Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 80689 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80689 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
And suddenly, a crack in my confidence.
What have I done? Did I just kill Charity?
No. I’ll figure this out. I’ll do whatever has to be done. Move heaven and earth before I let Simon use me like that.
29
RYAN
Jonas throws my bedroom door open so fast, it almost pops off the hinges.
“What is it, Jonas?”
He’s sweating, pale. His talk with Simon couldn’t have gone well.
“He knows,” he spits out, “and he just asked me to do the wildest shit. Told me to fuck him. To get back at you. He wants me to fuck him and then for you to watch a recording of it.”
Despite how on edge Jonas’s entrance made me, a calm sweeps over me.
Of fucking course that’s what he wanted. This really was all about petty revenge.
“I obviously told him fuck no,” he blurts out, which raises another concern.
“No? But what about Charity?”
His eyes widen, as if he’s shocked by my response. Not that I want him to fuck my brother; I just don’t want anything bad happening to his sister.
Jonas moves toward me, his breathing steadying as he takes my hands. “Ryan, I don’t need him—his money, his connections, his power—if I have you. Come with me. We can figure this all out together. Help me find a place for her. Help me care for her.”
“Come with you?”
So many things to process…
Simon’s proposal.
His sister’s health.
Leaving Hawthorne Heights.
“We can have a life, Ryan. I can help you get on your feet. I don’t care how much credit I have to use to get Charity somewhere else. We’ll figure it out, but together. Not with that psychopath.”
As I look into those beautiful blue eyes, I struggle to think of a reason not to leave, except one: Hawthorne Heights has always been my home. It’s where I’ve been sure I belonged.
Am I really considering giving up all I’ve ever known?
“You don’t have to decide now. I wouldn’t ask that. I’ll go to Charity, and—”
“Yes, Jonas,” I blurt out, almost without thinking. But as soon as I say the words, I know why I said them. Because the thought of him leaving me, traveling on his own to be with his sister… I can’t bear it. Can’t bear not being there for him when he needs me. Nor the thought that I might have to go back to the numb, empty life I had here before he arrived.
I told him I loved him, and I do. It might have been impulsive, but that instinct was right. And if he’s willing to take this risk for his sister, I can take one to be with him.
“Really?”
“Yes. I want to go with you. But I want to talk to Simon about this fucked-up shit he just pulled. He owes me a fucking explanation.”
Jonas doesn’t disagree, and we take each other’s hand, heading downstairs. We search for him in his office first, but he isn’t there, so I start calling out his name as we head through the halls. Unsurprisingly, he’s not responding to his texts either, so I suspect wherever he is, he’s reveling in the fact that we’re struggling to find him. Some intuition leads me to the library, and sure enough, as I burst through the dual doors, I find Simon seated on the nook sofa, my copy of The Count of Monte Cristo in hand.
“What the hell, Simon?” I spit out.
Our search gave me more than enough time to run through everything that’s happened the past few months.
Bringing Jonas here to begin with.
This ultimate plan to wait until I told Jonas I loved him to make this perverse request.
How he plans to stop supporting Charity.
Fire sears through me.
I’m glad Jonas is at my side because Simon won’t be able to deny or lie his way out of this one. Not with a witness here to contradict my backstabbing brother.
Simon doesn’t seem fazed by my attitude, despite knowing I’m fuming. “Good evening, Ryan. You’re right on time. I just got to my favorite part of the book.” He closes it and sets it down beside him. “That’s a lie. I wasn’t even reading it. I just thought it would be more poetic for this moment.” He wears a creepy-ass grin as he pushes to his feet. It seems that even though Jonas told him to take his offer and shove it, he thinks he’s won.
“You’re really gonna get Charity kicked out of the hospital? Who the fuck are you that you’d do that to someone?”
Simon shrugs. “He has the fifteen thousand dollars I already gave him, which I’m not requesting back. Seems more than reasonable for the work he’s done. And that stuff he’s been doing with you, I think we can all chalk that up to good ole fun, don’t you?”
“You piece of shit.” I want to take a fucking swing at him, but I stop myself. He’d love nothing more than me stooping that low. Besides, I have a blow that’ll be so much worse. “Jonas and I are leaving tonight, and I’m never coming back. That’s the price you pay for your fucked-up brain. Whatever game you’re playing, you can play it by yourself. Goodbye, brother.” I spin around and start toward Jonas when I hear a series of claps behind me.