Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 169305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 847(@200wpm)___ 677(@250wpm)___ 564(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 847(@200wpm)___ 677(@250wpm)___ 564(@300wpm)
Romeo’s expression shifted from irritation to confusion. “Ah, fuck.” He ran a hand over his face. “Shortbread collecting strays again. She promised to stop after the fourth kitty.”
“She’s no stray, and she isn’t staying, either.” Zach tugged me again. “Come on, Farrow.”
I kept my attention on Romeo, standing my ground. “Can you call Dal?”
I knew I wasn’t being fair. Zach and I had a deal, and so far, only I had broken it. But I couldn’t help it.
Did he have to court Eileen in his house? He had the means to take her to the moon if he wanted to. He didn’t have to throw her in my face time and time again.
Why do you care? And how could he possibly know that you care?
God, I really needed to confront these pesky feelings head-on.
One day. Just not now.
Romeo turned to Zach, brow raised.
I frowned. “Did you really just ask your friend for permission? Are you five?”
“Not helping your case,” Romeo said at the same time Zach drawled out, “No.”
I jerked my arm away. “Yes.”
Zach glared at Romeo. “I’ll short your new pharmaceutical company.”
“I can’t, man.” He seemed genuinely apologetic. “Shortbread will make caviar out of my sperm, and we’re not done having children.”
“Farrow, please.” Zach spat out the word like it was acid in his mouth. “We need to get back inside.”
I finally turned to face him. “Why?”
“Because.” Zach sent a quick glance to Romeo, his ears turning a little a pink, hidden by the fast pellets of rain.
I popped a brow. “Yes?”
“Because I cannot fucking stand the rain.” He threw his hands in the air. “Happy, now? I’m triggered. PTSD’d. Whatever you want to call it. I have never—in the past twenty-one years—been out when it rained.”
The rain turned into hail, striking every inch of our skin.
I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard.
Romeo cleared his throat. “I’m going to leave you two to it…” He slid the door shut, pausing before the click. “Farrow, let me know if you still need a place to crash.”
Zach and I remained standing before one another. We were both panting hard. I had an idea. A terrible idea. But one that needed to be executed, nonetheless.
I reached into my pocket, checking for the metal object. “You want to explain yourself?”
He stuck his hand in his hair and tugged, flinging raindrops everywhere. “Desperately.”
“Let’s run to my Prius. I’ll drive.”
“I don’t—” He clamped his mouth shut.
“You’re ready, Zach. It’s time.” I grabbed his arms. “I’m here to heal you, right? So heal.”
He closed his eyes, screwing his fingers into their sockets. “This deal has a lot of strings attached to it.”
“We’re one big messy knot, Mr. Sun. Deal with it.”
The Prius cruised down the tree-lined streets of Potomac, fending rain off its windshield.
It seemed so light. So insubstantial against nature.
A deathtrap.
I gripped the armrest, sinking my fingernails into it until I ripped the cheap fabric, ignoring the way my heart beat at ten thousand pulses a second.
His blood.
His face.
The scent of burned flesh.
The memories washed over me with rain, just as they always did. But denying Farrow this request meant continuing our earlier argument, and I didn’t want to risk it.
So… you’d rather risk perishing in this deathtrap?
Not my finest act of logic, but I’d quickly discovered logic didn’t exist when it came to Farrow Ballantine.
I double-checked my seatbelt, half-expecting it to split if I tugged too hard. “Must you drive like a maniac who just binged on four kilograms of coke?”
She continued speeding toward the outskirts of town. “I’m driving below city limits.”
I wanted to throttle her and kiss her at the same time.
We both dripped salty water into her seats, our clothes heavy and sticking to our bodies.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
“No, you’ll tell me,” I snapped. Then, realizing I was being an asshole again, I cleared my throat. “I need at least some sort of control over the situation. This is triggering me.”
She pressed her lips together, mulling this over. “I’m taking you to my hideout place. I used to go there whenever I returned home from Seoul. I’d spend my entire summers locked up in a treehouse I built for myself.”
I believed her. Believed this woman built an entire fort for herself because life didn’t give her a kingdom of her own.
I stared at the tears in the car roof, welcoming the distraction. “Where?”
“Gold Mine Trail.”
“Great place to hide bodies.”
“Kept my options open.” She shrugged, her wrist slung on the steering wheel as she accelerated, ignoring the pounding rain. “I did live with Vera, Reggie, and Tabby.”
“Your father should’ve divorced her.”
Better yet—dumped her the minute he saw Farrow was unwelcome in that house. I secretly harbored some pretty fucked-up feelings toward the man.
He was dead now, but not dead enough to atone for how he’d treated his daughter.
Fae nibbled on her lower lip, considering my words.