Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 80643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“Damn it,” I whisper under my breath.
I move faster, pushing myself to the brink.
By the time I can see most of Red Row again, I’m certain that I’m about to meet the end of my life at the top of this pathway. They’re already going to be there, waiting with that black bag to shove over my head.
At the end of the path, the gravel meets the sidewalk of Red Row.
And there’s someone there.
My heart skips a beat as I take off in the opposite direction, heading over to the far side of the road away from whoever the fuck it is.
But he’s faster than me.
“Noah,” he says, and I’m breathing so hard I can barely make out his voice.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I whisper.
“Noah, it’s me,” he says again, and I think I’m going to be sick.
I look back and glimpse blond hair under the streetlamp and my body gives out. There’s a sloping green embankment at the edge of the road, and I collapse forward onto it, my knees hitting the soft grass.
I heave, gasping for breath.
My thighs and lungs are burning, and soon Torin’s at my side resting his hand at the small of my back.
Here.
With me.
“Quit fucking following me,” I roar, defying every ounce of relief that’s flooding through me right now.
“Then listen to me when I tell you that I need to talk with you,” he shouts back, and when I look up I see anger flashing in his eyes like I’ve never seen before. “You’re not safe. Not out here alone, late at night, and not on fucking campus, either. You’re in so much more danger than you realize.”
I groan, leaning over on my hands and knees and clawing at the grass, feeling the soil shift under my fingers as I rip it up.
“I wish we never met,” I growl at him, my voice low but becoming louder with each word. “I wish you never existed in my life. But you’re everywhere. Over four years of you in my family, and now you’re here.”
My voice is ragged and broken by the end of it.
I collapse backward onto the ground, my ass hitting the soil as I finally look up at him again.
“You text me all fucking needy earlier this week, and now you’re telling me I’m too present in your life? Which is it, Noah? Pick a fucking lane.”
“Just go,” I scream.
He reaches forward and pushes my shoulders with his hands, knocking me flat onto my back.
“Are you with her?” he roars, looking over me.
“The fuck are you talking about, psycho?”
“Are you with her?” he asks again, emphasizing each word. “Is she your fucking girlfriend now, Noah?”
I furrow my brow as I look up at him, the confusion in my mind eclipsing my anger. “What? If you’re talking about Bree, no, we’re not dating.”
“Is that the truth?”
“She doesn’t want me. She never will.”
“But she wants your cock.”
“Of course she wants my cock. That’s all she ever wants. The fuck does it matter to you?”
“But you didn’t give it to her?”
“Not since a long time ago, Torin.”
He stares at me intently for another few beats before he shoves off of me, sitting on the ground and running his hands over his face.
“You can’t go running off alone,” he finally says a minute later, and his voice has calmed completely, going from shouting at me to his normal even, low tone.
“Yeah, no shit,” I mutter, my own voice hoarse from screaming. “I thought I was dead just from hearing the snap of a twig. There was a car down the street—”
“It was just a girl from Luros. I saw her drive off. But you can’t go out like this.”
“I know I fucking can’t.”
“Then why did you leave? Without me?” he demands.
I shake my head, staring up at the cloudy sky. “Because I had to.”
“Do you have any idea of the danger you’re in?”
I puff out a bitter laugh. “Don’t act like you really give a fuck.”
“What’s that supposed to mean, Noah?”
“You left for the past week. You were just peachy-keen and fine to leave me here in danger while you were gone, but now suddenly because you’re back you act like you care. I could have been killed any day this week, Torin.”
He’s looking away from me, out at the street, and I just watch his eyes narrow as he’s lost in thought.
“You were protected this whole week,” he says quietly.
“I know Roman was here. That’s not what I meant.”
“I’m not talking about Roman,” Torin says, turning to me and giving me a hard glare. “I hired a professional. You were incredibly safe, probably safer than you’ve ever been in your life.”
I frown at him. “Are you kidding me?”
He shakes his head slowly, then looks away. “Nope.”
It feels like the whole world just shifted on its axis, like everything is in the same place, but somehow forever altered.