Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 73153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Turning her attention to me, she smiled and moved to hug me, but I stepped back, panic closing my airways. My back slammed into the wall of the hallway in my rush to get away from her, and she stopped in her tracks, dropping her arms to her sides as sadness flickered across her gaze. I heard Trevor sigh, but I was too focused on his mom to look at him.
I was too afraid that she was going to try to touch me again.
"Baby, come on. Glenda isn't going to hurt you." Trevor moved to stand beside me. Glenda gave me a tight-lipped smile, worry etched onto her features, sadness for me ringing in her eyes. Trevor gripped my chin gently, and I jerked away, my chest heaving up and down as I struggled to suck air into my lungs. I was seconds away from having a panic attack.
He reached forward again and grabbed my face in his hands. "Baby, look at me. Breathe,” he said sternly, but with the utmost care in his voice. "Breathe for me, baby." He rubbed the pad of his thumb over my cheeks.
I squeezed my eyes shut, focusing on his voice as he coaxed me down from my panic attack. Fuck, I couldn't keep being scared like this. I was terrified of someone touching me. I couldn't even allow Trevor to touch me unexpectedly or I flipped the fuck out.
I opened my eyes back up once I was calm enough, my green eyes locking on his dark ones. God, he was so gorgeous.
What in the world did I do to deserve him?
I was broken. There was no fucking way that I could never be what he wanted.
Yet, he was still standing in front of me. My knight in shining armor. My light in this all too dark world.
I hated that I couldn't be what he needed.
He needed someone strong, someone that could help him fight his own demons. He didn't need to be concerned with fighting mine, too.
He brushed my hair behind my ear, his eyes running over my face until he finally grabbed my hand in his. "Come on. Paul is probably down in the basement playing Call of Duty. Let's go bother him."
I didn't look back at Glenda, who I knew was still standing there. I wasn't even in her house for more than a minute, and I was already making myself out to be a terrified little girl.
But that was all I really ever was.
TREVOR
After finally getting Tracey to fall asleep, I left my room, shutting my bedroom door quietly behind me. I ran my hands down my face and leaned back against my door, tilting my head up to look at the ceiling.
Fuck, she was so gorgeous, and she didn't even know it. The girl had me by my heartstrings, had me on my knees before her, wrapped around her little finger, and she didn't even realize it.
I would do anything in the world for her.
And I hated seeing her so terrified all of the time.
I gave Glenda a small smile when I walked into the kitchen, where she was cleaning up after dinner. "Is she okay?"
I shrugged. "Not really. She takes one step forward, and then something knocks her ten steps back again. She was making so much progress, and then Kaleb had to fuck it all up."
She turned to me, drying her hands on a dish towel. "What happened?"
"Basically, Kaleb went at Tracey over the fact that she's with me and not him. He scared the ever-living fuck out of her. He said some hateful things about her, and she took off."
She sighed and tucked the hair behind her ear that had fallen out of her bun. "She needs help, Trevor."
I shook my head instantly. Sure, she might be able to use a therapist for her anxiety attacks, but I just had a bad feeling in my stomach that her talking to a therapist would make her feel even worse.
"She doesn't need help. She needs someone to love her and to show her that there’s actually good in this fucked up world. What I went through was nothing compared to what she suffered." I pushed off the counter and tossed my hair out of my eyes. "I'm going to get her out of that hole even if it’s the last thing I do."
Glenda looked up at me with worry-filled eyes. "Trevor, Dale and I worked so hard to get you to where you are today. Don't let her drag you down again.”
I glared at her, anger immediately pouring into my veins, though somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew she was only looking out for me. "Don't fucking lecture me on this shit." She recoiled from my tone immediately, looking away. "Tracey is fucking everything to me, and I will never fucking leave her side, understand? That girl is everything I have ever fucking wanted and more. If you can't understand that, then I'm fucking sorry for you."