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 suck on her delicious mouth before I pull back to watch those swollen red lips reach for more as I hand her the Coke bottle and grin. “Got us some drinks, because you’re so thirsty.”
“Ha ha,” she replies.
“Drink while we wait for him to grow back his limbs like some freaky-ass lizard.”
“Asshole,” Levi responds with a frown.
“Back to your old self, I see.”
“Just had some scratches. No big deal.”
“Tell that to the nurses who had to patch you up,” I reply.
“Where am I, actually?” he asks, taking in a deep breath.
“Mom’s private clinic,” Aspen responds. “You know how it is. Hospital staff ask too many questions and involve police.”
“Like they aren’t already involved with all those deaths,” I say, smirking to myself.
“You did that,” Aspen says.
I smile smugly. “Yup.”
“Don’t be so damn proud.” She playfully punches me. “Those were expensive hires.”
I shrug. “They shouldn’t have tried to come after my family then.”
“I appreciate the effort of keeping me safe,” Levi says, holding out his hand.
“Thanks, bro.” I give him a bro-shake and hug, and I can hear him deflate.
“Don’t break a bone,” Aspen says. “He’s still fragile.”
“Fragile, my ass, this fucker survived torture,” I say. “Silas can suck it.”
Someone knocks on the door, and when Grey appears, Aspen begins to smile from ear to ear. “Grey! You came.”
“Of course. Gotta support my girl,” he says, and they hug. “Uhhnn,” Grey groans when she squeezes him too tightly. “My shoulder.”
“Sorry. I forgot,” she says.
“Just a bullet wound, no biggie,” Grey responds.
“Everyone got wounded out there. Even Max,” Aspen says. “I don’t think anyone left this clinic without a bandage or two. But Levi was in really bad shape.”
“Hey, why is she the only one getting a hug? Can I get a hug too, Ghost-boy?” I grab his hair and drag him away from her and into my ample pecs, squishing him until he can no longer mutter any of the swear words he wanted to throw at my face. “Love you too, my little cuck.”
He pushes me away and sucks in a breath. “Goddamn.”
“You can say that again,” I reply.
Aspen and Levi laugh, and it’s good to hear them cheerful again after all the shit that went down. And you know what? I think we just might survive this whole family feud thing.
Aspen
“So … are you feeling okay? Does it hurt a lot?” I ask Levi, grabbing his hand.
“Not more than I expected,” he replies. “After getting stabbed, shot, and hit with a bat several times, I’m just glad I’m still alive.”
“The nurse said you got quite the concussion,” I say.
“If it wasn’t for Grey here, you’d be dead by now,” Apollo says.
Levi’s brows push together. “How so?”
“Grey helped me free you from the chair in the Shack and put you in the car, and when he drove after me to save me from your mom’s attempts to kill me, he even took a bullet.”
Levi cringes. “Ouch.”
“The nurses managed to patch me up well enough,” Grey says, showing off his bandages. “Doesn’t hurt that bad.”
“Sorry about that. My mom can get rather protective,” Levi says.
Wow. Did he actually just apologize to Grey?
Levi sucks in a breath. “Thank you. For saving me.”
“Of course, we had to. I couldn’t just leave you there and let Silas hurt you.”
God, the guilt is eating me alive.
If I’d told everyone the truth, maybe I could’ve stopped Silas before he tried to kill Levi.
“I … I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”
Levi frowns. “For what?”
“It’s my fault he attacked you,” I say.
He squeezes my hand. “Don’t. Don’t ever say that again. None of this is your fault, and I won’t allow you to feel guilty over it. Do you understand?” He’s so stern that it surprises me. “It was my choice not to go through with the jump. It was my choice to make you hate me, it was my choice to tell him the truth, and it was my choice to fall in love with you all over again.”
His words puncture my heart like a needle, threading deeply into my soul.
“And I will never, ever take that back. No matter how much it costs me, how much hate I’ll have to take, or how much they will make me bleed. I do not regret fighting for you, not for one single second. I fucking love you in every sense of the word, for every minute of my life I’ve spent on this earth I have never stopped loving you, and I want to keep loving you until we grow old and gray together, until you’re so sick of me that you’ll beg me to die first so you don’t have to hear me say the words again. I love you.”
Tears roll down my cheeks as I bring his hand to my face, and he brushes them away so sweetly that it melts me into a puddle.