Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 79349 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79349 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
I take hold of his wrists, giving him another pleading look as a sob sputters from me. I try to force the words to leave my mouth, but I’m too distressed for them to come.
He dips his head, and for a split second, my anxiety rockets to hell and gone when I think he’s going to kiss me, but instead, he presses his mouth to my forehead while pulling me into a gentle hug.
“You’re safe with me,” he repeats, holding me as if I’m precious.
Unable to keep it together any longer, sobs begin to shudder from my chest.
I don’t know what to think or do.
Where do I even begin to make sense of this?
Chapter 15
ENZO
Out of sheer desperation, I admitted my feelings to Jenna in the hopes that it would calm her down if she knew I cared about her.
It didn’t. Instead, it had the opposite effect.
I rub my hand up and down her back, hating how badly she’s trembling and the heartbreaking sobs coming from her.
“It’s going to be okay,” I say for what feels like the hundredth time. “There’s nowhere safer for you than with me.”
Foda-se! I didn’t want to trigger her like this.
“You’ll get used to me,” I murmur before pressing a kiss to her hair. “I’ll give you the world, and all I ask in return is that you’ll be mine.”
The more I talk, the harder she cries, and eventually, I just keep quiet, holding her while she sobs her heart out against my chest.
This is not what I wanted. I fucked up for a second night in a row.
I close my eyes, trying to think of how I can calm her down, but I can’t come up with anything.
Deus, I suck at this.
It’s because I’ve never had any kind of relationship in my life. I don’t know how to deal with people, least of all someone as sensitive and fragile as Jenna.
Finally, she calms down, and when she pulls back, I let go of her and lean down so I can see her eyes. They’re swollen and red as she wipes her cheeks dry with her palms.
My eyebrows draw together, and using the language she prefers, I give her a pleading look while I take hold of her hand and press it to my heart.
Lost sobs quiver over her lips, and when she ducks her head to avoid my gaze, I whisper gently, “I just want to make you happy. I didn’t mean to trigger you.”
When she peeks at me from under her bangs, my heart squeezes in my chest.
She pulls her hand free from where I still have it pressed to my shirt, and stepping around me, she walks to the living room.
I follow, needing to stay close to her, and when she kneels by the coffee table and starts writing, I crouch beside her.
It’s been one shock after the other, and I need to catch my breath. It’s very overwhelming.
She takes a couple of deep breaths, then writes more.
Why me?
My gaze drifts over her, and even though this night hasn’t gone according to plan, I feel a sense of peace now that I get to be around her.
“At first, I was drawn to your shy nature, and as I watched you, I became…” I rethink using the word obsessed with her and change what I was going to say. “I began to care for you.”
If you care about me, why did you say all those things about not letting me go and that I belong to you forever?
Even though I was panicking because she was panicking, I meant every word I said.
“I was scared you were going to run,” I admit. “I thought telling you that I wouldn’t let you go would make you stay.”
Seriously? You sound insane, and it scares me.
Her features tighten with something akin to heartbreak.
I thought you were kind. I believed all the lies. I thought the job was real and felt like the luckiest woman alive.
She lets out a soft sob and turns her head so I can’t see her face. A minute passes before she writes again.
Does Cassia know all of this? Was she in on it?
I almost place my hand on Jenna’s back but stop myself and pull back.
“The job wasn’t a lie, meu anjinho. You deserve so much more than working the night shift at a gas station where it’s unsafe for you.”
She taps the pencil against the question about Cassia, and I let out a sigh as I move to sit on the couch to relieve the pain in my side.
“Cassia cares about you. She’s really your friend,” I answer. “Last night, she let me have it and threatened to shoot me in the foot because I accidentally scared you.”
Jenna’s head snaps to me, her eyes going wide as saucers, then she’s writing again.
It was you?!!!!!