Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81694 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81694 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
I was already getting damp, watching the look on his face as he thought about it. “You can tell me later.”
He nodded and took a deep breath. “We fucked a lot after that. Everywhere I could get you alone. Then, the summer ended, and you turned eighteen, and you were a senior in high school. You always flirted with guys and drove me crazy. That wasn’t a new thing. But that year, it got worse. You were gorgeous, and guys were always hitting on you. I’d go through it all, but I will just hit some of the worst ones because listing them all could take a while.
“I took a steel bat to a guy’s car for following you to the parking lot at school and touching your back. I broke a barstool over a man’s head, who was almost thirty, for leaning in and whispering in your ear. He got a skull fracture. I got arrested for that one. Garrett, Blaise’s dad and the boss, got me out of it. I threw a guy across a room and into a brick wall for grabbing your arm and pulling you to him when you were walking away from him. Broke his nose and arm. Again, arrested, and Garrett got me out. There were a lot of these instances. You would scream at me to stop. I would do it anyway. You’d storm off. I’d chase you down and kiss you until we were fucking.
“You were all I cared about. Nothing else mattered. Not the family. Not my friends. I just wanted you. I made plans, and when you decided where you wanted to go to college, I was moving there. Leaving this all behind to follow you.”
I held up my hand. I was dealing with the fact that former teenage me had in fact been a selfish bitch. Why would I have flirted and let him keep getting in trouble like that? But now, this?
“Did I know you were going to do this?” I asked, horrified that he’d give up what he wanted for me after all the shit I did.
He shook his head. “No, you chose the University of Florida before I told you my plans. You didn’t tell me you’d chosen Florida until I told you I was following you. But then you were just forty miles away, and there was no need for me to leave. You stayed home instead of living the dorm life. That summer was one of the best ones of my life.
“Then, the fall came. You had new friends, a life that I wasn’t a part of. We were together as much as we could be, but you had study groups, and that was where you met Leo. You wanted me. You made that clear. Our sex life was off the charts. There was no problem for us there. It was the jealousy that made it all turn. Leo was after you. He wanted what was mine, and I knew it. I saw it, and I warned you I’d kill him. I meant it too.”
I covered my mouth. “Please do not tell me you killed this guy.”
He shook his head. “No, I didn’t. But I did burn down his frat house. No one was in it. The only casualties were some fish. But … I hadn’t known no one was in it. I’d thought he was.”
Oh my God. I took a deep breath. “Back up. Why did you do this? Because he had flirted with me?”
“Fuck no. I’d have only broken his arm or some shit for that. You came to surprise me at the shop. The secretary Huck had hired was hot for me. I’d put her off and told her I wasn’t interested a million times. We had a party that night. I drank too damn much because we were supposed to see each other that night and you’d called to tell me you had a study group you couldn’t miss. Anyway, Misty, the secretary, got topless and wrapped her arms around my neck. Unfortunately, that was when you walked in the door. I hadn’t reacted quickly enough because I had enough liquor in me to kill a man. I was slow to shoving her off my lap, and you were already in your car, speeding away. I tried to run after you. Fell face-first and passed out.
“Woke up the next morning to a raging headache. Couldn’t remember shit. Checked my phone, and you’d broken up with me by text. It felt like you’d reached into my chest and grabbed my heart and ripped it out of me. Levi told me what had happened. I got in my truck and went straight to your house. You refused to answer your phone. Your car wasn’t at your house. Your mother, who hated me, informed me you’d stayed at the dorms with a friend.