Total pages in book: 174
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
Though we both were chained by the regrets and the grief, so heavy they kept us apart.
Cash seemed to have to pry himself away, and he took a lumbering step back, sorrow and something that looked far too close to need on his face. “Think it’s time you go back to your room.”
“I…”
“Go back to your room, Daisy.”
“It’s your room.” Was it wrong I wanted him to share it with me?
As if he knew exactly what I was thinking, he reached out and traced his fingers along my jaw. Tender, though his voice was hard. “Don’t tempt me. You don’t want what I’ve become.”
My mouth parted. Because I realized right then how much I did.
How I wanted it.
Him.
His past and his present.
Somehow, I forced myself back, turning for his door. I paused outside it. I could feel his gaze pelting into my back, and I looked over my shoulder.
At the silhouette of the man.
A vibrating giant in the middle of the room.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
Because I knew that Cash would always be the only one who would really take care of me.
NINETEEN
DAISY
SIXTEEN YEARS OLD
Laughter rolled out of her, and Daisy bit down on the inside of her cheek to try to keep it quiet since they were in Cash’s room. The lights bright and the boy sitting with his legs crisscrossed in front of her, the same way as she was sitting.
His warm brown hair curled around his ears and his hazel eyes were alight.
Cash took a big snapping bite from his Red Vine, chewing with that smile on his face that made her belly flip.
They’d been this way for the entire school year. Together constantly. Her in his room as they hung out.
“Oh my gosh, you’re ridiculous,” she said.
“What?” He grinned as he took another giant bite.
“I thought those were for me?”
“They are.” He stuck the same Red Vine he’d just eaten out for her.
Her stomach toppled, and she peeked at his face.
It was full of mischief.
She surged forward and took a big bite too, her face flaming red when he mumbled as he chewed, “That’s my girl. Take what you want.”
She wanted to. She wanted to reach out and take him. Or at least tell him how she felt. She just wasn’t sure how to do that.
So instead, she reached out and nabbed the half-eaten piece from his hand and shoved it into her mouth.
“Hey!” It would have been a shout except it was hushed, his brows lifting, before he suddenly dove at her. She fell onto her back on the bed as his fingers burrowed into her sides.
She gasped a shocked breath as he began to tickle her. The tips of his fingers digging into her ribs.
She wheezed and flailed as she tried to fight him off, her insides lit up in a way they’d never been, while Cash hovered over her, his face stretched in amusement, brown locks of shiny hair flopping over one eye.
“Oh my gosh, Cash, stop.”
Except she didn’t want him to. She craved his touch in a way she’d never craved anything before.
“What? You stole my Red Vine. Did you think I wouldn’t retaliate for such a vile act?” he teased.
“I thought it was mine?” She giggled and struggled to push him off as he continued his attack.
He dug in deeper, leaning over her, his scent all around. “We were sharing.”
She opened her mouth to taunt him with the remnants of the sweet red candy that coated her tongue.
Cash froze, and his lips parted in surprise.
She snapped her mouth closed.
Mortified at what she had done.
Now, he stared down at her like she was disgusting. Those eyes on her mouth that she had pressed shut.
Except, the air shifted.
Deepening.
His movements slowed as he settled his hands on her waist.
His gaze made her heart batter at her chest, and her breaths turned shallow as his attention flicked between her mouth and her eyes.
He hesitated there. Wavering. Unsure.
Then he seemed to shake himself out of whatever he’d been thinking and flopped onto the bed at her side.
Facing her with a grin on his face.
“What do you think you’ll do once you graduate?”
She frowned at him, caught off guard by the sudden shift in the subject.
Her breaths were still ragged from his proximity.
She forced herself to tame it.
They were friends. Best friends. He’d reiterated that fact so many times she knew there was no chance for them to be something more.
“What do you mean?”
He kind of shrugged. “I don’t know. Once you leave this town. Where do you see yourself?”
“Watching you play football in college?” She tried to say it light, but it was the truth. She wanted to be wherever he was.
His laugh was low, and he reached out and brushed a piece of her hair from her face. “Obviously. But beyond that. What do you want to be?”