AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The fuck you don’t,” she fired back. “I know everything that there is to know about you Killian Warrick and that includes what drives you and why.” Her green eyes were unapologetic as she picked at all my scabs. “Posie isn’t a fucking project or a charity case.”
“She’s neither of those things to me,” I snapped. “Whether you want to believe it or not, I see her. I see everything that she is and everything that she’s afraid to be.”
“And what is it that you think she’s afraid to be?” Liam McCellan asked.
I looked over at him. “She’s afraid that I don’t see her as a rape victim,” I told him. “She’s afraid to hope that I just might see her as a normal woman with normal wants, normal needs, and normal dreams.”
“And when you get tired of tiptoeing around her,” Ramsey Reed Sr. asked, finally speaking. “What then?” When I turned to face him, it was easy to see what he was referring to.
“You’re assuming that I’m going to get tired,” I replied. I glanced at all the faces that were staring at me. “I’ll never get tired of loving Posie the way that she needs to be loved. So, please, don’t speak to me like I’m a fourteen-year-old boy talking with is dick, because I’m not. I’m a grown fucking man, and I’ve seen enough of life to know that what I’m feeling is real. I wouldn’t fucking be here if it weren’t.” I looked over at Lennon. “I’m not fucking suicidal.”
“The problem in this scenario is that you’re a man,” Ramsey Reed Sr. continued. “As men, we tend to believe that we can fix whatever is wrong and that’s not always the case.” The scar that ran down across his eye brightened as he lifted a brow. “You’re going to spend every day trying to fix something that’s not broken; it’s something that just is. You’re going to wake up one morning with the weight of helplessness threatening to choke you, and we just want to know what you’re going to do when that day comes. Because, Killian, it’s going to come.”
“It’s already here,” I told him. “I’ve been feeling that weight of helplessness since the day that my sister was attacked.”
“Ah, but your sister isn’t Posie,” Deke Marlow chimed in. “It’s not going to be your sister that’s looking at you every day with broken eyes. It’s not going to be your sister that’s watching you like a hawk to see if you’re going to turn on her. It’s not going to be your sister that’s going to be wondering if she’s enough for you sexually.” He leaned back in his seat. “Your sister knows that you love her, and she has years of history with you that proves your loyalty to her. Posie doesn’t have that advantage.”
“I get that you guys don’t know me,” I allowed. “And I understand that you’re just trying to protect Posie the best way that you know how. Nevertheless, I’m strong enough to carry all of Posie’s baggage.”
Lennon leaned forward in her seat. “But are you strong enough to stand back and let her carry it herself? Because that’s the question here, Killian. Right, wrong, or indifferent, you broke Posie’s trust, and you might not ever get it back. So, being a man and all, are you strong enough to stand back and let Posie fight her own demons if that’s what she chooses?”
“Are you also strong enough to live with the fact that you’re not needed?” Ramsey Reed Sr. asked seriously. “Because you’re not. Posie is a strong girl, so she will always land on her feet, even if she’s standing on a bed of nails. Still, she has all of us if things ever get to be too much for her.”
“Let’s also not forget that you kill people,” Ace McIntire added. “You kill people because it’s the only way that you know how to avenge your sister and live with the guilt of not having had protect her.” He cocked his head. “If that’s not a hero trying to save the heroine, then I don’t know what is.”
“I’m strong enough to be whatever Posie needs me to be,” I repeated. “I don’t know how many ways I have to say it.”
“A million,” Lennon spat, anger flaring in those green eyes of hers. “A fucking million.” It was crazy how someone so beautiful could be so ruthless. Then again, Saveria Benetti had to be one of the most beautiful women on the planet, and she was ten times what Lennon Prince was. “Because if you hurt her, if you fail Posie, I will fucking kill you,” she hissed. “And I don’t give one fuck if that brings the Benettis to my doorstep. You might have read the report on what happened to Posie, but you didn’t see her. You didn’t sleep next to her hospital bed almost every fucking night.” I opened my mouth, but she quickly shut me down. “And before you throw your sister into the picture, it wasn’t you that suffered by her side every day, it was her husband. While I’m sure that your entire family suffered, and while I’m sure that you are carrying some deep scars from what happened to your sister, I’m willing to bet that her husband’s scars are far worse, and do you want to know why? Because he’s her person, not you.”
“You don’t know shit,” I fired back.
The girl was in my face before I knew it, and every man in the room stood back and let her. If that wasn’t a testament to what she was capable of, then I didn’t know what was.
Her green eyes locked onto my blue ones. “I know that I will gut you from navel to nose if you ever hurt Posie,” she snarled. “What I did to her rapists will be nothing compared to what I will do to you if you turn out to be a pussy. If you think that the Benettis know how to torture people, I’ve got a whole new world that I am just dying to introduce you to.”
“Lennon, that’s enough,” her father said softly. “I think that Killian gets the picture.”
Still staring me in the eyes, she said, “I just want to make sure that he has all the facts before he decides what to do next.”
“Lennon, rein it in,” Ramsey Reed Sr. insisted carefully.
“I already told you that I don’t care about your threats,” I said. “I’m not leaving here without Posie.”
“Then I think that we should call Posie in here and let her decide what happens next,” Liam McCellan suggested. “After all, this is all about her and what she wants.”
“Great idea,” Ace McIntire added. “I had no plans on burying a body today.”
Lennon smirked, then stepped back. “It’s still early, Uncle Ace.”
Looking at the green-eyed demon, it was clear that people like her shouldn’t be walking around free. Still, if things went my way, this woman was going to be like my sister-in-law.
Chapter 35
Posie~
When Uncle Liam had walked into the backyard, I had expected Aunt Roselyn to be with him, but when he had instructed me to follow him into Uncle Deke’s office, that’s when I’d been hit with what was going on. Deep down, I hadn’t been surprised though.
So, now I was standing inside Uncle Deke’s office, the tension in the air palpable and Lennon looking like she was ready to start shooting flames out of her eyes.
