Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 102708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
I kissed the tip of her nose and got up, going straight into the bathroom. Needing a minute to myself for what I wasn’t prepared to face. “Fuck.” I looked in the mirror.
How could I do this to her?
My emotions once again held me hostage while I cleaned myself up. Taking a solid breath, I dampened a washcloth to clean her up and made my way back into my bedroom.
The next thing I knew she was kissing all over my face, wrapping her arms and legs around me, seeking the comfort she needed in my embrace. I kissed her, softly pecking her lips, taking my time with each stroke of my tongue as it tangled with hers.
I tasted her tears.
Her hope.
When I opened my eyes, I saw every sentiment I felt through her gaze. We locked eyes.
I surrendered.
To her.
To us.
But only until she fell asleep in my arms. Then Melody’s ghost made her presence known, and I couldn’t resist.
The torment.
The pain.
The guilt.
It completely ate away at me.
I didn’t sleep, seeing her ghost in front of me all night.
Crying for forgiveness, she begged for a chance to be our mother.
It was too late. I killed her.
When the vision of her became too much, when this house became too much, when everything around me became too much, including the woman in my arms…
I followed in Melody’s footsteps.
Unable to fight off her ghost this time, I let it possess me.
Knowing in my heart, in my soul, in every last fiber of my being, I’d live to regret it.
ISLA
I fell.
He fell.
We met somewhere in the middle.
Nothing else existed at that moment but him and me. I didn’t regret it; he needed comfort, and so did I. There was no denying how strong our connection was when our bodies came together.
He made love to me in his bed with Kraven’s charm on my wrist and his stuffed cat on his bed. The irony was not lost on me. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about what Kraven was getting into, but that didn’t take away the desire to give myself to his brother.
It was the least I could do.
I fell asleep in his arms, in his world. He held me so tight like he never wanted to let me go.
The following morning, I startled awake. Something woke me from a dead sleep.
The front door, maybe? Is Kraven home?
I rolled over, letting everything sink in. Making my way into the bathroom, I brushed my teeth and then walked downstairs into the kitchen, thinking I’d run into one of them.
As soon as I saw the note on the counter, I knew.
To the depths of my soul, I knew.
I reached for it with trembling hands.
My stomach dropped.
I stopped breathing.
Nothing could have prepared me for what it said.
Not one damn thing.
My heart exploded.
I died right then and there.
Written in Julius’s handwriting, it read…
Be back in ten.
CHAPTER
FORTY-SEVEN
KRAVEN
A person who loves you will never let you go, no matter how hard the situation is. -Unknown
One month later.
“Hello,” I greeted the attendant at the county medical examiner’s office. “I’m here for Melody Knightly.”
It took four weeks to get her ashes. I just got the call that morning that they were ready to be picked up. The last month was a whirlwind, between the week I lost getting fucked up to school and then trying to look for Julius, it flew by in one big blur. I didn’t show back up at the house for about a week, and when I did, it shook me to my bare bones.
I’d never forget that afternoon, walking into the disaster of what had become of our lives.
I stepped inside the eerily quiet house, and Isla was the first thing I saw. She sat on the couch, staring intently at me. For a moment, I thought something had happened to my brother.
“Isla—”
She ran to me, almost knocking me over from the impact of throwing her arms around my neck and hugging me so damn tightly.
“Isla, you’re scaring me…”
She broke down crying. “I thought you weren’t coming back like Julius. I thought you both left me…”
“Like Julius?” I hugged her back, loving the feel of her in my arms.
I spent the past week in a drunken and high stupor, not wanting to feel much of anything. Luckily, my probation hadn’t looked for me, or I would have gotten a call, or worse, the cops would have been looking for me. Spring break was over. I had to return to the house. I couldn’t blow off school. My court date wasn’t until summer, and I refused to be thrown back in there for shits and giggles.
“Yeah,” she wept, clinging to me. “He’s gone, Kraven. Julius left.”
I eased out of her hold, trying to understand. “What are you talking about?”
She wiped her tears, rushing to the coffee table before handing me a note that read be back in ten.