo didn’t think he felt the same thing. Wasn’t sure he could feel what she was asking him to.
But he did feel something.
Care.
Longing for her to be free. For her to find something better.
For her to be safe.
And the one thing he knew for sure was she was safe with him.
The last thing he wanted was for her to feel rejected again.
So, he ignored the rest of the questions and gave in.