Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 103637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Arden locked the door the moment Mike backed into the corridor and pressed his forehead to the cool wood as hot tears spilled down his cheeks. The room was too big for a single person, and with Mike out, the emptiness of the tidy space might consume him whole. If he was to stay here, he needed all traces of Mike gone. All of them. He’d wash the sheets and spray the mattress with upholstery cleaner. He’d scrub every surface so it no longer smelled of his masculine cologne.
That bastard was not worth his tears, so Arden was intent on turning his sadness into pure hate and never give his heart to anyone again, regardless of their pretty words and even prettier actions. How could he have been so stupid again?
Mike hadn’t packed all of his clothes, though of course he had taken the property vest he never spoke about. Arden pulled on a T-shirt and went to work on this toxic place. If he couldn’t hurt Mike, at least he’d wreck his shit.
He opened the window, and threw the first batch of clothes out into the empty yard. His one regret was that in this desert there was no mud or puddles to chuck it all into.
He didn’t bother to mess up the stuff Mike had already packed. He grabbed the open bag and hauled it outside. It tumbled into the dust, spilling its contents. But he wasn’t done. Next came the shoes, which Arden tossed with such ferocity they all hit the wall of the building across the yard, and one tumbled across its roof and fell on the other side.
“Fuck you!” Arden said as he threw one of the alcohol bottles from Mike’s collection to the ground. Even the sound of smashing glass wasn’t able to soothe his pain, but it numbed it for half a second, so he threw another.
A figure loomed outside, and Arden knew it was Mike before he heard the familiar voice. He threw the next bottle, trying to hit the pile of Mike’s clothes, so it would soak in the bourbon and become a trap due to broken glass. He didn’t quite manage that feat.
“Hey, what the hell are you doing?” Mike yelled, running up to face Arden from below.
“What do you think I’m doing? Getting rid of your shit! You wanted to leave, so take it all!” His voice was a razor slashing through his throat, but he would not curl into a ball and die. Even if he never loved or trusted again, he would live on and fight lying scum like Mike.
Mike looked around, spreading his arms as he took in the damage already made.
The sun wasn’t yet up, but it already colored the clouds in a brilliant palette of pinks, oranges, and purples, as if there was another beautiful day ahead, and Arden’s heart hadn’t been shattered.
“Just put it all into the damn corridor!” Mike shouted, leaping away when Arden sent a facial cream his way.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do!” Arden screeched louder and threw lube Mike’s way, followed by a blister pack of condoms that fluttered in the air like an unusual bird. “You’ll probably need these where you’re going!”
Mike dragged his hands down his cheeks. “Arden, please!”
“What the hell is this about?” Jeff asked, rolling out of the office area with messy hair, in just a pair of black boxer shorts and flip flops on his feet.
“None of your business!” Arden yelled.
Mike gave a frustrated noise. “Stop waking people up!”
Arden didn’t care if he woke up the whole goddamn compound, and all the coyotes in the desert behind it, because his suffering needed an outlet.
Jeff grabbed Mike’s arm. “You’re bleeding. What happened?”
“I happened!” Arden cried, his voice thick with emotion. “I could have stabbed you a thousand times over and you wouldn’t know how much I’m hurting!” His voice became a rasp on the last word when he choked on tears.
Mike’s mouth shut, and he stared at Arden despite Jeff hissing something at him.
Arden choked on the bitterness in his throat, but the sound of the lock pulled him right back to reality. He spun around to face Axel’s massive form storming at him in shorts and a tank top. Before he could have considered a mode of defense, Axel yanked him up and carried him out of the room as if he were a bounty hunter delivering a criminal to the Sheriff’s office somewhere in the old West.
“You ungrateful piece of shit!”
“Let me go! You don’t know what’s going on!” Arden cried, but Axel’s arms were steel, and he knew exactly how to hold Arden so that none of the moves Mike had taught him worked.
Axel carried Arden down the stairs with terrifying efficiency, and by the time they reached the door to the yard, Mike ran straight at them, blocking the way.