Chapter 2
Two
Tinsley
The sound of the doorknob rattling pulls me from a deep sleep.
Bolting upright, I look around the dark room for what woke me.
I relax when I don’t see anything until the sound of the rattling echoes again.
Laying back down, I push myself all the way against the wall and pull the covers up so the only thing visible are my eyes.
Holding my breath, I watch the door, praying that it won’t open.
The sound of a thud against the door causes me to jump. “Please, Tiny, let me in. I just want to see you. Please.”
Tears fall down my face at the sound of his voice on the other side. I’m frozen, unable to think clearly as I fight the urge to do what he’s asking me to do. The tears flow freely with the memory of what happened last time I defied the man on the other side of the door.
“Tiny, open the door,” his voice sounds rougher, more demanding. “You know what happened the last time. Don’t make me take the last of them from you.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. The tears are hot as they run down my face, and I fight the sobs rattling my chest. His fist comes down hard on the door, causing it to shake on its frame.
Pulling my knees to my chest, I wrap my arms around them.
Placing my forehead on my knees, I shiver with anxiety, stress, and pure terror.
The door splinters open and slams against the wall, finally pulling the scream from me I’d been fighting to hold in.
“Fuck. Come on, Tinsley baby.” Strong arms wrap around me as I fight to get free. “You’ve got to fight to come back to me, Tesoro.”
The voice is familiar—warm, demanding, and with a slight roughness.
I fight to break away from the nightmare that is trying to drag me under.
With a gasping breath, I come awake looking around for the monster that haunts me.
As the nightmare fades and reality sets in, I relax back against the hard chest and into the powerful arms wrapped around me.
I force myself to breathe, reminding myself I’m here.
I’m safe. It was just a dream … even if my body hasn’t gotten the memo yet.
“That’s it, Tesoro,” Andre rumbles low into the side of my head.
“I’m sorry,” is the only thing I’m able to say right now.
“No need to be sorry,” he murmurs, leaning back onto the headboard and pulling me back with him.
Laying my head back on his shoulder, I continue trying to relax. “Yes, there is. I’m a grown-ass woman having nightmares that wake the entire damn house.”
Andre huffs out a sarcastic laugh. “Tesoro, I don’t believe that there is a single person in this house who doesn’t have their own form of nightmares.”
I shift around so that I’m sitting beside Andre so that I can look him in the face. “There is no way that big, bad Andre the Don is admitting to having nightmares.”
Andre drops his chin, mock-glaring down at me. “Miss Reeves, you wouldn’t be making fun of me now, would you?”
Placing my hand on my chest, I let out a mock gasp. “I wouldn’t dream of ever making fun of the boss.”
He looks down at me with an eyebrow cocked. “Tinsley Reeves, it is unbecoming of you to mock a man of my status.”
I don’t even try to stop the laugh that bubbles up.
Rolling away from Andre, I laugh so hard that I must hold my side as it aches.
Andre sits up straighter in the bed, leaning over me as the laughter just keeps coming.
I haven’t laughed this hard for any reason since before my mother and father passed.
“Would you like to clue me in on what’s so funny?” Andre finally grumbles, a small smile playing on his lips.
I just shake my head, unable to speak or explain.
I’m finally able to catch my breath and wipe a few stray tears off my face and look up into the dark eyes sparkling with amusement and bewilderment.
The night four months ago floods my memory of a time before he knew who I was.
I’ve longed for him to see me that way again instead of with distrust and disdain.
Andre brings his hand up and cups my cheek. “You truly are the most stunning woman that I’ve ever seen.”
“Don’t say things you don’t mean, Andre. We both know this is a weak moment you’re going to regret later,” I whisper, looking away from him, fighting the urge to beg him for just one more night.
“I’ve never lied to you, Tinsley. I may be an asshole—cruel, short-tempered, and even slightly crazy—but the one thing I’ve never been is a fucking liar.” Andre’s tone is gruff.
Putting my hands between us, I push at his chest so I can slide away from him and climb out of bed. “All of that may be true, but it doesn’t mean that in moments of weakness you won’t say or do things that aren’t completely intentional or true. I fell for it once, and I won’t again.”
Andre stands from the bed, sliding his hands into his hair, gripping it tight. “Fuck, Tinsley, what do you expect me to do? You’re the goddamn princess of the Reeves family. There is no way at any point in time that this will ever happen. There’s too much bad blood between the families.”
Spinning on him, I glare, hands on my hips. “I’m not asking you to do a fucking thing but let me work for you until I can find a way out of here and away from my brother. I just need a few more months, and then I’ll be gone.”
He advances on me, slow like the predator that he is. “Do not speak like that. This may never be able to work, but that does not mean I will ever let you go. I can’t let the same thing that happened to our parents happen to you. Do you understand me?”
“Andre, I know you think you feel something for me, and I wish more than anything it was true but what I know now is that a man who can’t put me above everyone else is not the man for me,” I whisper.
Hot tears run down my face as I turn to make my way to the bathroom, then close the door quietly behind me.
With my back on the door, I bite my lip to stop the sobs from escaping as my heart shatters for something that never was and never could be.
“I’m sorry, Tinsley. I’ve never wished to be someone else more than I do in this moment,” he murmurs from the other side of the door.
The moment I hear my bedroom door close, I lose my battle with the sobs warring to get out.
I slide down the door, wrap my arms around my knees, and eye the white and blue sticks sitting on the counter across from me.
How am I going to hide this from him for a few more months?
What would he do if he ever found out? These are not things I can even start to find the answers to while sobbing on the fancy bathroom floor.
I sit there until the sobs finally subside and I’m able to drag myself off the floor, looking at the person in the mirror that I promised myself I would never see again.
The night I ran, I was someone so broken and scared that the thought of continuing was unimaginable. Now as I look into the eyes of the same woman, I see a fight burning behind the broken heart to keep going and make my life matter.