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)
“Yeah, no, of course,” I say as Xavier releases me. “Thank you.”
“Thanks.” Xavier grabs his cup and takes a quick sip. “Appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome,” Grey says. “I know how tough it can be to lose the people you love. Especially when the person who did it is still roaming freely.”
My face tightens, and I lower my cup. “He won’t be for long.”
“What do you mean?” Xavier asks.
“I think she means if it’s up to her—”
“No, I mean, I’m going to kill him.”
They both look at me like I’ve lost my mind, but I’ve only gained more clarity over the past couple of weeks.
“Kill him?” Xavier repeats. “You mean Levi? You’re gonna kill your best friend?”
“Ex,” I reply, slurping down my coffee. “Ex-best friend. And he doesn’t deserve to live.”
Grey
She chucks the empty coffee cup into the trash up ahead and walks back toward the exit.
“You gotta help her,” Xavier says, placing his cup down on the ground.
“What?”
“Stop her.”
I frown. “You think I can?”
“You’re her boyfriend. She’ll listen to you.”
I snort. “I don’t have that kind of power.”
He suddenly grips my shirt. “You have to stop her, man. You don’t understand. She’s going to get herself killed.”
“I—”
“You don’t know my sisters the way I do. Did. Whatever. She and Mavis are just like my mom. Once you get on their bad side, there is nowhere in hell you can hide from their wrath. She won’t stop until she destroys him.”
“Who?”
“Levi!” he yells in my face.
“Oh …” I don’t have a problem with that.
“Oh? That’s all? Oh?”
“Look, I hate him just as much as you two do,” I respond. “But I doubt he’ll let himself get killed that easily.”
“That’s exactly my point!” He’s still shaking me. “Levi’s family will intervene before she has the chance, and they won’t fucking hesitate to kill her. They’re that crazy.”
I don’t doubt him. If the rumors floating around the school are true, these three families were wreaking deadly havoc all around Crescent Vale City as well as the university back in the day, and they never stopped. They’re just masking it better now.
“I’ll protect her with my life,” I say.
“You’d better.” Xavier points at my chest. “I want to trust you, Grey. Don’t make me regret it.”
I place my hand on his shoulder to calm him. “There is no one more important to me than Aspen. Trust me.”
If only he knew how far I was willing to go for her.
He nods a few times and then releases me, straightening his back. “Good.” He clears his throat. “Sorry about that.”
“I get it. You don’t want to lose another sister.”
“Our families are … difficult to say the least.” He wipes his nose. “Doesn’t help that one was already fragile to begin with, but now that we lost one of us, I feel like we’re slowly being ripped apart, and I just can’t allow that to happen. I can’t.”
“Fragile?” I ask.
I don’t want to snoop, but any information that will help me better understand Aspen is welcome.
“It’s Melody. She’s not healthy.” He swallows. “It’s complicated. And I’m not sure I should be telling you, so maybe you should ask Aspen about it. Or Mom and Dad.”
“Right. Sorry.” I nod.
“Are you guys coming?” Aspen yells from around the corner. “We have class.”
Xavier checks his watch. “Oh shit. I’m so fucking late.”
We walk back to the exit of the cemetery, where Aspen is waiting for us. Xavier and I walk back to the car, but Aspen suddenly stands still in the cemetery’s gates, staring at the ground beneath her feet.
I pause as I open the door to my car. “Aspen?”
She bends over to pick up a bunch of pebbles, staring at them intently.
“Are you coming?” I ask.
She turns around, her face losing all the redness it usually has, the freckles on her face standing out like beacons.
And I wonder what has gotten her so rattled all of a sudden.
After all, they’re just three pebbles out of a million scattered across the path.
Aspen
I throw the pebbles up and down in my hand as I walk through the university’s corridors on the way to my next class. They’re coarse, much thicker, and heavier than the ones used on the Spine Ridge University campus. These pebbles are maybe a couple among millions scattered across Crescent Vale Cemetery, but the second I looked beneath my feet, I knew I recognized them from somewhere.
These are the same pebbles strewn across the ground beneath my window after my first encounter with Ghost.
And every time I toss them up and catch them, the twitch on my face gets more and more … twitchy.
I walk into the left hallway and come face-to-face with Levi and Apollo, casually strolling toward me, hands in their pockets. Their dark, tousled hair partially obscures their eyes, which are burning a hole into my head.