Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75999 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75999 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
“I did not settle!”
“I was so damn enamored when we met that I’d do anything to keep you with me. That is why I agreed to this open relationship in the first place, but knowing that you keep running off to fuck other people doesn’t make me feel close to you.”
“If you didn’t want an open relationship, you should have said so!”
“And risk losing you?” Cass asks.
“Yes! Show me that I’m worth claiming. I guess I wasn’t.”
“So you proposed an open relationship, secretly hoping I’d disagree? That’s fucked up, Logan!”
“Maybe it is! Sue me! I wanted someone to fight for me for once—”
When his voice breaks again, I want to bury myself under the carpet because I shouldn’t be hearing this. All this time, I’ve had a vision of Logan being the cool guy, the guy who doesn’t care, fucks around, and causes my Cass grief, but it looks like I had it all wrong. At least I’m finally able to admit to myself that I am, in fact, jealous.
“This isn’t fair. You can’t put that weight on me.”
“No, it’s not fair. Neither is chasing after some masked dude you kissed on Halloween like a lovestruck teenager. You think that didn’t hurt my feelings?”
“We weren’t exclusive—”
“It’s one thing to hook up and another to dedicate so much attention to finding some rando. That’s when I knew you pulled away from me.” As I retreat toward my bedroom, I hear Logan taking a deep breath. “I came back from home hoping we could mend things. But I feel that’s a lost cause now. You don’t trust me.”
I sneak into my room, trying not to breathe at all.
“It’s not like that…” Cass tries.
“You sent Matt snooping into my house! We are done. Now he can have you all to himself for whatever it is that you’d rather do with him instead of hanging out with your actual boyfriend.”
“I did not send him. He went there on his own!”
Logan lets out a bitter laugh. “Of course he did. Doesn’t matter anymore. I’m going. This was… enlightening.”
Quick steps follow. In panic, I launch myself into my closet, which would be funny and ironic if I had time to acknowledge such things. I hope Logan passes my door without noticing I’m in there. I don’t want to be punched in the face, nor be forced into an awkward conversation and forced apology.
But Logan heads straight into the living room, and as I push myself deeper between my clothes, bowing my head when it hits the rail, I hear Cass’s footsteps trail behind him.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want things to end this way. Maybe we can talk about what happened in a few weeks.”
“Maybe,” Logan mutters, and the sound of him zipping up his jacket is the only one that follows.
Moments later, the door shuts with a sound of finality.
I got what I wanted, so why am I not happy?
Maybe because my efforts to unveil Logan’s darker side revealed that he is in fact human, not a walking, breathing handsome robot who took away my Cass?
I breathe in the scent clinging to my fresh clothes and listen on to the silence. It lasts so long I start thinking Cass has left alongside Logan, but then I hear his footsteps again and freeze when they come uncomfortably close.
He’s in my room!
“Matt?”
I stop breathing, but one can only to do that for so long. To make matters worse, I pull on one of the belts stuck behind my back and it clangs. To my ears it’s like a thousand church bells ringing all at once.
I can hope that—
No, Cass is opening the closet door and stares at me with a frown.
“I knew I heard something. What the hell are you—”
A box falls off the top shelf as I scramble to my feet. It hits Cass on the head and the contents spill all over the carpet.
I’m unable to speak, as if there was a tight collar with spikes on the inside wrapped around my neck. His shoulders hang low, his face is slack, changing only once he looks to his feet.
Now I’m not just mute. I can’t breathe either. Because my Halloween costume was in that box, and now Cassian is picking it up!
My heartbeat is speeding way past the healthy limit as I dive to the floor to stuff the spiked pauldrons back in the box, but it’s no use. He’s seen them.
“I can explain,” I utter. “And I wasn’t spying, I just came back home, and Logan was already here, and—”
“It was you,” Cassian says in a breathy voice, staring straight at me. His face is darkening by the second, and my cheek is already tingling with the slap that’s surely coming.
I rub my forehead, caught like a deer in the headlights. “It’s… complicated.”
Instead of punching me, he takes a few steps back and holds his hands up, as if he hopes he can somehow make sense of what’s going on if he only gets a moment to think. “You helped me make the flyers. You walked with me to put up the posters. You let me go on a date with a guy who pretended to be the troll just to get in my pants.” His hands drop as he shakes his head. “What are you doing, Mattie?”