Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 89074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Rayne narrows his gaze at me. “Weston was terrified of you. When I slept over, we’d be under the sheets, and he’d tell me stories about you pulling fucking knives on him, Hunter—”
“That was only once. And you have no idea why I pulled that knife on him.”
“And you expected him to just be okay with that?”
I let my eyes burn into Rayne’s. “Weston came into my room and told me that he was going to confront our father. He was going to try to fuck up our father’s life, because he caught him cheating on Heidi.”
Rayne furrows his brow. “What?”
“I knew if Weston exposed our father like that, Dad might kill him,” I say, deliberately emphasizing the final two words. “You think I’m a monster, Rayne, but you don’t know that our father is much worse.”
“He wouldn’t kill his own fucking son.”
“Maybe not. But he definitely would hurt him. I couldn’t live with that. I couldn’t watch Weston get abused again. Even if I was pissed off at Wes, I couldn’t watch our father bully him again—”
“Jesus, Hunter—”
“Because if I saw another bruise on Weston, I swear I would have killed my father for it first.”
Rayne goes silent. His expression is unreadable.
It feels like I’m hurting Rayne just by saying all of this, because it’s information that only hurts to know.
I pull in a long, slow breath, trying to quiet the rage inside me before I speak again.
“I pulled a knife on Wes because he was about to confront a man who didn’t care about him, and I had to fucking stop him. I do care about Weston, even though I can’t stand him. If that’s too hard for you to understand, then consider yourself lucky you don’t have a family like ours.”
“It’s awful.”
“We never got along, but no. I don’t hate my brother. I could never hate him, but I will never be close to him. You need to accept that, Rayne.”
He gives me a cold look. “I don’t have to accept anything.”
“Excuse me?”
He’s furrowing his brow. “Both of you were abused. Even if you weren’t the one being hit, it’s still abuse because your father made you—made a child—watch his brother get hurt.”
“Trust me, Rayne, I’m aware of that. I had enough trauma in my childhood to fill a thousand file cabinets in therapists’ offices.”
“So you and Weston should fucking talk, for once,” Rayne says, raising his voice.
“And suddenly we’d be best friends? I think he has you for that.”
“Maybe not. But I still think that you’re both adults now, and he’s your only brother. You don’t have to tell me what you did in London but you should at least be open with your brother.”
“Neither of you are ever going to know about London. Why do you keep bringing it up?” I ask, a flare of anger rising in me. “You don’t know your place.”
“The mafia, Knox? Tell me what you did for the Thornwick family,” he says.
And his words land on my heart with a heavy thud.
Not possible.
He doesn’t know about that.
How would he know about the family?
Something cold moves through my chest. I stand up quickly and watch Rayne flinch a little, thinking I’m about to come at him.
But he’s wrong.
I’m getting out of here.
I reach for a black hoodie and pull it over my head. I take my wallet and phone, and a knife to slide into my back pocket.
“Have a good night, Rayne.”
I shut the room door behind me and run down the staircase, heading out onto the street.
Fucking far away from him.
I’m only halfway down Red Row before a girl has her arm around me.
There’s a beautiful brunette draped over my shoulder in front of Luros sorority, pressing her lips to my cheek as her redheaded friend snaps a picture of the two of us.
I can’t stand it.
But I’m not going to tell her that.
It’s not personal, anyway. I wouldn’t be able to stand anything right now, because I feel like I’m in a spiral.
A spiral with Rayne fucking Colson right at the center.
“Cute as hell,” the redheaded girl says, taking multiple photos of us with her phone.
We’re sitting on a wooden bench under a tall oak tree that lines the Luros house property. The girl kissing my cheek smells like mint gum, and even after her friend is done taking pictures, she lingers near me, pressing another little kiss to my earlobe like she wants more.
I’m letting her do it, even though I want to push her away.
“This is perfect for the scavenger hunt,” she says as she finally leans away. “We were supposed to get a picture with a hot stranger. You’re way hotter than the guy Kim got a picture with.”
“Hey, fuck you,” the redhead says, glaring at her friend.
They both laugh, and the brunette turns back toward me. “You should come to our party tonight. Girls from Luros and a couple of the Greek sororities.”