Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 73043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
So, there they were, running with their stupid flashlights that barely illuminated three feet in front of them, and not goddamn once did they think to look up until they felt the alien’s saliva drip on their skin.
The alien’s saliva burned like acid…which was what Elspeth’s touch was reminding me of.
I pulled my arm back. “You should probably not get too close. Germs.”
She smiled at my suggestion.
“If I get sick, then you can just take care of me,” she suggested.
Yeah, fucking right.
I didn’t take care of anybody.
Except for maybe Janie.
She’d look a-fucking-dorable sick.
I’d totally sit next to her and willingly be in her germ zone.
Why? I couldn’t tell you.
Which immediately pissed me off.
“Take care of yourself, Luis.”
Luis.
I gave her a fake smile and wrapped her in my arms, even though I felt like vomiting into her hair when her lips pressed against my neck.
To keep my mind off of the state of my stomach, I allowed my eyes to roam around the street, my eyes spotting a familiar car.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, sweetheart,” she whispered, pulling away.
Then she left with a small wave, leaving the stupid pie behind.
I didn’t so much as wait for her to get to her car before I headed inside and went straight to the bathroom for the shower that I’d been speaking of.
Once I had my clothes off, I got in the shower, my thoughts drifting to the car.
It was a familiar car, but I couldn’t say how I knew it.
Something about that car, though, brought up the stirring of memories that was making my heart pound.
And that pounding only showed up when I thought about her.
Janie.
***
Janie
The entire ride over I’d berated myself for showing up unannounced, but I had to talk to him. I had to know. I had to see.
What I saw made me realize that what I had with Rafe was gone.
He may not remember me, but he sure looked like he remembered her.
They looked happy.
I felt like my heart had just been ripped from my chest. As if someone had reached in, gripped it in their large fist, and squeezed as they ripped.
I didn’t look back as I started my car.
I didn’t think about him while I drove.
And I definitely didn’t think about his favorite coffee when I walked into my favorite little hole in the wall coffee shop that reminded me of him.
No. Not one single bit.
Also, that was a lie.
Everything was a lie.
I wasn’t sure that anything would ever be the truth again.
Chapter 11
Home: where the ho & me come together.
-Welcome Mat
Janie
One month later
It started out as an accident, at least on my part.
At first, I’d said yes to the coffee because he’d looked lost.
The day that I’d shown up for my coffee after seeing Rafe with that woman, I’d been lost. I must’ve looked lost, too, because a kindred soul had found me standing there. He’d asked to have a seat, and I’d shrugged.
I hadn’t really wanted to be alone, and this guy seemed harmless.
Wrong.
The second coffee date, I couldn’t get out of there fast enough either.
But, as the coffee dates wore on, I realized that they weren’t too bad. If he was lonely, who was I not to share a coffee with him? I was literally at the coffee shop anyway.
It was on the fifteenth such coffee date that he’d brought his mother. He’d brought his mother to introduce her to his girlfriend. Apparently, that would be me.
What the fuck?
Kayla had nearly cried as I’d recounted what had happened that day.
“You’re joking, right?” she’d wheezed. “Oh my God. You’re going to be stuck with the asshole forever if you don’t fix this right now.”
I had no idea how right she was.
See, in my quest to get over Rafe, I’d created a monster. A monster that talked, breathed, and spoke to me.
Tegan Aggrad, a twenty-eight-year-old police officer who worked with my father, wasn’t what I was looking for.
Yet, in my grief over what I’d seen with Rafe, I let it go too far.
“You want to meet my dad,” I said, surprised.
“Yes,” he said.
“You’ve already met him,” I told Tegan.
Yes, as my boyfriend, they hadn’t met.
But, at work, they had.
They knew of each other. They just hadn’t met each other outside of work in the form of us being boyfriend and girlfriend.
“Okay,” I hesitated. “Tomorrow?”
He shook his head. “Now.”
“Now,” I repeated, sounding like a parrot. “Ummm,” I hesitated. “I’m not sure if my dad’s home.”
He gave me a look that clearly said that I was purposefully stalling…which I was.
I didn’t want Tegan to come to my house. I most certainly didn’t want to introduce him to my family.
Yet, I couldn’t say no.
He gave me those puppy dog eyes, and I felt terrible.
“Fine,” I shrugged. “Let’s go. You can follow me home.”
Tegan opened his mouth to argue, but I cut him off.