Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 160042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
She managed to fool me good.
I may have made a mistake in kidnapping her, but she’s the one who stood strong. Who stood firm and determined without cracking despite every ordeal I put her through. Without once wavering and confessing the truth. While most men I know would’ve crumbled, she took it all and she did it with dignity.
And fuck, I respect that.
I’m attracted to that. I’m attracted to my wife.
Well, not my wife after all, like she claims.
The thought somehow pisses me off more than the fact that she ruined my plans. And that is exactly why I need to focus. Because I want her too much. I want her with an intensity that I have never felt before. Not even with Annie. The girl I thought I loved. The girl who loved me but lost her life because of me.
Coming back to the moment, I reply, “What can I say, she fooled me. She was tryin’ to protect her friend and I was too stupid to notice.”
“Yeah, you were,” Mars snaps before turning toward Ax. “You. You’re gonna stay on her. If she puts a toe outta line, it’s your hide I’m tannin’.”
Before Ax can reply back, I say, “No, he’s not.”
Mars snaps his eyes over to me. “You brought a Turner into our home. Doesn’t matter if she ain’t really a Turner as long as she’s loyal to them. What do you, in your infinite fuckin’ wisdom, suggest we do with her?”
I ignore his sarcasm and take a long breath. “Haven can watch her.”
“My wife,” he bites out, “doesn’t work for you anymore. She’s not gonna do your bidding.”
“And my wife won’t be chased around by a fuckin’ horndog who’ll be more inclined to look up her skirt than watch her.”
“Hey, I’m sittin’ right here,” Ax interjects.
“She’s not your wife now, is she?” Mars reminds me.
I let a few moments pass so his dig won’t sting me too much, before I can respond calmly. “I brought her here. She’s my responsibility. And yes, I fucked up and I fucked up big. But she’s already been through a fuck of a lot because of me. She doesn’t need a fuckin’ watchdog following her twenty-four seven. She doesn’t need to feel more unsafe than she already probably does, given she’s from the Turner clan and we’re the Graysons. Haven’s a better option.”
Mars’s jaw pulses as he stares at me for a few seconds. “Fine, Haven can be with her. But I want him”—he tips his head toward Ax—“close by. We ain’t taking any chances.”
I don’t like it. But I know my brother won’t budge until I give in. So I shoot him a short nod before turning to Ax. “Close but not too close, yeah?”
Ax watches me with a smirk. “You’re awful jealous about a girl who ain’t your wife.”
I give him a dark look. “You’re awful amused for someone who’s this close to gettin’ his ass kicked.”
Not that it fazes him. He’s still a little shithead like he was eight years ago as he goes, “I’ll treat her like my hot adopted sister; ya happy?” Then, “On the other hand, doin’ your adopted sister does have a very strange taboo appeal, so—”
“Son, stop,” Mars commands.
He quiets down, but that fucking smirk still lingers on his face.
“I’m assuming you have a plan to fix your mistake,” Mars prods, and I shift my focus away from the thoughts of punching my younger brother on the first night I’m back from prison after eight years.
“Rad’s already on it. He should be here tomorrow,” I tell Mars.
He wasn’t happy about it. About what I told him to do. Not only about my mistake—which he thinks is his, too, and in his typical good-boy way, which he feels guilty for—but also about the fact that the girl he fell for is the real Turner girl. And hence belongs to the family that took almost everything from him including his speech. But I didn’t give him a choice. I should feel guilty about it as well—and I do—but I’m an asshole. I’m selfish and I’m fucking determined to see it through.
“First,” Mars begins, “I don’t like the way you keep draggin’ my foreman into your shit; and second, then what? What the fuck is your mysterious plan?”
“They did it for the land,” I tell him. “So I’m gonna take it away.”
“You are,” he goes, his expression barely changing.
“Thought you’d be happy about it. You’ve been vyin’ for that land for years.”
He has been. Even though we all grew up on the same stories about the feud, I always had a hard time understanding Mars’s drive to follow the same path as our father. Especially because I never wanted that for myself. Yes, I was loyal to the ranch and to the cause, but I was always going to move away. I was always going to buy my own land one day, land that was far away from all this Grayson-Turner bullshit, and chart my own path. But then it occurred to me. My older brother doesn’t want to follow in our daddy’s footsteps, yet he is like our daddy, which makes sense because Mars was closest to him. He also was very close to our granddaddy. Both of whom I knew very little about because they passed when I was too young. So I know this is a dream come true for Mars.