Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 75720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
But we had shit to do, and the main thing on that to-do list: finding the sick fuck before he found us.
23
NOAH BARNES
“Gah damn, this place is huge,” Jake said, looking out the window as he pulled into the driveway, gravel sounding like a rocky symphony underneath the tires. He wasn’t exaggerating either. Robby’s parents’ cabin was something pulled directly out of a movie featuring sparkly vampires and awkward teenage angst. It was a mix of modern with a splash of classic: windows that stretched along the dark black wood, a wraparound deck that sported plenty of hanging chairs and comfortable benches, a white stone trim that blended in with the puffy white clouds that seemed to be touching the tip of the roof from how high up in the mountains we were. It was the only cabin on the road, perched on the edge of the cliff like a queen peering down at her woodsy kingdom.
This weekend was our book club mountain retreat, and hollllly crap did I need this escape.
The past week felt like I was living through a daily nightmare that I couldn’t wake up from. Every second that ticked by was another second I expected the axe hanging over my head to drop. The police took down the threat and promised they were trying their best to find this person but couldn’t give me any guarantees, only warnings: stay with others, don’t go anywhere alone, change my number and my locks, increase security, blah blah blah.
Nothing that gave me any real hope they’d find whoever was behind this. They were basically warning me that I was on my own without actually saying those words. It was disheartening, but more than that, it was terrifying. I had trouble sleeping, even though Jake’s comforting presence and soft breaths were right next to me.
Maybe the fear came because Jake was with me. I didn’t want to give in to the threats; I didn’t want to break up with Jake. That was literally the last thing I ever wanted to do. He made me happy. No… happy was an understatement. He made me feel like I was made of fireworks and stardust. An impossible combination that made me wonder if he was working some kind of spell over me. Maybe he slipped me a love potion when I wasn’t looking, or maybe he was just that perfect—whatever the reason, it made it near impossible to imagine what my life would be if I pushed him away.
But then I’d start imagining what would happen if I didn’t push him away. I started picturing all kinds of fucked-up things, fed by the memory of a severed rooster head staring up at me. I couldn’t control the images that would randomly pop up throughout the day, and all of them made me want to curl up into a ball and cry until this was all over.
If anything happened to Jake, I didn’t think I’d be able to live with myself. It would destroy me, from the inside out. My heart would disintegrate, turning to useless dust in my chest. I was beginning to care more about what happened to him than what could potentially happen to me. My intense worry for his well-being made me forget that I was the real target and that this was all happening because someone had their sights set on me. Jake was just an innocent bystander, dating the wrong person at the wrong time.
And yet he still wouldn’t back down. He refused to let this sick person win, and for that, I was incredibly grateful. There were defining moments in every relationship that steered the course for what was to come, that would forever shape the way love grew. A singular moment could either snuff out any flames currently crackling and growing in intensity, or it could permanently encase that fire in a protective shell, creating an unbreakable bond that only grows in strength through hardships and through the good times.
I felt like by Jake staying with me, that shell turned solid around us. If he stayed by my side through this mess, then I couldn’t see anything tearing us apart in the future.
Jake reached into the back seat and grabbed his backpack before clicking open the trunk of his new car. “You ready?” he asked me, reaching over and squeezing my thigh.
He was so handsome today, even with how casual he looked wearing a backward blue-and-black baseball cap that made his eyes pop. It didn’t hurt that a backward cap on a man sent me straight to horny orbit for some reason, and the gray sweatpants he had on were doing nothing to help the cause.
Or rather, they were doing everything to help.
I nodded, reflecting the smile he wore so effortlessly, mine coming a little more strained these days. “I’ve never been more ready. Let’s go.”