Page 55 of Face

“They were watching my every keystroke. It was going to take me days if not a couple weeks to clone the system so I could go to sites freely without them watching. The phone had one bar left on it and I had no charger.”

Parker stared into my eyes and stroked his thumb on my cheek. “I don’t know what I would have done if something happened to you. I was so angry and hurt when you didn’t show up at the clubhouse, and then felt lower than scum when I found out you’d been taken. I have your phone, by the way, it was outside the building against the wall.”

“Oh, good. I thought they still had it.”

“No, it’s charging in my room at the clubhouse.”

I laid my head back onto his firm chest. “Parker, how come you never asked me how my face got like this?”

He was quiet for a few long seconds, stroking my arm in soft circles. “Because it doesn’t matter to me. Honestly, I don’t even see the scars. Plus, I figured if you wanted me to know, you’d tell me eventually. And if not, I would be okay with it, too. I can’t imagine it would be anything you’d want to relive.”

Tears welled up in my eyes and I nodded silently. “Thank you. It’s still a little traumatic to talk about but I’ll tell you about it later. I’m too happy right now to be brought down with those memories.”

“It sounds like you’ve been through it, beautiful. And now being kidnapped by those sick fucks. I’m glad they’re dead and I hope it doesn’t leave you with any emotional scars. They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

I looked up at him. “No, just manhandled me a bit. They thought I brought their site down and were going to lock me back up until I built them another one.”

“You know how to build a site like that?” he asked.

I snorted. “No way. I mean, I can build a regular website but nothing that complex and protected. Nor would I want to. If I had figured it out, I would have just thrown it up on the D.W. and then exploded it as soon as they let me go. I’m glad they’re dead.”

“Are you okay, though, I mean, really? Traumatized from being snatched like that?” he asked. “I’m sure you were terrified.”

“Well, I use sarcasm to hide my fear usually, so they didn’t know I was afraid they’d kill me, but I really was terrified, Parker.” I shuddered at the way they looked at me from behind those theater masks.

He kissed the top of my head. “You’ll be okay. I won’t let you out of my sight.”

I shook my head a little. “I just don’t know how I’m supposed to go back to normal after all of that.”

“I didn’t say you’d go back to normal, I said you’d be okay. And you will because you’re leaving this place and moving in with me.”

My finger paused at the circles I was drawing, and I craned my head to smile up at him. “You asking me to move in with you?”

His sexy lips turned up to form a sexy, lazy grin that turned my insides to mush. “I’m not asking. I’m telling you that’s what you’re doing. I’m not going to lose you again. You’re my person. My other half. I know that now.”

My heart fluttered and my belly flopped at his words. “Okay.”

The sun was almost down so I said, “Let’s shower and go to your clubhouse. I need to thank everyone personally.”

He nodded. “Can I use your computer first? My phone’s dead.”

“Sure,” I said, getting up and throwing his T-shirt on. It came down to my midthigh.

“God, you look sexy in my shirt,” he said, sliding his boxers on.

I led him to the living room and booted up the machine. After putting my password in, I almost died of embarrassment. I put my hands over my eyes with a groan as Parker chuckled.

“I’m never ever going to be able to scrub that photo from the internet, am I?” he asked.

I pursed my lips to stop from laughing. “Came right up on a Google search. Sorry, been crushing on you and had to at least have you on one of my screens.”

He pulled me flush to his body and gave me a long, luxurious kiss that made my toes curl. “Go hop in the shower, I’ll be right there to scrub you down.” He waggled his eyebrows at me before he sat in the chair and pulled up a search engine.

Chapter 24

Unfinished Business

Face

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