Total pages in book: 181
Estimated words: 181613 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 908(@200wpm)___ 726(@250wpm)___ 605(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181613 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 908(@200wpm)___ 726(@250wpm)___ 605(@300wpm)
I want to hug her, hold her tight, tell her it’ll be all right.
But it won’t.
It won’t ever be.
“Why?” The rage becomes louder and louder. “Why did you have to do this? Why did you have to ruin what we had?” she murmurs, rubbing her pretty eyes that still shine so brightly they could light this whole goddamn house on fire with just a single look.
And she whispers, “Why do you have to make me doubt him?”
I look at her from under my lashes. “Because he’s a liar.”
Her head slowly turns toward Grey, whose ghostly face has lost all its color. All the happiness. The devious smile that he once used to prey on her.
Gone.
Grey
The viciousness grips my heart in an instant and squeezes the life force out.
He really fucking went there.
I’m going to kill him.
I fish my knife from my pocket and immediately lash out, but Apollo grabs my arm, stopping me before I reach him. “Don’t even think about it.”
“Let go so I can shank him!” I yell.
“Exactly why I’m not letting you go.”
“Figured he’d pull that stunt.” Levi scoffs.
Aspen picks up a piece of the camera from the floor and inspects it, quaking as the rage begins to take hold. She crushes it in her hand, grabs her clothes, puts them on, and runs out the door.
“Aspen!” I yell, jerking free from Apollo’s grip to chase her.
But that motherfucker actually blocks my path. “I will end you if you don’t get out of my fucking way.”
“Try. I’ve been waiting for the chance to gut you myself,” Levi replies, tucking his hand into his pocket where I’m sure he’s hiding a knife too.
“Don’t you two dare,” Apollo interjects, as he swiftly puts on sweatpants and approaches. “This is my room. Read that sign?” He points at a small placard on the door. “No fighting. No stabbing. No murder. This is my sanctuary.”
“Fuck that shit,” Levi growls. “We should’ve killed him when we had the chance.”
“He’s still a Phantom, Levi. Whether you like him or not, you can’t hurt him.”
“You heard him,” I hiss. “Now move.”
He glares at me for a moment before finally stepping aside, and I bolt past him, shoving him out of the way. I have much more important things to deal with first before I put him under the ground.
I put on my jacket and rush down the stairs, following Aspen outside. “Please, wait.”
“No,” she rebukes.
“Please, let me explain.”
“Stop following me,” she says.
“I can’t,” I say, finally catching up to grab her hand. “You’re my girlfriend, my world.”
She jerks loose. “Is it true?” she mutters. “Did you tape me?”
The cat’s out of the bag now, thanks to Levi. There’s no other way to regain her trust than by being transparent.
I nod.
God, how I wish this day had never come.
Her face scrunches up in anger. “Show me. Now.”
Aspen
Grey gulps and walks down the steps to his car and opens the door, looking at me like he wants to drive me somewhere.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“You don’t have to. We’re not driving. Everything is in here.”
He sits down on the front seat and opens up a hidden compartment that fits a small laptop and a hard disk to store all the material.
I can’t believe he kept all this in his car.
How did I never notice?
I step closer and finally decide to sit down on the passenger’s seat. The danger is real, but the need to know is stronger than my need to stay safe.
He hands me the laptop like it’s a smoking gun.
“Password is Aspen,” he says, sighing.
It’s like he’s given up completely.
I type in the word, and sure enough, the laptop opens up. Dozens upon dozens of files all labeled by date. I open one of the folders and inspect the videos inside. I sift through the files without care, blipping through each raw video footage of me.
Me.
Me.
Me.
All he ever taped was me.
Me, outside in the grass with my friends. Me, at one of my classes. Me, having a quick ice cream downtown. There must be hundreds of videos and photos, all of me.
He’s obsessed.
My entire life compacted into a single drive.
Like only a stalker would.
CHAPTER 45
Aspen
Shivers run all over my spine.
There are folders labeled with “NSFW,” and when I open them up, it’s all videos of me having sex with him in my own room, taken from multiple angles. He’s even put one in my bathroom and looked at the camera while fucking me.
Good God.
Levi was right.
But the thing that strikes me the most is that the videos go way back, even before we first met. There are dates when I was already at Spine Ridge University, unaware of his existence, yet he’d already found me.
“How?” I mutter out loud.
“I was always in love with you … from the very first moment I saw you here on campus.” He swallows away the lump in his throat while I keep scrolling through his obsessive collection of me.