Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 124451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
“Thank you,” she whispers, and a tear falls and splashes against my arm. “It happened so fast. One second I was coming out of the bathroom, and the next, he was there. He pushed me back in, and when I saw the knife, I just … I froze. I didn’t know what to do. He started grabbing at me and saying something, but I was too scared to make out the words. I think I fought back. He was getting so angry and then he panicked when someone walked in. He stabbed me right through the chest and took off.”
“I’m so sorry, Addie,” I say, tears hot on my cheeks. “I hate that you’re hurt again. It should never have happened. I should have gone to the bathroom with you, or … I don’t know. I just wish I’d done something more to protect you.”
“It’s not your job to protect me, Bri,” she says. “I knew the risks of walking away, and I did it anyway. I thought I would be fine and that’s on me. Besides, Colby is just a dumb jock and clearly knows nothing about the human body. He took swipes at you, me, and Jax, and couldn’t take a single one of us out.”
“Addie,” I say, not approving of her shrug-it-off attitude.
“What?” she says. “I’m fine. It’s barely a scratch.”
“You and I both know it’s not just a scratch, just like me nearly not being able to shit isn’t just a scratch. It’s okay to be scared, and it’s okay to acknowledge that he hurt you. He hurt me too.”
Addie lets out a heavy sigh and glances toward the door, gripping my hand like it’s her only lifeline. “Does it make me a bad person for hoping he dies?”
I shake my head. “If it does, then that makes me a bad person too.”
Chapter 5
TANNER
Pushing through the door of Jax’s room, I come to a stop, finding it completely empty, bed and all. “What the fuck?” I mutter, stepping back out and double-checking the numbers on the door.
I’m definitely in the right room, so where the fuck is he, and why is his whole-ass bed missing?
Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I check that I haven’t missed any updates from Logan and start to panic that he’s been taken into surgery again. If that were the case, Logan would have said something, and he’d be in this room right now, pacing like crazy.
Moving back out into the corridor, I unlock the screen and click on Logan’s name. As it rings, I make my way to the nurses’ station, ready to hit them with a million and one questions about the whereabouts of my cousin, but when I get there, the desk is empty.
The phone rings in my ear, and as I wait impatiently for Logan to accept my call, I let out an exhausted huff. It’s barely been eighteen hours since Colby’s attack, and despite my mother’s objections, I haven’t had a wink of sleep. I know everybody is safe and healing, but it does nothing to stop the fear from rattling through my empty chest. Every time I close my eyes, all I see is Addison hanging limp in Hudson’s arms or Brielle falling onto the grass, begging me not to let her die. And then there’s Jax, my cousin and one of my best friends since the day he was born. I’ll never be able to forget the image of Logan hovering over him, his hands pressed to his twin brother’s torso as blood escaped between his fingers. I can still hear the agony in his voice as he screamed for his brother to make it.
Colby deserved so much worse than what he got.
A moral part of me is relieved I didn’t kill the asshole, but the part of me that so fiercely loves my sister, Jax, and Bri, desperately wishes I’d finished the job.
Logan accepts my call. “Yo, what’s up?” he groans into the phone.
“Were you sleeping?”
“Trying to.”
“Shit. Sorry, man,” I mutter, scanning up and down the hallways, positive Jax probably slipped into some girl’s room and is trying to get laid, even while on his deathbed.
“It’s fine. What’s up?”
“Do you know where your bro—” I cut myself off, seeing a familiar bare ass hurrying down the corridor, pushing his bed and trying to navigate around the obstacles lining the hall. Letting out a sigh, I shake my head, unable to grin at his ridiculous performance. “Don’t worry. Found him.”
“Found him?” Logan questions. “What do you mean, found him? Where the fuck did he go, and why is he not in his room?”
“Good fucking question,” I mutter, following Jax down the hall, my curiosity piqued. “I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”
Logan sighs, knowing his brother all too well. “Yeah, alright. Just don’t let him do anything stupid. He only woke up from surgery six hours ago. Knowing him, the idiot will bust open his stitches and end up with a fatal infection. Besides, Dad’s flight will be here soon, and that’s exactly the type of shit Jax would pull when he’s there. Fucking idiot,” Logan continues, almost as if talking to himself now. “Always pulling fucked-up stunts at the worst possible times. It’s shit like this that’ll get my Camaro confiscated.”