Read Online Play Me Right by Tracy Wolff - Free Book Online Page A

to death.
    “I let her talk, let her cement the plans. I even chose the pattern for my bridesmaids’ dresses. And then, when they left, I lay there, trying to decide what to do. Going back to Carlo, to that life, wasn’t an option. I couldn’t stand to look at him, let alone marry him. Which meant I could either find a way to kill myself before I got released or I could run away. And it turned out, despite the suicidal actions that had put me in the hospital to begin with, I didn’t want to die.
    “So I waited until the nurse came around for my nightly medicine dose and vitals check. Then, when I was sure it would be hours before she knew I was gone, I pulled out the IV, unhooked the monitors and walked out with nothing but my purse and the silk pajama set my mother had brought me at the hospital. I went to the closest ATM, took out the three hundred dollars it let me take, and I never looked back.
    “I went to the cheapest hotel I could find, spent a week healing enough to cover my bruises with makeup, and then another week looking for a job to pay the bills while I worked out a better plan. I knew I should just walk away, should just leave Vegas forever. But I couldn’t leave Lucy forever. Not with them, not when she’s so fragile and sick and no one even knows how long she’s going to live. If it wasn’t for her I don’t think I ever would have spoken to my parents again.”
    “You shouldn’t have to speak to them again, shouldn’t have to have anything to do with them—“
    “I need to see Lucy—”
    “I know a lot of really good lawyers, Aria. Lucy doesn’t have to stay with those bastards any more than you do.”
    “But I can’t afford—”
    “Are you kidding me?” he demands, pushing me away just far enough that he can look in my eyes. “Are you fucking kidding me with that?”
    “I know you want to help. I get that. And it means more to me than I can ever tell you, but there’s no way I can let you make yourself a target like that. My father would kill you if you tried to interfere with his family—”
    “Your father is welcome to try. But he needs to understand that you’re not his family anymore. You’re mine. And unlike him, I protect what belongs to me.”
    My breath catches in my throat at the possessiveness of his tone. At the certainty that I am his. “I don’t belong to anyone. Not now, not ever again.”
    Sebastian swoops down and kisses me, and it’s the most thrilling kiss I’ve ever had. Hard yet soft, demanding yet giving, burning hot yet so sweet it literally takes my breath away. When he finally pulls back my knees are weak and my heart is beating so fast that I can barely catch my breath.
    “You belong to me, Aria,” he tells me and he’s never looked more serious. More determined. “Just like I belong to you. This isn’t about control, isn’t about anything but the fact that I love you and—”
    “What did you say?” I demand, certain that I’ve heard him wrong. Certain that he didn’t just say what I thought he did.
    “I said I love you. And I want to spend every day for the rest of my life proving it. I want to cherish you like you deserve, Aria. To give you all the things Carlo was too fucking stupid to.”
    I don’t answer for long seconds—I can’t. My throat is thick with unshed tears and shock and I don’t want to be crying the first time I tell Sebastian that I love him.
    So instead of answering his declaration with one of my own, I tangle my hands in his hair and tell him, “Say it again.”
    He looks a little alarmed. “Which part?”
    “The part where you told me you love me.”
    “That’s easy. I love you, Aria, and I want—”
    “That’s enough.” I clap my hand over his mouth. “That’s more than enough. Because I love you, too. And I want to spend the rest of my life taking care of you, too.”
    He takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly. Even manages a smile. “Thank God, Aria. Thank God.”
    And then I’m in his arms and