Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 108376 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108376 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
“Peter?”
“Yes, Peter,” I stated, even though doubt had set in. I wished I’d never stepped foot in Sarasin’s glass house. If I hadn’t seen those future visions then they wouldn’t be constantly worming their way into my head, making me question myself and who I was really meant to be with.
The bell rang and Ren and I packed up our things. He gave my shoulder a squeeze, his look meaningful when he said, “I’m always here to talk if you need me.”
“Thanks. You’re a good friend.”
He grinned and gave a little curtsy. “I try.”
I stared at the school building, not wanting to go back inside. I’d promised my parents I’d finish the year and graduate, but the urge to quit was strong. I didn’t feel like I belonged there anymore. My uniform, the very air in the place, was stifling.
But no, I’d made a promise so I would stick with it. I’d suffer school and the way the students stared at me like I was a pariah if it meant I could make my parents happy. It was a few weeks and then I could get on with the rest of my life.
Later, after informing my parents I was going to see Peter, I drove to Indigo, nervous and eager to talk to him. When I got there I found him shutting down the store while one of the employees he’d hired headed home for the night. The chimes over the door tinkled when I entered and Peter’s eyes flicked up. He smiled when he saw me, closing the cash register as he came and pulled me into his arms.
“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured as he reached behind me and flipped the sign to ‘closed’ before turning over the lock on the shop door. Warmth suffused my cheeks at the compliment and I returned his hug.
“You’re not so bad yourself.”
“Fuck, I’ve missed you.” His voice was raspy. He pressed his forehead to mine and my heart skipped a beat, just like it always did with Peter, but there was something missing. Or perhaps something wasn’t missing, but simply changed. I wasn’t the same person I was only a few short months ago. Now there was conflict within me and it affected how I felt with the first boy to ever claim my heart.
I hated this. A part of me wanted to go back to the Darya of before, the one who’d never stepped foot inside a prison. Another part of me held tight to the person I’d become, because I’d been through something that made the world seem scarier but far more vibrant and my soul stretched out to grasp for more of it.
Peter backed me up against the wall and for a moment I forced myself to forget about everything else that was going on. I focused on his lips, the feel of his warm palms travelling down my spine before coming to rest on my backside. I was vaguely aware of a noise nearby, someone rapping their knuckles on the glass. Peter broke the kiss, swearing under his breath before he pointed to the sign and called out, “Sorry. We’re closed.”
Through the window a disgruntled woman folded her arms and stomped away.
“You could’ve opened for her. I wouldn’t have minded.” It also would’ve given me a chance to untangle the confusing feelings I was experiencing.
“Well, I do. Besides, that was Mrs Milner. She knows our opening hours, and I doubt whatever she needs is so important that she can’t come back in the morning.” He paused to take a breath as his gaze ran over me. “Let’s go out back where we won’t be bothered.”
“Okay,” I replied, allowing him to take my hand and lead me out to the spell room at the back of the shop. It was where Peter and I had become friends for the first time, when he’d offered to help me with the spell that had gone so terribly awry. Neither of us could’ve known Vasilios had been masquerading as Nic the whole time, intentionally screwing with the spell. I’d resented him for it when I discovered the truth, but now, well, how could I blame him for something that brought me and Peter together? Having one another’s voices in our heads had been the catalyst to us falling in love.
That whole ordeal seemed like another lifetime now.
I missed the feeling of knowing exactly who I was and what I wanted. I’d been a girl who’d finally won the heart of her lifelong crush, one who was focused on finishing school and joining the Guard and who saw a life for herself all planned out. I’d taken it for granted, the surety of it all. But then, you never know what you have until it’s gone, right?
Now I was a woman whose heart was torn in two, whose vision of the police force she’d held on a pedestal was no longer so shiny. Don’t get me wrong, I still held respect for Sergeant Davis and all the others who served. They dedicated their lives to keeping the city safe, but having been in the prison where our most terrifying criminals were kept captive, I saw that they weren’t all lost causes. Sure, there were people who never deserved to see freedom again, but there were also people who I believed could be redeemed. People like Vas and Sven, even Serg, who might’ve done bad things but that didn’t make him all bad.