Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 139803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 699(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 699(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
It was time to have a talk with Vincent and Desiree.
29
I banged on Vincent’s apartment door and took a step back after, shoving my hands into my pockets as I waited for him to answer. I knew he was home because his car was parked out front.
When he opened the door, his eyes widened in shock. I narrowed my eyes at him. “We need to fucking talk,” I told him.
He silently stepped aside, letting me slip past him into his apartment. After moving in with Julian, the apartment felt small and cramped to me. I had been rooming with Vincent, but when Julian and I got word that Meghan would be coming home soon, we made the decision for me to move in over there.
Julian went ahead and paid my half of the rest of the year’s rent. I hadn’t realized it until I came to pay Vincent, and he told me that Julian actually paid it for the entirety of the remainder of the lease.
“What’s going on?” Vincent asked once he shut the apartment door behind him.
“What the fuck is the matter with you?” I snapped at him as I whirled around to face him. His eyes widened in shock. “Meghan was your best fucking friend, and for whatever fucking reason, you’ve basically turned your fucking back on her. You don’t stop for a split second anymore to consider how she’s feeling or how she’s doing!”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Like hell I don’t!” he barked at me. “I think about her all the time, Axel!”
“Then why the fuck did you send that goddamn wedding invitation?!” I shouted. “What if she had checked the mail instead of Julian? You have no fucking idea how much the very thought of you rips her apart inside. You held her together for so long, Vincent. You were there for her in so many dark aspects of her life, and now, since the time you visited and we just asked you to give her a little bit of fucking space, you don’t give a fuck about being there for her now.”
“I do,” Vincent bit. “I just don’t know how to deal with who she is now. You guys walk on eggshells around her—"
“We fucking don’t,” I snarled. “Meghan isn’t the same woman she was before she was admitted into the center. Dr. Gresham dug into the deepest part of her brain and awakened shit she had long since buried in order to survive. She’s fucking coming alive, Vincent, and you’re nowhere around to see the fucking amazing, strong woman she’s becoming.”
“You guys are too fucking gentle with her. I can’t be that. I’ve never been that with her,” Vincent told me.
“She’s not the fucking same person!” I shouted at him. God, he was fucking incompetent. “Goddammit, Vincent, she’s changed. She’s stronger, and she’s getting stronger every day. She’s learned how to heal, and she’s learning to cope with everything going on around her with each day that passes.”
He shook his head. “She won’t even talk to me, Axel. The last time I tried to talk to her, she kept trying to get away from me.”
“Because you showed up unexpectedly. All she wanted to do was take her fucking medicine so she could talk to you without panicking, but you wouldn’t even let her fucking do that.”
He clenched his jaw. “Medicine? She doesn’t fucking need medication, Axel.”
I wanted to punch him. “You don’t know what the fuck she needs, Axel. The reason she even fucking spiraled in the first place is because no one forced her to get the real fucking help she needed.”
“Medication will only fuck her up more.”
Fuck her up more.
Those fucking words were the last straw for me. Because Meghan had never been fucked up. She had been lost, and she’d been in pain, but she had never been fucked up.
My fist swung out and clocked him across the face. He crashed backward over the recliner, landing in a heap on the floor. “Consider that my no to your fucking bullshit ass wedding. And tell Desiree I said she’s a fucking coward. She hasn’t even tried to reach out to her. You’re both fucked up. At least Meghan was capable of being helped, and she’s trying. You’re just a sorry piece of shit—both you and your sorry ass fiancée. You two fucking deserve each other.”
With that, I stormed out of the apartment, slamming his door shut behind me.
* * *
✶ ✶ ✶
* * *
Meghan
* * *
Julian tightened the blanket around my shoulders as I snuggled closer against his side. We were watching a random romance movie on TV while we waited on Axel to come back. I’d asked for him immediately when I woke up, but Julian said he had to go take care of something.
The front door opened, and Axel stepped in, his eyes instantly landing on me. “Hey,” I greeted as I sat up a little straighter.