Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 117774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
The air is cold, so I tug up both socks as if that little inch is going to help. I’m scanning the area, looking for Kyrin when I find his back turned to me, looking out at the water. I take the steps down and hop onto the cobblestones that pave the way to the jetty. He shifts over his shoulder slightly when my feet hit the wood, but he doesn’t turn all the way around. In fact, I’m almost certain he doesn’t look at me at all.
“Let me guess, they sent you out here.” He sounds distant. More than usual.
His hoodie stretches over his broad shoulders. Kyrin is built like a Greek god. His stone carved with a scalpel as sharp as ones used in surgeries, but a darkness lurks inside of him that he hides. Everyone knows Kyrin is dark and broody, but they really don’t know. He isn’t heartless or soulless like me. Neither of them is. They’re damaged, I’m broken. There’s a difference.
“Actually no.” I stand beside him, following his line of sight. The lake is calm, placid, almost like dark silk flowing through a light breeze. “I noticed you weren’t coming in and figured something must have happened.” I lower myself down onto the edge of the jetty and hang my legs over the edge. “Also, Eli’s little tantrum when he walked into the house also gave it away.”
There’s a long pause before he finally lowers himself beside me. “Don’t want to talk about that.”
“Fair.” I sigh. “Your sister is cool.”
He chuckles, and the foreign sound triggers goose bumps down the apex of my spine. “She’s not.”
I shrug. “Well, if Perse has anything to do with it, I’m sure she’ll hate me by the end of the night anyway.”
“You gonna handle her, because I know you don’t need me, or Eli, to do that for you?”
I think over his words, letting them linger inside my brain.
“No.” I turn to face him.
As soon as our eyes collide, it feels as though a fist is punched through my gut. Shit. What the fuck. The glow of the full moon hovers behind me, giving a direct view of his features. His face. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone as beautiful as Kyrin, and you can’t really call him beautiful, but he is. His thick brows tug together as his eyes fall to my lips before coming back.
“I think you know why.”
He runs his hand over his chin. “Because you don’t care.” It wasn’t a question; it was a statement. As if he needed to say the words out loud to hear them, instead of them coming from my mouth. I can’t tell if it disappoints him that I’m the way I am.
“Mmhmm.”
His thigh brushes against mine. My breathing stops.
“Yeah, I don’t buy it.” His answer grabs my attention instantly. He’s so sure, as if he has known me all of my life.
“Why do you say that? Because I’m a good lay?” It’s a joke, only I’m not expecting him to laugh.
“No,” he answers, leaning back against the elbow that’s farthest from me.
I peek at him over my shoulder, hiding my breathing behind it.
“Because when you use it as a shield, it only means there’s something behind it.”
Our eyes stay connected. Seconds pass before I finally turn back to face the lake, only his hand is on my chin and he’s turning me back to face him.
“Lilith.”
Such a simple word, such a fucked-up soul.
“Kyrin…” I ghost back to him.
He leans forward and I stop breathing. I have breathing problems around him. It’s almost out of instinct, as if anytime he’s near, my body sends warning signs shooting through my fingertips that turn my blood hot. His fingers trickle to the back of my neck as he brings my face closer to his. When the tips of our noses touch, I think my brain short-circuits, and when his lips touch mine, everything I had held on to inside of me explodes. His lips are soft, too soft. My legs turn to jelly and the bats that are flying around inside of me screech so loud the vibrations tear at the inside walls of my stomach. He’s kissing me. He starts to pull back, so I bring my hand to the back of his neck, keeping him to me. I sneak my tongue out and run it below the edge of his lip. A deep growl vibrates from his chest as he rolls me onto my back and settles between my thighs without breaking our kiss. It turns frantic, tongues clashing together and desperate. As if we have been waiting our whole damn life just to do one simple thing: kiss. An action most people do daily, yet to us, it is something else.
He breaks, pulling back and staring down at me. The moon is behind him now, so I can’t see much of his face. “You’re both a fucking pain in my ass.”