Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 147545 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147545 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
There’s a crazy look in his eyes, but I probably have a crazy look in mine, too.
“Am I the fucking monster?” I demand, close to shrieking. “Did I get it wrong? Did I kill—”
At that, he lunges for me.
I scream, trying to turn away from him, but he locks his arms around me, crushing me against his body. I fight his grip, but he’s too strong. I twist, trying to shove or claw at whatever I can reach. “Get off me!”
“Shut the fuck up, Cassie.”
For a split second, I’m paralyzed. Tor never speaks to me that way, so the words alone stun me, but then he clamps his hand over my mouth, and the shock of it propels me back into action. I scream, but it comes out more like a wail.
“Fuck,” Tor says savagely, loosening his grip, but it’s the only time I’ve ever felt uncertainty in his touch. He doesn’t know what to do. “I’m sorry,” he says, touching my face apologetically to try to make up for the brief violence. “I didn’t mean to—But you can’t scream, there are people downstairs, they’ll hear you—”
“I don’t care! Get your hands off me. Get your fucking hands off me.”
“Please calm down,” he says, taking his hands off me and gripping his head, raking his fingers through his hair. “Think for a fucking minute here, Cassie. We have come too far to blow everything up now—”
“I’m the monster,” I wail, dragging my hands down my face. “I’m the fucking monster.”
“You are not the fucking monster,” he says, grabbing my wrists, fury lighting up his icy-blue eyes as he pulls my hands away from my face. “Stop saying that.” He tries to take control of the situation, but I’m spinning out. “Look, let’s go somewhere, okay? We’ll go somewhere and talk, but we can’t do this here. We can’t do this when I have a house full of people—”
“Why?” I demand, wild-eyed, jerking my wrists from his grip. “You had a house full of people last time!”
“Come on.” He reaches for my hand, but I move before he can get it, shoving against his chest with all my strength.
“I said don’t fucking touch me! I’m not going anywhere with you. I’m not fucking crazy, Tor. I’m not… I’m never going anywhere with you ever again.”
As soon as the words are out, I feel the devastation of them and tears fill my eyes.
“Yes, you are,” he says firmly.
“No, I’m not!” Fresh tears spill down my cheeks. “You’re a lie. We’re a lie. Everything you’ve said to me… Nothing is real. You’ve been lying to me all along.”
“We are not a fucking lie, Cassie.” I can feel him wanting to touch me, but he doesn’t reach for me. “I have not been lying to you. Where is all of this coming from?”
“Nina told me! She told me that she was with him. That’s why she’s been so fucking vicious to me this year. She really does believe I made it all up. She said it couldn’t have been him, that he was with her—”
He gestures wildly at the door, cutting me off. “And you believe fucking Nina now?”
“I don’t know what to believe, Tor, but I can’t be in this house anymore. I’m leaving. I’m out of here and do not follow me. Don’t you dare come after me.”
“Cassie, stop.” He grabs my arm, and I glare at him over my shoulder.
“Take your hand off me,” I say slowly.
“Please don’t leave,” he says, holding my gaze unflinchingly despite the look I know he must be seeing in mine. “Not like this.”
Just when I thought I’d run out, tears well up in my eyes again. “You won’t even answer me. You made me do something unforgivable, and you won’t even—” My words cut off, emotion making it too difficult to speak.
“Cassie, I didn’t fucking—” He grits his teeth, following me out into the hall when I try to flee. “Come back in here and talk to me. We’ll figure this out. You can’t leave like this.”
“Watch me.”
It’s like my dream in reverse. I run down the hall, and when I get to the stairs, I hear a loud crashing sound from Tim’s bedroom, but I don’t turn around, and I don’t look back.
Like I should have done two weeks ago, I get the hell out of here.
CHAPTER 38
TOR
There have only been two times in my life that I wasn’t sure what to do.
Both times have involved Cassie Pritchard.
When she first leaves, all I can do is rage and destroy, but that release is fleeting, and then I realize she’s getting away from me.
And this time, she might not come back.
I know I can drag her back if I must, but the idea that she won’t want to be with me anymore lands like a boulder in my gut. I’ve gotten so used to being loved by her, I can’t stomach the possibility that I’ve lost it.