Unattainable (Undeniable, #3)(88)

Her eyes flew open, green and shining with emotion. “Yes,” she whispered.

“Then yeah, no more girls.”

“And no more drugs?” she continued.

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“Just me and you?”

“Babe,” he said, his heart pounding. He needed to kiss her now. Right the f*ck now or he was going to freak the f*ck out.

“Just me and you.”

“Forever.”

“Fucking shit, Tegen, yes, forever. Now shut the f*ck up and let me kiss you.”

She shut the f*ck up.

And he kissed her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT


“I think that’s it,” Ellie called out from the hallway.

Jesus f*cking Christ, he hoped so. Dirty had never seen so much shit before in all his life. Who would have thought one woman, a single woman without children, could have accumulated so much f*cking shit. He didn’t have half as much shit. Not even a third.

Maybe Ellie moving in wasn’t the best idea. Maybe being with Ellie wasn’t the best idea. Maybe having anything at all to do with Ellie wasn’t the best idea.

“Michael?”

Dirty’s eyes flew open and he found Ellie standing in front of him, holding a large box of books, peering up at him

“Yeah?” he asked, his voice hoarse.

Ellie bent down and set the box near her feet. Standing back up straight, she grabbed both his hands and knowing they were sweaty, clammy with fear, he closed his eyes again, embarrassed.

“Michael,” she whispered. “We don’t have to do this.”

His eyes flew open. No. They did have to do this. He had to do this. He couldn’t sleep even knowing she was at her parents’ house; he was constantly worried about her. True, he laid to rest the threat on her life but there could be another. Someone could snatch her up, hurt her, take her away from him and he wouldn’t even know it was happening, so yeah, he had to do this. He had to have her here with him, living alongside him, sleeping beside him. He had to know where she was at all times and when she wasn’t working, she damn sure needed to be right next to him.

“He can’t hurt me anymore,” she continued. “And if you’re not ready for this—”

“No,” he growled, shaking her grip off him and grabbing her shoulders. “We’re not out of the woods yet. People are f*ckin’ talkin’ ’round town. His family’s got money. They keep diggin’, who knows what they’ll find out.”

Ellie pressed her lips together and averted her eyes. She knew he was full of shit. She knew that there was no way anyone was ever going to figure out what had really happened to the good chief of police. Not that there was anything left to find.

“You’re not ready,” she said softly, backing away from him. “And that’s okay.”

Suddenly, Dirty found himself really motherf*cking pissed off. Was she f*cking scared of him? Was she trying to back out of moving in together? Had this whole thing just been some sort of ploy to get him to break it off because she was scared of what he would do to her if she tried to break it off?

Not that he blamed her. What good woman, or any woman with half a brain, would want to end up with him? He couldn’t even f*ck her properly.

“Fuckin’ leave then!” he shouted, kicking her box of books and sending it sliding across the floor. Books flew from the tipped box and ended up scattered across his living room, which only served to piss him off even more.

When she didn’t as much as flinch at his outburst, he grew even angrier. “Get the f*ck out, Ellie!” he yelled. “I know that’s what you’re wantin’, so f*ckin’ get!”

“That’s not what I want,” she said, staring directly into his eyes, her expression serious. “So stop acting like this.”

Why the f*ck was she so f*cking calm? He was freaking the f*ck out and here she was a picture of cool and collected. That wasn’t f*cking fair! Why couldn’t he be normal too? Why couldn’t he be the sort of man, a normal one, a good one, one who deserved to have a woman like this moving in with him, sharing his bed, giving him all sorts of shit he didn’t deserve and never f*cking would?

“Get out!” he yelled, sounding every bit as hysterical as he was feeling. He advanced on her, towering over her, and bore down into her personal space. “Did you f*ckin’ hear me? I said get the f*ck out!”

She didn’t even blink.

“GET OUT!” he roared.

Ellie spun away from him and immediately bent down, reaching for her box. Dirty stood there, shaking, watching as she hurriedly began picking up her books and tossing them into the box. When she was finished, without looking at him, she brushed quickly past him, headed for the door.

No.

He didn’t want this…but he did want this.

He didn’t know…

Shit.

Fuck.

“Fuck!” he yelled, sending his clenched fists into his forehead. “Fuck! Ellie, wait!”

Ellie stopped walking but didn’t turn around and he took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, baby, I’m just, I don’t know, I don’t f*ckin’ know, everything is—”

The box fell from Ellie’s hands with a loud thud and then she spun around. Before Dirty had any real time to process what she was doing, she was halfway across the room, unbuttoning her shirt as she stalked toward him.