Bruce stumbled back to the door. He grasped the handle in his hand and opened the door but didn't go through it, glancing casually over his shoulder at me. "I expect you back in the office Monday morning at six thirty, Coltridge. Until then, you're going to get your head outta your ass, head on up to Maine, and beg Lil Miss to take you back.".KLAUSI erred.That much had been obvious to me even prior to depositing Sam in front of my mother's house.It no longer felt like it belonged to me. That Pete's New York apartment never did. I understood, as I killed the engine on the car Flinn had cobbled together from parts when we still hated each other, that home wasn't a place; it was a mentality. And I'd only been able to tap into it when I was around the impossibly handsome, infuriating, charming man upstairs."Mommy." Gravity kicked the back of the passenger seat with the new shoes Flinn had bought for her. Ombre rainbow boots. It was ninety degrees out, and she'd worn them with a yello
Hey, Bruce will be here in any minute. I'm gonna run on out. You'll be okay, Flinn."I was leaned against my kitchen island, pouting like a bitch, anything but okay. "How do you know?" I growled.Pete gazed at me in wonder. "I don't. It's just asshole crap people say, you know." He shrugged. "But most likely, you'll survive."."I don't think you survive your sister.""Dating her, I hear she's a mess too. Maybe it's not finished?"Hold up, what? My head swung up.The asshole was already pulling on the door handle, off he went. "Ciao, assface." He saluted. "See you later.""Wait, wait." I jumped up, stalked after him. He slunk out, and I crashed right into Bruce Marshall's body.Yay fucking me.Even his sad ass face, huge cowboy hat, and ridiculous buckle couldn't dampen my mood.Klaus was having a bad day? Great news. Maybe I still had a chance."Howdy, partner." He tipped his hat down.I felt a wave of nausea again. I wasn't tipsy this time, but sicked out by the coming conversation.
“You’re walking out on this?”"I have to, Flinn. It's not safe anymore. Too risked. You shattered me, but you won't shatter me. I have to do this. For myself. For my daughter. I have to get out.""I love you, and you're leaving me, just like them," he breathed.Them. His parents. Hurting him destroyed me, but I knew he'd bounce back if he saw it."No, Flinn. I'm turning my back on myself. You can do better than what I could provide for you. I will not let you settle on a woman who would never be able to give you her heart fully.""Even if I'll settle for less?" His eyes darkened."Especially if you do," I said gently. "You deserve the type of love that you are willing to give."He intended to protest, but I shut him up with a smash of my mouth against his. The kiss that followed put me somewhere in between heaven and hell, in an agony of bodily pleasure and a tearing heartache. His lips grabbed mine greedily, tongue colliding with my own, and the very next moment, he was on top of me
"I know you did everything to make it here." The words ripped from my throat with massive effort, my stomach twisting. I didn't want to do this, say goodbye when every hello made my heart falter. But neither did I know how to release control over my heart without losing my mind. "And I'm not angry about it.". Even so…I wish you hadn't given that jerk Shane what he wanted. My face twisted."Fuck the corporation, Klaus. He can have everything. He could steal the penthouse, the shirt on my back. I rode all this way in a tornado, against all reason, against all odds, to tell you something very important.""And what might that be?""I love you."The words struck me so forcefully they knocked me keel over, as if an iron fist to the gut. When I was a kid, I used to fantasize about hearing those words. Tucker uttered them so rarely, and only when we were in bed.But now?Now I was shit-scared.Flinn wouldn't hurt me the way Tucker hurt me—he'd destroy what was left of me.And even worse, he'd
My fists began to beat him in no rhythm or rhyme, cascading onto his jaw, his neck, his forehead, his cheeks, and his temples like a waterfall of fury. The walls, floor, my face were slick with blood and yet, I was not able to cease. Bones cracking and blood splashing comprised the din in my ears. I was past being able to hear the voices begging me to desist. Wails of gravity. Sirens and police and wails of fear. My sole focus was him. Tucker. The crap father who'd shoved me towards an awareness of my own truth.That you could be a violent parent and never be present at all in your child's life.That, in fact, your absence was the greatest cruelty.Tucker is not my dad, but he was all that I hated in human beings who could not be responsible.Tucker's blood burned my eyes and seared my face before two large policemen could drag me back from him. By the time they did, he'd been lying unconscious for an eternity, so I had no way of knowing if he was dead or alive. Honestly, I didn't car
The word resounded so thunderously that it filled the automobile, the block, the goddamn universe. Shane's personal driver flinched, the car jerking violently to one side before resuming its course on the road.I dug my fingers into my thigh to prevent screaming, bile surging the back of my throat. That initial reaction was partly because I realized that Klaus was in worse shape now and partly, I saw with dread, because I'd grown so attached to the little stinker."Kidnapped again?" I snarled."He, he, he, he…" Cal stuttered, gasping, her breathing shallow and rapid and out of synch, wheezing every time she tried to take in oxygen. "He just materialized. I-I-I thought you were back. I thought you had a key and knew it."White noise in the background was unmistakably a crowded Manhattan street. People chattering, laughing, sipping drinks, and horns blaring. She was walking in circles around the room. Not a good sign."He burst in. I struggled with him. I tried to shove him. I swear, Fl