Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 75720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Inside, I put my back against the wall and started to cry, unable to stop even once I got Jake on the phone.
“You need… to come… back,” I said through frightened tears, knowing that my next words were about to shred me apart. But they needed to be said. I had to get them out. Rip it off like a bloody Band-Aid. “And we… we need… to break up.”
22
JAKE PEREZ
Noah’s words crashed through me like a runaway train without any brakes.
We need to break up.
I asked him what he meant, as if the sentence wasn’t simple enough for a fourth grader to comprehend. He wouldn’t elaborate—or couldn’t, through the tears—and instead just kept telling me I needed to get to his house. I was already in my car and speeding down the highway before Noah got the tears under control, but by then, it was my heart that I couldn’t manage to rein in. It pounded against my ribs, as if trying to break free from a prison. This couldn’t be healthy. I forced myself to take some deep breaths, but they came up short, my lungs barely filling with air.
I pulled into his driveway, tires screeching on the pavement, and hurried up the stairs to his townhouse. The door was open, and Noah and his neighbor, Robby, were sitting on the couch together. Robby had an arm around Noah’s shoulder, but the second I walked in, Noah leaped up from the couch and ran into my arms, burying his wet face into my chest.
“What’s going on? What happened?” I asked, holding Noah before he took a step back. I looked him up and down, searching for any signs that he was hurt and finding none.
That’s when Noah took out his phone and handed it to me, showing me the message that had come through.
I read it once and felt my stomach do a somersault. The blood drained from my body, pooling in my extremities, fueling my muscles to bolt. This was beyond scary. This was worst-case scenario, a bullseye painted in crimson red directly on my forehead, trailing down into my eyes. All I saw was red, coming from a mixture of fear and anger. I wasn’t sure which was more intense.
“This needs to stop,” I said, as if that would make a genie blink his eyes and make everything better again. “This needs to end.”
“It won’t,” Noah said through rogue tears. “Not until they get their way.”
Robby rubbed Noah’s arm, looking at me with his eyes wide. He was likely counting his lucky stars things had ended between him and Noah, or the target could have been painted on him instead. But then Noah and I would never have crossed paths the way we did, and for that, I counted every single lucky star in orbit. I wouldn’t trade what Noah and I had for the world, even if that was for a world where someone didn’t want me dead and in a ditch.
“I won’t let them get their way. It’s going to be okay, Noah. It will.” I held Noah’s hand in mine, squeezing it, trying to impart some kind of strength or comfort, even though I didn’t have a shred of either of those things in my body.
In truth, I didn’t know how I would stop them. I tried, back when I thought it could be Franky. I thought a show of force could scare him away, make things calm again. But that clearly didn’t work, and we were running low on suspects. Who could want to torture Noah like this? And why turn on our relationship?
“I, uh, should get going,” Robby said as he took a couple of steps toward the front door. Fear was apparent in his blown-out pupils. Nothing I could blame him for. “Noah, if you need anything, please call me. I have the keys to my parents’ cabin if you need an escape—actually, you said you’re having a book club retreat in Blue Ridge, right? Take my parents’ cabin.”
Noah shook his head. “There’s no need for that, but thank you, though.”
“It’s a two-million-dollar cabin with a three-sixty view of the mountains.”
“On second thought,” Noah said with a weak chuckle. “Tristan would blow if he found out I said no to this. He likes nice things.”
“I’ll drop off the keys tomorrow.” Robby managed a wink, warm eyes crinkling at the corners in a weak smile. “And listen to Jake. It’s going to be okay.” He tapped his knuckles on the door and left.
“We have to call it quits,” Noah said when the door was shut, and I could see the seriousness in the way his brows furrowed and jaw twitched. “We have to. I can’t be with you if this person is still out there. I can’t. I can’t.”
Noah started to cry again. The sound of his tears made me feel as if I were swallowing glass. It was painful in a way that went beyond just the physical. I reached out for him on instinct, wrapping my arms around him again. He sobbed, continuing to say, “I can’t,” and I started to realize he wasn’t just talking about our relationship.