Forced: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance (The Blackthorn Brothers Book 1) by Cali MacKay Page B

stupid to notice. Because suddenly, she didn’t seem so crazy—just distraught and…broken.
    I didn’t quite understand it all. It wasn’t the murder of her stepbrother, since she’d been like this when I met her, though that may have contributed to things getting worse. That meant, if this was all because of some problem she was dealing with, then it had all started before my time with her.
    “Wren… You’d tell me if something was wrong, right?”

 
     
     

     
    “Of course there’s something wrong, Ash. You broke my heart the last time we were together, and now you’re dragging me back to my father’s and forcing me to marry you—which, no offense, doesn’t exactly bode well for us having a long and happy marriage.” Though it was nothing but the truth, there was no way I could tell him all I’d been through…or worse still, all I’d done. I just couldn’t go down that road, digging up my life’s mistakes and all the ways I’d been wronged, when no good would come of it.
    “You don’t know that, Wren. And maybe getting married is a good thing. It’s not as though we didn’t once love each other.” He let his fingers trail down my back, his touch soothing my jagged nerves.
    Yet, I knew that happiness wasn’t meant to be mine, even if he made me feel like it could be. And that was downright dangerous. Because I knew the promise of happiness was nothing more than a lie, and if I gave in and believed that it could be mine—that I could somehow overcome all my problems—then eventually my reality would come crashing down around me, and the fallout this time around would be even harder.
    “We were volatile together at the best of times. So don’t go kidding yourself into believing that this is some sort of fairy tale, when you know the only road we’ll be on is a road to disaster if we stay the course.” The truth was, he didn’t know the half of it. Things would always be fucked up between us, and getting hitched sure as hell wouldn’t fix anything.
    “You don’t know that, Wren. And I swear, I’ll do everything I can to make you happy and keep you safe. You just need to give this thing between us a chance, instead of condemning it before it’s even gotten started.”
    The way he looked at me with those intense green eyes of his made me want to believe every word he said, especially after he’d given me the most mind-blowing orgasms I’d had in years. Yet he didn’t have a clue as to what he was walking into, and he was making promises he’d never be able to keep.
    “It’s not as though I’ll be given much of a choice, either way, so why are you bothering with how I feel about this?” It may be sweet of him, but it didn’t change my reality.
    “I know you think I’m a fucking asshole—and maybe I am. But it doesn’t mean I don’t care about you.” He let out a sigh of frustration, his body tense against my side. “You know what? Let’s just get some sleep. We’ve got a long day ahead of us, and there’s no point in arguing when neither of us has a choice. But, I swear, Wren—try to pull another runner, and I’ll handcuff us to each other faster than you can blink.”
    I couldn’t help but scoff at him, even as I settled in against his side, ready for sleep. “As if I can’t pick my way out of a set of handcuffs.”

    We slept in late, and eventually got on the road after grabbing a bite to eat, and though I had little to say to Ash, my silence meant that I was left with nothing but my thoughts for company—and that was never a good thing. Ash did his best to try to get me to talk to him, but I was in no mood for being soothed or humored when he and my father were hijacking my life.
    “I was thinking…once we’re married, we should take some time to travel. My brothers can deal with the distillery while we’re gone, and I have more than enough stashed away.” He reached over and took my hand, bringing it to his lips—and earning him a glare as I pulled my