Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
I squirm around, as if I’m uncomfortable.
“Do you have anywhere else to stay?” Peter asks.
“No. I don’t have family in town. I wasn’t planning on being here long. Just enough to fix and sell this house for my aunt.”
“Well, if you feel unsafe at any point, call that number,” Dave tells me. “We will assist in any way we can.”
I smile at him. “Aren’t you wonderful. Thank you, Dave. Maybe I’ll call it just because I can. Are you single?”
I give him a little wink.
He grins, and his cheeks go a little red.
I’ve won this match.
The two of them leave, and when they’re gone, Colt exits the house. His eyes falling on me. Then, he claps his hands together as he walks down the front steps.
“Well, fuck me, even I was startin’ to think we were bad news and shouldn’t be trusted.”
I huff, crossing my arms. “Well, if you believed it, then so did they. I think we’re safe.”
“I’ll deal with that–” Colt nods toward the barn “–later tonight. Don’t go in there.”
“Trust me, the things crawling around this place are scarier than that body, but don’t worry, I have no plans on going in there.”
“You’re certainly not like Chloe, that’s for fuckin’ sure,” Colt murmurs, more to himself than me.
If only he knew just how right he was about that.
Once, I thought we were the same, two souls matched.
Now, I’m not so sure.
Now, I’m staring to wonder if I ever really knew her at all.
13
THEN
“Chloe. Hey.”
Shaking from my thoughts, I stare over at Colt. He’s looking at me with that confused, empty expression that he’s been giving me since the moment he found out his sister was dead. I was there when he received the news, and there has never been a moment in my life where I was so traumatized and empty as I was then. Knowing it is because of me is enough to eternally destroy me.
I wanted to skip town, to leave and never return, but I love him too much.
God, I love this man so much and if I left, after what I had done, then he would have no one.
My guilt is eating me alive. Day in, day out, all I can see is her face. When I close my eyes, she’s there, when I wake in the morning, she’s there. I can’t escape her, and I know that I’ll never be the same again. I know that I’ll forever live tarnished for what I’ve done. It doesn’t matter how many times I tell myself it was an accident, it’s not enough.
I should have turned myself in.
I still could.
But the thought of spending the rest of my life behind bars scares me more than I can ever put into words.
I don’t want to die in prison.
I am so afraid of that life, so deathly afraid.
Since I was a little girl, my worst fear was going to prison and spending each day of my life in the same cell.
The thought makes me sick.
But the thought of having killed someone, makes me sicker.
I don’t know what to do, and every day that passes, my mind breaks a little more.
Colt is devastated. His sister was in town for a few weeks, and he was going to introduce her to me. The two of them weren’t overly close, but he cared a lot for her. He told me he had spent a good deal of time during their childhood helping her through some difficult times. He won’t ever know that I am the reason she’s gone. If he did, he’d probably kill me.
At the very least, he’d hate me for the rest of my life.
And his.
“Chloe.”
I meet Colt’s gaze. “Sorry.”
“You’re gone again, somewhere in your head. What’s goin’ on? Never seen you like this.”
“Things have been tense, that’s all.”
My voice has lost its gentle tone, instead it sounds like a bland, broken violin that’s on repeat. I don’t even recognize myself. I don’t know who I am. I don’t know when I became the kind of monster that would hit someone and then leave the scene. I was so scared that night, so horribly afraid, and now the choice has been made, I can’t seem to make myself come forward. I should go to the police, but I just can’t take that step.
Maybe I should tell Colt?
Maybe he would force me to do it.
His hand cups my cheek, and I fight back the tears. I can’t stand the thought of him hating me. I can’t ... I won’t.
“I know shit has been hard around here, but we gotta get through.”
He’s so strong, even though I know how much he’s hurting inside.
“I don’t know how you can be so positive when you’ve lost so much,” I whisper.
“Loss is part of life, kid. It’s somethin’ we have to learn to deal with.”