Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 64571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
But I can’t stop thinking about it. The real version, not just the dream. The way he looked at my mouth like he was starving. The way his body felt against mine before he pulled away.
For a brief moment, I thought maybe he saw me as more. But it doesn’t matter now. I’m not going to let this throw me off. Even if he did have those kinds of feelings for me, he can fuck off. That would mean he’s choosing not to want me. It’s one thing if there is no attraction on his part. I can’t force that if he’s fighting it. I don’t know why, but it only pisses me off more.
I shower in cold water. It barely helps.
The kitchen smells like coffee. I thought he might have left already. I’m late, not hurrying to my mandated breakfast. But he’s there, reading something on his tablet, the picture of calm control. Except I can see his right hand wrapped around his cup—red, swollen, and with the knuckles split. What the hell? He punched something. I grew up around enough soldiers to know what a busted knuckle looks like.
I pour my own coffee, keeping my eyes down. The silence stretches.
“I have a lunch meeting today,” he says casually. “I’ll be leaving within the hour.”
I nod, staring into my cup. My emotions are scattered—anger, confusion about yesterday, and beneath it all, the memory of his weight pinning me down. He wanted to kiss me. I wanted him to.
“Did you sleep well?” he asks.
I ignore him. Let him think what he wants.
He exhales but doesn’t push. I hear him leave, footsteps fading. I count to sixty, then a hundred.
When I think it’s clear, I hurry back to my bedroom. He might have busted my gaming system, but I use my laptop. I don’t have much of a choice. Hopefully it won’t matter. By the time he tracks it, I should be gone.
I quickly log in, needing to talk to Teddy right this second. Time is ticking, and we’ve only got so much of it today.
Teddy’s face fills the screen with big eyes and a giant smile that makes her whole face light up. When she gives you that smile, it’s impossible not to return it. When Julie Becker said something rude to Teddy that year at camp, making that smile fall away, I punched her right in the face. She wasn’t smiling then either.
“You know how close we are?” Teddy is about to burst with excitement. I’m a mix. Sure, I want out, and I’ll get to be with Teddy, but will Tristan forever be out of my life?
“I know,” I agree. She doesn’t know just how close. Tristan has handed it right over to me. “Listen, Tristan has a meeting this afternoon. That will be our chance.”
“Today?” Teddy sits up straighter, her expression turning serious.
“Well, I know he has a meeting, and I’m going to spring it on him that I have a checkup with the doctor. He’ll send Nathan up to take me. When I get down to the lobby, that’s where I’ll give him the slip.”
“While I make chaos!” Teddy shouts, bouncing in her seat. Okay, she must have a plan in that head of hers already.
“I’m not sure I want to know what this chaos is.” A small laugh leaves me, but I’m guessing it will involve a crown, and I don’t mean a fake one, and possibly a lightsaber. You never know with Teddy.
“All we really need is to get you to the lobby. Then no one can truly stop you from leaving.” Teddy nods along to her own words, like that solves it all. It’s that simple. I don’t think it will be.
“Oh, he can and he will,” Killian says to Teddy. I still can’t get over the two of them. Killian, well, he matches his name. “Tristan is a powerful man now, not only in this city but also in the state. Which is one of the things we need to speak about.” Killian’s tone is dead serious, but I think he always is.
“That doesn’t sound good.” Both Teddy and I speak at the same time. Is this plan dead before we’ve started? Killian keeps going.
“Any plane I would be able to get at the last second would be military. Tristan’s ties are thick there.”
“We’re driving,” Teddy reminds him.
“We need to get out of the state as quickly as possible and back to Colorado. Once we’re on the ground there, things will get a whole lot harder for Tristan.”
“Military ties?” I ask. I thought he worked with the FBI, with my father. I know so little about this man, I swear. So much of his life is hidden from me while he wants to know every detail of mine, even the ones inside my head.