Total pages in book: 185
Estimated words: 191421 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 957(@200wpm)___ 766(@250wpm)___ 638(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 191421 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 957(@200wpm)___ 766(@250wpm)___ 638(@300wpm)
“Reign, fight back,” I scream, still struggling, still trying to push Mom away. “Fight back, please. Just please don’t…” I turn to my mother now who’s crying. “Mom, please. Stop Dad. Please. He’s going to kill Reign. Please, Mom, stop him.”
Something about what I said gets through to her and she loosens her hold on me.
Probably to go to Dad.
And I’m ready.
I’m ready to go as well, but then someone else grabs a hold of me.
And it’s Lucas.
Lucas.
What is Lucas doing here?
At which point I realize that he was the one in my room.
He was the one who took Reign away.
I want to ask him what he’s doing here. But I decide that I don’t have time for that. I don’t have time for questions. So instead I say, “Let me go.”
Seeing my mother intervene, some people have come forward too. They’re trying to make my dad stop. And I’m so relieved, if anyone could call it that, that at least Reign isn’t getting beaten up on. Yet again, I try to go to him but Lucas won’t let me go.
In fact, he drags me away.
He drags me inside the house and he’s so much stronger than me or even my mom that I can barely resist it. I can barely get him to stop. Not to mention, I can’t do much even if I wanted to because of the stupid blanket. Because if I struggle too much, I’ll lose the tiny bit of dignity that I have left.
After what just happened.
What even happened though? Who came into my bedroom?
What is Lucas doing here?
But again, I don’t have time for stupid questions.
So as soon as Lucas gets me in through the door, I go, “What are you doing? Why’d you pull me away? Why’d you…” I try to side step him. “I need to go back out there. I need to go to him.”
He grabs my arms and makes me stay put. “You don’t need to see that.”
“But I —”
“Did he hurt you?”
“What?”
“Your dress. Your…” He frowns. “Your hands. They were tied up.”
“Oh, Jesus Christ.” I try to twist away from him again. “That’s… That’s none of your business.”
“It is,” he says, tightening his grip. “If he was hurting you. If he was ra —”
“No,” I scream, horrified. “He wasn’t. That wasn’t…”
Oh my God, what’s happening.
What do I…
How is it that Reign is out there, going through all the crap right now, and I’m standing here, half-clothed, answering my ex-boyfriend’s ridiculous questions about rape?
“I wanted it, okay?” I tell him, my whole body both blushing and shaking. “I wanted it. Can you please let me go now? I need to go now. I need to —”
“He was at The Horny Bard.”
“What?”
“Last night. He was at the bar, Echo,” Lucas informs me. “He was out there trolling for chicks.”
“No, he wasn’t. He went there with his brother. He…” I look up to the ceiling. “Oh my God, why are we talking about this? Why are we —”
“I knew he’d do this.”
“Do what?” I clench my teeth. “Do fucking what, Lucas? He didn’t do anything.”
“I knew it from the beginning. I knew he’d ruin you. I knew he’d be bad for you. I’ve been friends with him since we were kids. I’ve seen him go through girls just like that and when you showed up, he went all crazy over you. I could see that. I could fucking see how much he wanted you. But I guess he had some decency left in him that he let you go and didn’t make a move on you. And thank fucking God because it would’ve been easy for him to. Because you were so completely under his spell. You were completely infatuated with him, Echo.”
“What?”
“I could see that,” he says. “You’d look for him at school. You’d search for him, trying to pretend that you didn’t. You’d stare at him when you thought no one was looking. And I… I had to put a stop to that. I had to protect you, do you understand that now? I loved you from the very first sight, Echo. And I had to save you from him. I had to save you from yourself and I wish… God, I wish you’d just listen to me because look what he did.”
I blink at him. “You knew?”
He frowns. “I did, yes. As I said it was easy to see that you were —”
“No, about him. That he liked me. You knew that?”
“Yes.” He sighs sharply. “You don’t have to look so surprised. Like he did. Fuck, seriously. What did you both think, that I’m a moron? That I wouldn’t notice these things, your looks, your longing-filled sighs. Yeah, I knew.”
And then I ask a very strange, off-topic question. I don’t even know why it made it into my brain but it did and I say, “And the Halloween party?”