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’m right here with you, and I’m not going anywhere.” He slides his hand down my neck all the way to my chest, tapping my rib cage. “Because this heart is where I belong.”
The genuine, longing smile on his face breaks me, and I lean in for a desperate kiss.
Apollo sniffles behind me, and when I look up, he’s actually pushing away a single tear with his pinky. “What are you looking at?”
Grey laughs as he puts his hands against his side. “Are you crying?”
“These are manly tears,” Apollo retorts.
Everyone laughs, even Levi, and I hold out my arms for a big hug. “Come here.”
We hug in unison, albeit on Levi’s bed, and he begrudgingly throws an arm over Grey too, even though it still makes him roll his eyes. “Ugh, fine, I’ll share,” Levi says.
“There’s enough room for all of you in this heart,” I muse.
“There’d better be because I want my own whole damn room in there,” Grey says.
“We buying real estate in her body now?” Apollo says with a devious smirk. “Because if so, I call dibs on that delicious pussy.”
“I think the fuck not,” Levi retorts.
A sudden knock on the door has us all looking up. Silas grips the doorjamb and clears his throat, and you could almost hear a pin drop after—that’s how quiet everyone becomes from his mere presence.
“So he’s here too,” Levi mutters as we pull away from the hug.
“The whole family is,” Apollo says. “You think you were the only one who got wounded? Felix had his hand sliced open, both moms have abrasions from bullets, Heath got a cut in his leg, Max was shot, her dad got knifed, and I had a few broken fingers.”
Silas’s nostrils flare. “Aspen, I wanna talk.”
I frown. “Do you still intend to murder my boyfriends?”
He rolls his eyes, but still shows his empty hands. “I have nothing on me.”
“I know you. You don’t need weapons to kill,” I say, suspicious of his motives.
“Aspen …” He sighs and rubs his forehead. “Can we please talk?”
Wow. I’ve never heard him say please before.
I look at the guys, who all nod, and then back at Levi. After a quick kiss to the forehead, he whispers, “Go. Mend things with your family. I’ll still be here when you get back.”
Reluctantly, I release him and squeeze hands with Grey and Apollo before I leave the room.
We walk to a hallway and into a waiting room just beyond, and I park myself against the doorjamb while he sits down on the seat in the corner.
“Talk,” I say.
“I don’t like doing this, but whatever. I just wanted to tell you that I don’t hate you or anything.”
That was it?
“Wow, thanks.” I roll my eyes.
“No, wait,” he says when I try to walk off.
I pause. “Get to the point.”
He takes in a deep breath. “Honest to God, I wanted to kill him. I thought he just killed her for the fun of it. And when I had him pinned down in that chair, he told me he fucked you, and I flipped out.” He runs his fingers through his white and black hair. “Not just one but two of my sisters… I couldn’t fucking handle it.”
I nod a few times. “Okay. Understandable. And?”
He looks away. “I wanted to … apologize.”
My jaw slowly drops.
Silas? Apologizing? Since when?
“For hurting you.”
I take a step closer. “You mean that?”
“I don’t say shit I don’t mean.”
I smirk and fold my arms. “You also said you were gonna kill Levi, which you didn’t.”
He narrows his eyes. “Yet.”
“Oh fuck off.” I laugh.
He clears his throat. “So we good?”
I take in a deep breath too. “I appreciate you were just trying to protect me. And I can understand you were upset about Mavis.”
“That’s an understatement,” he mutters under his breath.
“You weren’t alone,” I say. “I lost someone too. I felt angry and betrayed.”
Finally, he looks at me like we’re on the same level.
“But taking it out on Levi won’t bring her back. It won’t solve anything.”
His nostrils flare. “I can’t say I’ll ever forgive him.”
“But can you let him live? Will you let him love me?”
He takes a few seconds to respond. “I don’t want to.” He swallows. “But I don’t want to lose more fucking family either, and that includes you.”
So he knows what’s on the line. Good.
I smile. “Thank you.”
He shakes his head and walks off. “Whatever.”
“Nu-uh, you don’t get to run away like that, get back here,” I say, dragging him out of the hallway by his goddam shirt and back into Levi’s room. “Tell him the same thing you told me.”
Levi stares him down just as harshly as Silas stares him down.
I shove him forward. “Say it.”
“I’m sorry I tried to kill you,” he says through gritted teeth. “But I’m glad it fucking hurt.”
Levi narrows his eyes at him. “Is that supposed to be an apology?”