Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 123672 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 618(@200wpm)___ 495(@250wpm)___ 412(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123672 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 618(@200wpm)___ 495(@250wpm)___ 412(@300wpm)
Besides, she’s free to make any assumption she wants; it doesn’t change anything. She still belongs to me, whether she fucking wants to or not.
17
KYAH
By the time I push through the door of my apartment, I’m a blubbering mess. My eyes hurt from crying, and honestly, I don’t even remember the walk home. All I can think about is Crew. How I’ve let him down. How I didn’t really know him. How the past six years were all a lie. Did he even really care for me or was I just some naive girl to pass the time?
Shit. I should have stayed after our fight. I should have tried to work things out with him. Maybe then he would have left the shop and he’d still be alive. But how could I have stayed after what he did? Maybe if he’d been the one to leave and I was the one to stay . . . would it have been me who was attacked? Would I be the one currently rotting in the city morgue?
The guilt tears at me, and after throwing my things onto the couch, I stumble straight into the bathroom. Hanging my head into the sink, I splash cold water over my face as though that could somehow make the pain go away.
He was supposed to be my future, and now . . . he’s gone.
Just like that.
I don’t know what to think or how to process this. On one hand, I want to hate him for how he acted, but on the other, how am I supposed to just disregard six years? Does one mistake erase all the good times?
Panic pulses through my veins, and I take deep, calming breaths, trying to find clarity and grasp what little control I have, just like Viper in the alley. I saw him ready to snap, and I knew he was losing control, but I couldn’t stop myself from pushing him. It’s as though I needed the people around me to feel what I was feeling just so I wasn’t alone, and Viper did just that. He allowed me to push him and to say things he wouldn’t usually tolerate.
After splashing more water over my face, I straighten up, finally feeling my mind start to settle. Grabbing the small hand towel, I dry my face before tossing it onto the bathroom counter. As I stride out into my living room, I’m hit with a cool breeze.
My brows furrow, and I glance across the apartment, finding my living room window wide open.
What the fuck? I know I was in my own world when I was leaving for work this morning, but I know damn well that I wouldn’t have left with the window open like that. That’s just asking for trouble. But hell, it’s not the first time I’ve done something stupid. After all, stupid seems to be my specialty lately.
Shivers race down my spine and I hurry across my apartment, quickly shutting and locking the window. As I turn back, visions of Crew’s lifeless body beneath that sheet haunt my mind and I make my way into my bedroom, grabbing the pillow and comforter off my bed before trudging back out to my couch. I make myself comfortable in front of the TV, not that I’m actually going to watch it, but right now, I need some form of distraction. Anything will do.
I snuggle up, cuddling my pillow to my chest as I clutch my phone in my hand, desperate to hear the familiar ding of one of Crew’s incoming texts, even if it was one of his asshole-ish ones that I’ve been getting lately.
A knock sounds at the door, and I lift my head off the armrest before dropping it right back down, too emotionally exhausted to get up off the couch. I don’t call out, don’t bother to do anything apart from hope whoever it is will go away. Only the knocking sounds again and I groan. “I know you’re in there, Mace.”
Shit.
Letting out a sigh, I keep my gaze locked on the blank TV screen. “It’s open,” I murmur, not sure if I’ve projected my voice enough for him to hear through the closed door, but he seems to have heard it just fine when the door creaks open a moment later.
My gaze shifts toward the door, finding Alex standing directly below the mistletoe monster dildo, and despite the very sight of him, I can’t even pretend to smile. Taking me in, his brows furrow, and he quickly steps inside the door and closes it behind him. “You good, Mace?”
Shifting my gaze back to the blank TV, I shake my head, not trusting myself to say the words out loud without falling to pieces.
Alex watches me a moment longer before muttering something to himself and quickly crossing my apartment. He welcomes himself onto my couch, lifting the blanket over him before grabbing hold of me and pulling me right into the warmth of his strong arms. “What happened?” he questions, his hand cradling the back of my head and holding me close.