Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 50770 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50770 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
“Tell me what?”
Her smile falls a bit. “He went home.”
“Home?” I repeat.
“Back to Seattle or LA… I’m not sure, he’d previously applied for both.” She nods slowly. “He’s enrolling at UW for the Spring Semester and wants to get his apartment settled and meet up with his friends. “
“He’s gone?”
She nods slowly. “He hired me until your parents get back, he also left a card for you to use, I think he said to cut it up when you’re done, it’s a black AMEX, it will pay for everything.”
“Can I see it?”
Maybe he left a note.
“Oh! Sure.”
She sets down the tray and walks out of the room, only to return a few seconds later. “Here.”
There’s a sticky note folded up on it.
I open it and gasp.
“How does it feel to be a prostitute? Get better. Cut up the card. Stay as long as you need to. I can’t look at you without seeing her and without knowing what you did. I’m sorry. I truly hope you do get better. See you in the waves one day.—P.S. I loved you, Quinn.”
I start bawling when I see a bracelet taped to the same stupid AMEX card, it has whales and turtles on it, it’s the ocean, my obsession, my freedom, and I’m assuming he bought it just for me. I don’t have the heart to even put it on, so I lay it gently on the nightstand.
The tears won’t stop flowing down my face and I know I’m freaking out, Sam, but I can’t stop.
He was my forever, I knew it in my soul and I messed it all up just because I was afraid.
I can’t even blame Sophie, though she was a huge part of the problem. I never stood up for myself and I lost him because of my silence.
I crawl back into bed and pull the covers over my head.
“I’m”—my voice shakes—“not feeling well. I’ll eat in a bit, can you turn the lights off?”
The lights go off.
I stay in bed for two days.
I cry for three.
And on day four, I wonder if it’s even worth it.
This life.
If you have nobody who cares, and nobody to share it with.
Chapter Twenty-One
Quinn
I’m embarrassed.
So fucking embarrassed.
So hurt.
And the worst part is that I feel like the guilty party, like I did something wrong for being seduced by her twin, when I had no idea, it was dark, she was acting just like her.
And every stupid time I opened up my mouth to talk about that experience… she knew it was her sister, she knew!
I feel sick to my stomach but can’t catch a plane until the next day, one thing I do know, the last thing I want to do is spend one more minute in that house so I grab my shit and I walk down the lane and stop at Zane’s house, I knock twice, he jerks open the door. “Oh, you.”
I have sunglasses on, aviators to be exact, that and a white t-shirt, ripped black jeans and my duffel bag. I even left some shit, but I’ll go back and get it later. “Yeah, trust me, I don’t like this any more than you do.”
He grabs my duffel tosses it inside the house then closes the door behind him, “I’m recording with Drew, you’re coming with, the last thing I need is to be guilty of your death, the balcony’s a bit high and there are rocks underneath, you wouldn’t just go splat and see cherubs, you’d go splat and bleed to death.”
“Kind of dark.”
“Darkness recognizes darkness, I guess.” He shrugs. “Now get in the car, bitch.”
“Drew.” I repeat the name. “Haven’t seen him in years, he still out partying or—“ I pause. “—why are you laughing?”
Zane unlocks his black Escalade. “Do you even watch the news? I’m concerned you know nothing of pop culture.”
I make a face. “Sorry was busy trying to graduate and going through absolute hell my senior year, my TikTok game wasn’t as strong as it should have been.”
“I remember being eighteen once.”
“Was that before or after you lost your virginity and lied about being a player to the world?” That earns me a punch to the arm.
I rub it.
The guy can hit.
Music blasts, unfamiliar music, as he drives us into town. It’s early, so it’s still quiet as he pulls next to one of my favorite coffee shops. I follow him in and it’s weird, nobody seems phased that he’s a Grammy award-winning artist or that he’s literally so famous that even famous people get nervous around him.
He’s up there with Harry Styles when it comes to his sold-out concerts solo, but when he’s on tour with AD2 and Adrenaline, security is wild and the internet doesn’t know how to internet.
The coffee shop is relatively empty, Bronte who’s married to Drew, the guy we’re about to see, waves from the counter. “The usual?”