Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 129986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
I crack a smile, but it’s not really funny. “Your lawyer thinks I shouldn’t report you for rape? Damn, what a hot take. I’m gonna need a moment to recover from all this shock.”
“I’m serious.” He pulls back a little to look down at me. “If you want to work something out that doesn’t involve you trying to get me found guilty of an actual crime, we can, but I gave him an overview of the optics. You and I both know I’m the asshole here, but if you pursue it and put us on opposite sides of a court room, you’re going to get torn apart.”
That’s a bitter little pill to swallow. I had already figured that out myself, but hearing him say it to sway me not to is… unpleasant. “Right. That makes sense. Me getting torn apart for something you did.”
“I’m not saying it’s right, but that’s the reality we’re dealing with,” he says, bringing a hand up to caress my face. His solemn brown eyes delve deep into mine. I get the feeling he wouldn’t flaunt this ugly reality if I’d have just given him the answer he wanted already, but I’m making him by pressing the issue. “I kidnapped you, assaulted you, and left bruises on your body, Aubrey, and your own mother fucking loves me.”
My stomach drops.
“So, how do you think the public would be persuaded to feel about it?”
I push his hand away, pulling out of his embrace and rolling away from him. “You can stop being an asshole, Dare. I’m not filing the report.”
“I’m not trying to be an asshole,” he says, rolling over in the bed so he can keep his gaze on me as I head for the door.
“Must be one of your god-given talents then,” I state.
“Where are you going?”
“I have to pee.”
I also have to get away from him before I punch him in the face.
Once I’ve made the trip to the bathroom, I decide to take a detour to the kitchen before I go back. Mom is still sleeping, so I don’t want to make actual breakfast yet. I’m also not particularly in the mood to cook for Dare after the ugly shit he just said, so I grab us bottles of water from the fridge and two of Hannah’s muffins before heading back down the hall.
I put Dare’s bottle of water down on the end table nearest him.
“Don’t look at me,” I say, passing him his plate without meeting his gaze.
“But you’re so nice to look at.”
“I’m sick of you.” I walk around the bed and climb up next to him.
“That’s not true,” he says casually, eyeing up the muffin like it’s Inigo Montoya and he killed its dad. “Why have you brought me this?”
I glance over at him. “You said you were hungry.”
He continues to eye it distastefully. “I don’t like muffins.”
My eyebrows rise and fall. I reach over and grab it off his plate, rehoming it on mine. “More for me, then.”
He watches me take the first bite. “We should do something later.”
“Can’t. I need to spend some time with Mom tonight.”
“Fine. Then I’ll be over once she’s gone to bed.”
I pick a little piece of muffin off with my fingers, looking at it instead of him. I don’t know if I want him to come over. I can’t even decide if I want him to be here now, he just is.
But I also know if he wants to come, he will.
“You know, sometimes I might have other plans.” I glance over at him. “Ones that don’t include you.”
He grabs the water bottle off the table and uncaps it. “Sounds boring.” He takes a swig, then twists the cap back on. “Plans that include Hannah?”
“I know you’re not in love with our friendship, but I like Hannah, and she’s a good friend. If you won’t be doing any more psychotic things to make her be like, ‘hey, Aubrey, I think this guy’s a danger to your general well-being,’ then I don’t see why you should have a problem with us hanging out.”
“I can think of a few reasons,” he murmurs.
I can hear the echo of unspoken words in the silence that follows. When he speaks again, all his good-natured patience is gone, and there’s a dangerous edge to every syllable he utters.
“Do you remember when we first started hanging out and you told me you would never cheat on me?”
My stomach drops. It’s the way he caresses certain words, wielding them like deadly weapons and framing me as his opponent. “Of course,” I say uneasily.
“I want to reiterate now that you know more about me, I may have said it like I was joking, but I very much meant it when I said I would kill off the competition.”
I pop a piece of muffin into my mouth so he doesn’t notice I’ve lost my appetite, but as hard as it is to swallow, it might as well be sand. “I have told you several times now, Hannah isn’t your competition.”