Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
She glanced down the hall at him, then back at me. “Bye-bye,” she replied, then brushed past me.
I watched as she walked in the direction of the library. The cutoff jeans she was wearing left part of her bottom hanging out. I hated her.
Needing to get away from this place, I hurried down the stairs. Pepper was standing there with her arms crossed over her chest. When she saw me, I could see the concern in her eyes, and when she opened her arms to me, I rushed into them.
“Let’s go,” she said. “I called your landlord, and the electricity is on there.”
I nodded, but I didn’t trust myself to talk.
Pepper threaded her fingers through mine and held my hand all the way down the dark hallway and into the parking lot. She opened the passenger side of her Mustang and waited for me to climb in, then closed the door behind me before making her way to the other side.
When she was inside the car, she buckled, then looked at me. “He’s my brother, and I love him, but it will be a long time before I can look at him again. He’s a bastard, and I am so sorry. I should have come here last night. I trusted him, and I shouldn’t have.”
I reached over and took her hand. “Stop. He didn’t rape me. I asked for it. He did what I’d asked. And…and it was good. Better than good. It was amazing.”
The pain in her eyes made her thoughts on the matter clear. “You understand that sex is just sex to Micah? Nothing more. It holds no meaning or emotion to him.”
I nodded. I knew that. Now.
She sighed heavily. “One day, the right guy will come along. With him, it will be everything you deserve.”
I looked out the window as she drove off The Judgment’s property. “Or maybe I’m better off alone.”
“Don’t say that.”
I turned my attention to her. “Why? You seem fine alone. You haven’t dated in two years. Do you think the right guy is going to come along for you one day?”
She laughed and shook her head. “I am not like you. I don’t want a man. You…you’re softer. Kinder. You crave that connection. Even if you don’t want to admit it. You are the perfect female. I am the exact opposite.”
I frowned. She always said I didn’t see myself clearly, but she didn’t see herself the way the rest of the world did. Men paused to watch her walk by. When she walked into a room, it began to revolve around her without her realizing it. I’d tried to tell her that in the past, but she never listened.
Pepper reached across and grabbed my hand. “Talk to me about last night. Why did you hurt yourself?” Her eyes dropped to the marks on my leg before she looked back at the road.
“I don’t know,” I lied, not wanting to talk about it.
“Dolly, if you need to see a psychologist again, then I’m sure—”
“No. I’m fine. It was nothing. Just drop it.”
“I can’t drop it if you are hurting. We both know what happens if you try and internalize. I am your friend. You can trust me. You know that.”
I nodded and hated that my eyes were burning. “It is over. It won’t happen again. I swear.”
21
Micah
“Barnes & Noble opened back up, and so has the library. Dolly is going back to work. I’m heading to the bar, and I doubt I can stay tonight. Send someone over here, but so help me GOD, it’d better not be you.” Pepper’s heated tone came through on the line.
I took one more pull from the cigarette in my hand, then dropped it to the pavement and covered it with my boot. My eyes were locked on the apartment window across the street. Pepper had made it clear that I wasn’t to call or come by Dolly’s, so I stayed on the bench across the street and watched to make sure she was safe. I had typed out at least fifteen texts to her and deleted them in the past forty-eight hours. Sending her a fucking text didn’t feel right.
She deserved more than that. I just needed my sister to leave the damn apartment so I could get close to her.
“I’ll send Brick,” I told her.
“What are you doing about Canyon?” she hissed.
“His ten days are almost up. We’re going to find him,” I replied, fighting the need to light up another cigarette. “He’ll be handled soon.”
Pepper let out a weary breath. “Take that crazy Mafia guy that everyone is so scared of with you.”
She was mad at me, but she was still worried about me. That was a good sign.
“Presley,” I replied. “He’ll be there, along with some others.”
“Okay, good. Then, you get that done. Don’t get put in prison. And stay away from Dolly.”