Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 180438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 902(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 601(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 180438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 902(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 601(@300wpm)
“Your dear old dad has been arrested for the murder of one Mary Hudson. You people seem to be reaping what you sewed at the same time, like a family discount. Where’s your hag of a mother? I haven’t seen her around.”
What the hell is going on. Dad killed Mary? But how, why? Oh shit, a bow and arrow. Dad’s favorite hunting weapon. My mind cleared completely when I remembered the article he’d done a few years ago, one of the last ones that he’d been so proud of. It was now plastered on the front page once again; well, not exactly, it hadn’t even made page six last time. “Oh fuck!
Chapter 92
*Elena*
“Do you remember this?” I opened my eyes sluggishly, barely able to keep them open as tired as I was. I still find it amazing how the body could be resplendently buzzing with excitement while simultaneously sapped of all energy. Not for nothing, but I think Ryder and I have had more sex this time around than we used to before.
I might have mistakenly believed it to be trauma bonding, but I think we were way past that by now. So much had been said, so many misunderstandings finally resolved that now there was nothing between us but the affection we once held for each other with the added bonus of time and experience.
The years apart had added something new to our bond, and believe it or not, I felt closer to him now than ever before. I realize that most of it had to do with clearing the air, but it was also hugely in part because of his sobriety. I never noticed just how much of a difference it would make, but this mature, self-reflecting Ryder was eons above the boy I’d fallen in love with.
There was so much more to him now, and me too. My heart was so full of him, just like before, but now with the knowledge of what it would be like to be without him. Now, the very thought of it makes me ill. I never want to be without him again, and I showed him in many ways throughout the night.
It’s like living our second honeymoon stage on steroids. Not that I’m complaining. Even though I had abstained for the last five years, I’ve always been a very sexual being, especially with him. No matter how much Sydney and sometimes even Rachel had joked that I should get laid to let off some steam over those years, I was never tempted.
Sex for the sake of having sex just never really appealed to me, but my libido had come back full force, and when my mind wasn’t occupied with unnecessary things these days, it was on Ryder and being together like this. Thankfully, he was on the same page. But none of that was going to save him if he didn’t let me sleep.
I was about to say that to him until my eyes landed on what it was that he held in his hand. All tiredness disappeared as I sat bolt-upright in bed. “OH my….” I had to force myself to calm down and not hyperventilate like a ninny. You’re no longer the young girl he met with stars in her eyes but a grown-ass woman; act like it.
I tried, but it was hard. I looked from the box in his hand, and back to him I don’t know how many times, lost for more words but with a million thoughts in my head. “That… is that?”
“Yes, it’s the ring you fawned all over before our world went to shit.”
I’m not sure what it was. I’d already said I believed him about what led him down the path he’d taken in the past, but seeing that ring was like something untying all the knots that remained. The diamond shone through the tears that fell as he lifted my hand and placed the ring on my finger.
There was no fear, no hesitation. I didn’t give any thought to what anyone else might say. Not my mother, not my best friend, not even my fans whom I’ve always been deathly afraid of losing, of disappointing in some way because that’s what I had been taught.
At that moment, as I released a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding, I felt as if the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders. That one brief moment when I didn’t care about anyone else but him and I felt like I was soaring amidst the clouds.
“Ryder!” I couldn’t get any more words past the lump that had formed in my throat. “When?” He knew what I was asking, thankfully, because I was down to one-word sentences, it seemed like.
“I got it a few days after I got married. I carried this around with me a lot. Somehow, telling myself that I would one day give it to its rightful owner kept me going, even when I was high out of my mind. I used to take it out and look at it when I missed you the most, and I was always deathly afraid of someone else taking it wearing it. She saw it once, coming on to the end.”