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)
Which is followed by the same sort of commands from Callie and Wyn. And confused and also alarmed because who knows what new hellish nightmare this is, I open the door.
“What’s —”
Jupiter grabs my hand though, cutting me off, and begins to drag me. She takes me out of my room, down the hallway right to the landing and yet again, I want to ask what the hell does she think she’s doing.
But suddenly, I don’t care.
I don’t care about anything, not a single thing in this whole world, except that.
Except him.
Standing at my door.
No, filling my entire doorway with his broad shoulders and that towering frame that since day one — even when he was only fifteen — has fascinated me.
And not only standing and filling my entire doorway, he’s standing and filling my entire doorway with a rose in his hand.
A single white rose.
And God, he’s wearing a tie.
A black tie on a dark maroon dress shirt.
And — and — he’s clean-shaven.
When was the last time I’ve seen him without his stubble? I can’t remember. Plus his hair’s all short and spiky now as well, like it was the first day he crashed back into my life at The Horny Bard.
Over the past few weeks his hair had grown out, snaking down to the side of his face, looping around his collar. And while it still wasn’t back to the length that it was when we still lived at the manor, it was getting there and oh my God, I loved sinking my hands into those dark strands.
I loved tugging at them, pulling at them.
In fact, that’s what I was doing the whole time last night and…
What am I doing?
Why am I simply standing here, staring at him, when he’s here?
He’s here.
What is he doing here?
“I went out to get you something to eat,” Jupiter whispers in my ear, as all my girls stand around me, watching. “And the doorbell rang while I was on my way up and he was there. Just like that, and so I ran to get you.”
I’m about to do the same, run I mean.
When I hear this:
“What are you doing here?”
That’s my mom.
And I realize that he’s not alone. As in, he’s standing at the door with a rose and a tie, and my parents are standing before him. And they’re staring at him much like me. Much like all my girls around me.
His chest moves on a breath and I fist my hands.
Because it looked like he flinched.
Like his breaths are hurting him and it’s because of all the beating, isn’t it?
All the punches and the kicks and God knows what else my dad visited upon him by the time I got to them. And so again, I’m about to run downstairs to him but Jupiter grabs my hand, followed by Poe grabbing the other.
They both shake their heads, and I don’t understand.
Why are they stopping me? Why…
“This is,” he begins, and I hold my breath, “for you.”
He offers my mother the rose and I notice her shoulders stiffening. I also notice that she doesn’t make a move to take it.
And he continues, “I have to admit it was my brother’s idea,” with a small self-deprecating smile. “I’m not very good at these things. But he told me that I should bring something and the only thing that I could think of was a rose. A white rose. For peace.”
My mother still doesn’t make any move to take it and I’ve had it.
I try to go again.
But again, my friends stop me.
Jupiter mouths, Not yet.
Poe goes, Wait. Let him do this.
Let him do what, I want to ask.
He doesn’t need to do anything. What he needs is me right now, going to him and apologizing for what I did. For my hand in what happened last night. But my dad chooses that moment to step forward, breaking my thoughts, and I grip my friends’ hands tighter.
“What the hell are you doing here?” my dad asks, all threatening like.
But my mom’s there to calm him down. She puts a hand on his arm and goes, “Scott, don’t.”
My dad’s shoulders stiffen but my mother doesn’t care. She turns to Reign and finally, finally, accepts the rose. “Thank you.”
He gives her a short, somber nod before turning to my dad, who I know — even though his back is turned — is seething right now, and says, “I came to apologize.”
“We don’t need —”
My mom stops him again with a low, “Scott.”
I watch Reign’s jaw getting tighter for a second before he breathes out again. “I understand that. I understand that this must be difficult for you. I’m probably the last person you want to see standing at your doorstep. Especially when this is the first time I’m doing this. Standing at your doorstep.” He keeps his eyes on my dad, his shoulders straight, his feet apart. “And that’s the first thing I’d like to apologize for. That this is the first time. That in the past, I violated the privacy of your home, by coming into it like a thief. By sneaking into it like a thief. You deserved better and I never gave that to you. I never thought how disrespectful all of this was to you.”