Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 176345 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 882(@200wpm)___ 705(@250wpm)___ 588(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 176345 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 882(@200wpm)___ 705(@250wpm)___ 588(@300wpm)
“He cut off a limb … all because he wanted to make me pay for bullying the girl I was forced to bully or my own family would go to jail.”
She swallows, but her fingers slowly unlatch from my wrist as though she no longer has the strength to hold me down. And even though I hate to admit it, I was growing quite fond of her hand latched around my wrist.
“I did what I had to, and I paid the heaviest price of all,” I say, the pain of that day still so fresh in my mind that it makes my voice crack. “Do you know he still has it?”
“What?” she replies in shock.
“He keeps it in a jar like a wet specimen. A trophy. Me.”
When she tries to move away, I grip her hand with mine, showing the four fingers I have left.
“This is why I hate. Why you call me evil.” I slowly lower her until her face is mere inches away from mine. “Does it make me evil to love my family to the ends of the earth? To the end of me?”
Her eyes well up with tears, but she swallows them back.
Just like I always do when I know it would be better if I just let them go.
If I just let someone see that part of me … the part I’ve always been told was weak.
Stay strong. You’re a Reed. Reeds don’t cry. Reeds stick together. Reeds fight for what belongs to them.
That’s what my father always used to say.
Until he vanished and disappeared into the belly of the justice system.
I grab a few loose strands of hair and push them behind her ear. I understand now why Kai was so fixated on that ribbon of hers … on this picture-perfect face that hides a beautiful lie.
“If I’m evil for killing and using people, then so are you.”
She frowns. “I don’t kill for—”
“Sport?” My brow rises. “What then? Excitement? To feel powerful?”
“To make sure those fuckers are erased from this goddamn earth,” she retorts, still holding me down. “And I won’t fucking stop, not even if you threaten me.”
“Oh, by all means … kill as many of them as you like. I won’t stop you,” I reply, struck by how pretty she is when she’s angry and on the verge of yet another murder.
Would she kill me if she had the chance?
Or does she feel the same electricity sparking between us when we touch?
With my hand on her cheek, I pull her close, her lips almost puckering as mine approach, ready to stake my claim.
Suddenly, the door opens from the outside, and our heads rise to look.
Kai’s dangling a key around his finger, the amused look on his face making her blush because he’s seen her sitting on top of me.
She scrambles off me and pats down her clothes.
“Are you done?” she asks.
“Hardly,” I reply.
“If you have nothing else to say to me, then I’m done here,” she seethes, and she blows out a breath before she marches toward the door.
“Are you gonna let me pass?” She stares Kai up and down.
A slow smirk spreads on his cheeks before he finally steps aside and lets her go wherever she needs to go.
Home, probably. To wallow in her growing rage over the fact that she almost tried to kiss me back.
“What were you doing with her?” Kai asks.
I flop onto the bed with a massive boner and groan out loud. “She’s a handful.”
“Oh, I know,” he replies. “You can leave her to me if it’s too much for you.”
“Fuck no,” I retort. “I won’t let you have all the fun with her.”
“Seems like this was more than just fun,” he says, leaning against the doorjamb.
“What? Can’t I just give her a fucking kiss?”
“Hmm … you keep telling yourself it was only just a kiss,” he muses before he turns around and walks off. “I’m going to bed. See you tomorrow. Good luck sleeping with that boner.”
“I’ll take care of it,” I say.
“I can help you with that.”
Milo’s voice makes me lift my head, and he closes the door, leaving just us two in my bedroom. I sit up straight, legs spread, cock springing right back into action when he licks his lips.
But I don’t trust that he’s wholly mine anymore.
“You bowed to her,” I say as he approaches.
He drops to his knees in front of me. “I would do the same for you.”
I grab his hair and make him look at me. “I don’t like to share.”
“We can make it work,” he says.
My nostrils flare, and I rip off his shirt from seam to seam until nothing is left, revealing the marks she left on him. Dozens of slashes and a clear puncture wound in his shoulder.
“Was this from before or after the fight?”
“Before.”
The pain he endured hits me like a brick in the stomach. Not because of how much it must’ve hurt but because I didn’t inflict it.