Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
“Thea,” he warned.
But he needed to hear how fantastically ridiculous it sounded when he tried to tell me I should let him go. And as far as I was concerned, that ludicrousness was up there with time machines and the ripple effect.
“We go back to when Josh was born. I know what you’re thinking. We can’t exact revenge on a baby.” I dramatically lifted my finger in the air. “But! We can kidnap him and send him to the rainforest to be raised by wolves. I won’t have that scar on my leg from when he tripped me in kindergarten, but you could learn to love me without it, right?”
Glowering, he shifted me off his lap and stood up. “Stop joking around.”
“Who’s joking?”
Even with his temper slipping, he extended a hand to help me up. “Maybe we should just send me to the rainforest instead.”
I took his hand. “Oh, I know. What could—”
“Jesus, woman. Enough.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I matched his glower with a death stare. “Sounds stupid, huh? Kinda like you telling me to just unfall in love with you, unkiss you, untouch you, undo my entire freaking life because it would be easier.” I swung my arms out to my sides, slapping them against my thighs when I dropped them. “It’s impossible, Ramsey. Easy or not, letting go of you is not an option.”
He clenched his teeth. “You don’t have to undo anything, you just have to let go of the life we planned together because that is what’s impossible. I fucking wish I could give that to you. Trust me, I will be hanging on this cross every damn day, knowing you’re out there with someone else, but—”
I stormed toward him. “Then get off the fucking cross! No one asked you to be there!”
“I did,” Nora said, suddenly appearing at the mouth of the hallway.
“No!” Ramsey shouted. “Nora, no.”
Buckets of tears ran down her face, dripping off her chin. “Something good has to come from all of this. I’ve told you that a million times. And I genuinely think that thing is you and Thea finally getting the life you were meant to have.”
Suffocating urgency blanketed the room.
“Don’t do this,” Ramsey begged.
She shook her head. “You’ll never stop pushing her away. You want her. You love her. And if you can’t have her, you will spend the rest of your life alone. I can’t let you do that, Ramsey.” When her eyes flicked to me, her heart-stopping devastation hit me like a sledgehammer.
Twelve years, nine months, six days, eight hours, and forty-four minutes. That was how long it took for my life to explode all over again.
Obliterating me in its wake.
“I killed Josh, Thea.”
Twelve years earlier…
“What are you doing?” Nora whispered, sitting up in bed.
Tucking my head, I snuck in through her window. I was trying to avoid my dad. He’d been a fucking dick when I’d snagged the condoms from his room. After seeing what Josh had done to Thea, knowing that I would have been there to stop it if my dad could have put the fucking tequila bottle down for once, I wanted to kill him that much more. But I did not have time to worry about the bastard who had raised me.
“My window was locked,” I told her, stomping through her room to mine across the hall.
She followed after me. “Are you okay?”
The bite marks on Thea’s naked body flashed on the backs of my lids, causing a deadly combination of adrenaline and failure to burn my skin.
“Not even close,” I muttered, snagging my keys off my dresser.
“What happened? Are you still pissed at Dad?”
“Fuck Dad,” I bit out, going right back through her room to the window.
She caught my arm before I had the chance to leave. “What is going on with you? Where’s Thea?”
In bed, asleep, broken and battered because I couldn’t take care of her.
I yanked my arm away and climbed outside.
“Ramsey,” she hissed, following me out, because crawling up my ass was Nora’s favorite pastime.
I usually didn’t mind though. At least I knew she wasn’t catching the brunt of my father’s bullshit. But that night I did not have the time nor desire for an interrogation.
I had to find Caskey and beat him senseless.
I marched to my car and snatched the door open. It wasn’t locked. Nobody wanted to steal that piece of shit.
My ass had barely hit the seat when my sister slid into the passenger side.
“Get out,” I barked, stabbing my key at the ignition. My aim was shit thanks to the fire raging in my veins.
“No. There’s something going on, and if you’re not going to tell me what, I’m going with you.”
I finally got the key in place and gave it a twist. The engine sputtered, not catching, so I gave it another try. “You cannot come with me tonight, Nora.”