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)
She buries her face into Grey’s chest while he’s still muttering sorrys, but I don’t think she’s even listening anymore, and I don’t blame her.
Discovering that the stalker you’ve been obsessing over is actually your most despised and hated bully isn’t something I’d deal with well. I’m surprised she didn’t immediately go for the throat.
But I guess some things are too shocking to get over that quickly.
“You … you both knew,” she murmurs. “Didn’t you?”
She leans away from Grey, who tries to console her by brushing away her tears. “No, I didn’t.”
“But you had those cameras everywhere.” She leans away. “You saw me with him.”
“I did, but I didn’t know who he was. I just knew that I had a sick, twisted fantasy about seeing you with another man, and I couldn’t help myself. I needed to see more.”
She gets up from the ground and looks at me.
“And you? You pretended to be my stalker for the fun of it?”
I scratch the back of my neck. “I thought you invited me to have a fun chase. It didn’t mean anything.”
“You knew what it meant to me.” She shoves me out of the way and waltzes off.
“Oh, c’mon now, Freckles,” I say, trying to reason with her. “You know I’m a lusty motherfucker when it comes to you.”
“Where did Levi go?” She looks around. “I don’t see him anywhere.”
“I heard his motorcycle. He’s probably trying to get far away from here.”
“After the bomb he just dropped on her?” Grey mutters.
“Can you blame him?” I scoff. “The girl he’s been in love with for over half a decade wants him dead.”
Aspen locks eyes with me, and the shock riddling her expression doesn’t go unnoticed.
“Oh, did I say something I wasn’t supposed to say?” I shrug. “Oops.”
“That’s not,” she mutters, struggling to stand on two feet. “I need to talk to him.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” I say.
“What do you mean?” Before I can answer, she slaps her hand in front of her mouth.
“What’s happening?” Grey asks.
“Her stalker made her a deal. They fuck … he kills Levi,” I explain.
“So he lied all this time,” Grey says.
“No,” Aspen mutters, her eyes growing bigger. Suddenly, she grabs her bag and snatches the knives away from us. “Stay here. Don’t fucking follow me.”
“Why?” I ask.
“Because I need time to think. On my own,” she responds. “And I can’t deal with you two right now.”
“Aspen!” Grey yells as she runs off.
I grab a cigarette and try several times to light it up while the rain keeps trying to put it out. Damn. This is the second cig I’ve had in years. This girl is turning me into a chain-smoker, but fuck it, she’s worth it.
“Let her go,” I say.
“Why in God’s name would that be a good idea?” Grey retorts.
“Because she needs time,” I reply. “Remember?”
“But she hates me,” he says, his fingers in his hair.
“She hates all of us right now. It’ll be fine.” I take another drag.
“Why would you even say that?” he growls, stepping closer. “How can you be so relaxed?”
I offer him my cigarette. “You should try it. Takes the edge off things.”
He snatches it from my hand and takes a drag, then coughs like hell, and I laugh. “Atta boy.”
“Fuck. This is relaxing to you?”
“Well, I know other ways to relax.” I wink. “Wanna make out?”
Levi
I throw off my helmet and listen to the thud in the grass before I step closer to the ledge.
This is the place where I lost everything … because I couldn’t let go.
I lost.
I lost, and I knew it was going to happen. I just didn’t know when … didn’t know how it would feel until it came to this.
The rain pours down on my face, and I welcome the cold, hoping it’ll numb the pain. The earth beneath my feet crumbles as I step closer and closer, listening to the sloshing of the waves below. Closer to my demise, just like she wanted.
I peer over to the rocks where Mavis’s body lay splayed out in a puddle of her own blood because of me.
Her half sister is dead because of me, and I can’t ever change that fact, no matter how many times I wish it had been different.
If I hadn’t brought them all here, if I hadn’t talked with her, if I hadn’t held her hand and …
Too late for regrets.
One step closer.
“Levi!”
Her voice instantly makes me turn my head and answer her call, just like I always have.
Because she once looked at me the way I will always look at her.
Her face is marred by the emotional weight of my decisions and every choice that led to this moment.
I’m on the edge of no return, the same place we both lost our souls that night. And I can’t help but wonder if it was never meant to be.