Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 160041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
“Don’t stretch too much. It might open the sutures,” I say. “What about the wound on your arm?”
She grabs her jacket off the floor and throws it over her shoulder. “It’s just a scratch. I’ll see myself out since I’ve overstayed my welcome.”
The moment she waltzes off, I grab her arm and make her stop. “Don’t go, please.”
She doesn’t look at me, doesn’t say a word, but the fact alone that she stops and doesn’t push me away speaks volumes.
“You can stay as long as you’d like,” I add, glancing at her face from the side.
She’s still hiding behind that curtain of hair, still building that wall brick by brick, but I won’t let her. I can’t let her do this all by herself.
“It isn’t safe,” she says.
I snort. “No one would dare to go against my parents, trust me. They can protect you.”
One eye connects with mine, glimmering in the light, an unholy darkness resting in the void that still takes my breath away. “It’s not safe for them … or you.”
My pupils dilate.
What?
Does she think she’s the threat?
Or is someone now … hunting her?
“I refuse to put anyone else in danger,” she says, taking another step.
But I refuse to let go, squeezing her arm to keep her from moving despite the fact that my heart pounds from the mere thought of the consequences. She could flay me alive, burn me, or rip out my tongue for daring to go against her.
But I will.
I will because she needs someone who will stand by her side, even if she doesn’t want them to.
Whatever it takes. However deep the pit goes, I would jump if she told me to.
I’d do anything for her.
Move mountains for her and jump off the highest cliff, just to catch a single kiss.
I’d walk across the moon to get to her, and name the stars after her along with it.
She is my sun.
The only thing my world revolves around.
But the thought that she could ever want me the same way absolutely paralyzes me.
“I don’t need you to protect me,” I say, grinding my teeth so hard I nearly chip a tooth. “When I find out who did this to you, they will need protecting from me because I’ll fucking kill them.”
Her hand balls into a fist. “I …”
“Let me protect you,” I say. “Let me help you kill.”
A grisly darkness falls over me, blanketing my body and clouding my judgment. “You don’t even have to tell me why they need to die. Anyone. Anytime. Just give me a name, and I will kill them for you. No questions asked.”
An audible gasp escapes her lips.
“Just let me. Please,” I beg.
She sucks on her bottom lip, and it’s the most beautiful thing. Everything about her is just breathtaking. Like an enigma I wish I could unravel, but at the same time keep in an infinite buoyancy in the void—an uncontrollable black hole, untouched by time. Untouched by us.
The world does not deserve her existence.
“Xavier,” she says, her voice so soft it catches me off guard. “Let go of me.”
My fingers immediately unravel from her arm.
“Good boy.”
A blush creeps onto my face. Just that one simple act of approval has me weak.
She grabs the door handle, but pauses to glance at me over her shoulder, while I sit here in the chair, defeated. After all this time, I still can’t seem to pierce through the veil.
A brief but meaningful smile on her face makes me look up.
“Thank you.”
That.
That’s all I’ll ever need.
The door closes behind her.
By the time my body has registered what she just said, she’s already long gone.
But I’ll remember.
I always remember every single word she ever spoke to me.
And this … this I’ll take with me to the grave.
Because it’s the closest I can get to the sun, to her acceptance … her love.
Orion
With my notebook in hand, I stroll across campus, trying not to be bothered by the metal still making my dick twitch. It’s a hard life trying to imagine my only muse without getting a hard-on, but an artist must always struggle toward greatness.
My pen flicks back and forth as I dabble down some words, but when I look up again to take in my surroundings, my brows draw together.
A certain officer who found the body in the woods left by none other than Sunny and Xavier just waltzed right up to her sorority.
Detective Foley.
Fuck.
CHAPTER 27
Orion
I put away my notebook and hasten toward the building while I pull out my phone instead.
Me: You have Sunny’s phone nr right? Tell her that cop is at her condo.
Xavier: Shit.
I lower my phone and approach the building, but another quick buzz has me looking at it again.
Sunny: I know.
Double crap.
I have to put a stop to this before he finds something he’s not supposed to find.
I tuck my phone away again and clear my throat just as the officer is about to enter uninvited.