Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 103104 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103104 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
He closes his eyes and a tear falls. “Stop, stop, just stop this—”
“Knox, please, let me go…” My face tilts up and he takes my mouth hungrily, his tongue desperate and hot, taking all I have to give him.
Three hours later, I’m composed, my face dry as I sit at a restaurant in Sugarwood when Mr. Grayson walks in and comes over to my table. His suit is expensive, but his face looks tired.
“I’m glad you called, Ava,” he says with a slight smile as he takes the seat across from me.
He sees I have a coffee and orders the same. He asks if I’ve had lunch, and I tell him I’m not hungry. He says he isn’t either.
He takes a sip of his coffee and gives me a long look. “Have you changed your mind about my offer?”
I pluck at the napkin on the table. “While I’ve given your words some thought, I have to decline.”
He watches me. “I see. How was school today? You aren’t there.”
I exhale. “I’ve unenrolled. I’ll be getting my GED, and I was wondering if you could help me get into Vandy and get their best scholarship. I don’t want your money, just your assistance, and the rest I can borrow on student loans. I’m sure you have connections in Nashville.”
“Indeed I do. What about your brother?”
“I have that settled, but I would like some help in applying as his guardian. You know good lawyers. I’ve had some trouble with my mom showing up recently.”
“Is that why you’re leaving?”
“No, no, she doesn’t really want him, but if I can eliminate any possibility of her having the chance, I’d like to.”
“I see,” he murmurs. “Have you talked to Knox? He was pretty upset after he saw you on Saturday.”
I nod. “I can’t promise you I won’t ever see Knox again. I love him, but I will stay away for as long as I can. I keep thinking about what you said, about us meeting some other time, and that’s all that’s keeping me going, Mr. Grayson.” I look up at him, letting him see how I’m barely keeping myself together.
Emotion works his face as he reaches across the table and holds my hand. “Let me do all these things for you, Ava.”
24
After retrieving my things from Arlington Dorm, I move into a closet-sized apartment Lou threw together for me over the diner. There’s a small bed, a tiny desk, and a bathroom that only has enough room for me to stand sideways, but it’s mine and rent-free.
In late October, I dye my hair blonde. Though the color isn’t quite the same, more bleached out than honey-colored, I start to look like me, even if my eyes are sad. On Halloween, I dress up as a nun and work the morning and lunch shift at Lou’s. He gives me side-eye and calls me Darth Vader but laughs. Tyler is Captain America, and after my shift, I take him trick-or-treating in Piper’s neighborhood. Even though I’m in Sugarwood, I don’t allow my thoughts to dwell on Knox or Camden. I have new goals, a new focus. I promised I’d let him go for both of us, and I’m trying. God, I’m trying so hard.
I take my GED and pass with high scores. My application to Vandy is rushed through and approved and lo and behold, by December a full scholarship is awarded to me, a special compensation for students with high SAT scores who live in the inner city. Mr. Grayson had to have pulled some heavy freaking strings.
I wave the letter I printed off from my email in Lou’s office. “I got it, Lou! It’s mine! January! I’ll be a freshman!”
He beams and sweeps me up in a full twirl while Rosemary tsks from behind the counter, where she’s thrown down an order for me to take out.
He even waggles his eyebrows at Sister Margaret, who’s been loitering in the foyer on her phone.
“Our Ava did it!” he tells her, and dang if he doesn’t give her a hug too. She’s stiff as a board and bats at him lightly.
“Balls. Lou is hugging Sister Margaret,” Tyler declares as he draws at a table.
A couple weeks after Thanksgiving, Piper tells me the Dragons didn’t win a state championship, but they came in second, and considering how awful their last season was and the fact that they lost one of their best players in Liam this year, she says the entire school is thrilled.
At the end of December, nearly four months after I left Camden, word comes from the DA that Liam accepted a plea deal instead of going to trial. His “trophies” were confiscated at his house, along with videos of the party no one had seen, specifically of him videoing me and murmuring he was going to get lucky. They also found a stash of cocaine and Rohypnol, a common date rape drug. His fingerprints were on the bottle, not Dane’s.