Total pages in book: 150
Estimated words: 142818 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142818 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
So yeah, he couldn’t know shit.
“I’ll go too,” Colby volunteered, looking to our president.
Though the last thing I wanted was someone else with me, especially him, it would be good. Someone to keep me from giving in to baser instincts.
“All right, take Elden’s lead, though,” Hansen said.
Colby had a phone to his ear. “I’ll organize us bikes and pieces for when we land,” he said.
My chair screeched as I stood. I did my best to keep my movements smooth, purposeful but unhurried. No one needed to see I was about jumping out of my skin to get to her.
I raised my chin to Hansen before walking out. There was no fucking way I could face Swiss, but he didn’t give me a choice. He followed me out, clapping me on the shoulder.
“Appreciate you doin’ this, brother,” he said.
I nodded in response.
“Fuckin’ kills me not to go, but I’m not lettin’ Kate get tangled up with this. And I’m sure as shit not leaving her when she’s fuckin’ pregnant.”
I nodded again. Swiss had a dark past with his last family, so he wasn’t going to lose this one.
“Ain’t no one else I trust to take care of her, brother,” he continued, squeezing my shoulder. “So thank you. And make sure you fuck up anyone who needs to be punished.”
That I could do.
VIOLET
After what happened, Sariah did not want to talk. And I tried. Henri tried. Ollie tried. She did not want to talk. She did not want to address what happened. Not since the cops nor the fucking dean didn’t want to do anything. We’d been determined. We’d been ready to write to news stations, to write petitions. Ollie had offered to, “ruin his life and his credit,” and fuck with his trust fund and stock options. Although I worried about what kind of crimes would be committed in order to do that, I’d been all for it.
But Sariah banned us all from doing anything. It was the one time since that morning, since that horrible morning, that she’d broken down.
We were all scared. None of us knew what the right thing to do was, but we knew the wrong thing was forcing her to talk, to take action when she wasn’t ready. We had meetings about it. We agreed to watch her, be there for her and wait.
Then when it became clear she was going to deal with this by acting like nothing happened and party harder than normal—and normal was already a lot, even for college—each of us made sure we were available to go to these parties with her and not leave her alone for a moment.
Henri and Ollie weren’t staying for summer classes, so it was just her and me in the house. I was trying my best to keep up with her and still keep up with my classes.
She was partying away her problems. And even though I was slightly more aware of it, I was too.
I had not spoken to my father since his visit. Had not heard the even, deep cadence of Elden’s voice. It left me feeling untethered, fearful as ever about my place in the world.
So I partied.
Until the day of the costume party that migrated to a bar we had become regulars at. Everything had been fine. We were going to do shots and order cheeseburgers.
Then Sariah went pale. Even the rouge she was wearing as part of her costume seemed to melt away. She shrunk. All the way down. Which seemed impossible in the platform heels she was wearing. But she did it.
And I did not think. Not about anything. Except the way my friend shrunk. The way that her smile had been forced lately. That she hadn’t been sleeping. That the clothes she loved, that communicated her personality, had been a lot more conservative. Covered more of her. Like she was trying to disappear under them.
All I thought was that my friend was shrinking, and the fucking asshole responsible for it was leaning against the bar, laughing and acting like he didn’t have a care in the world.
Then I wasn’t thinking about anything. I was punching him in his stupid face.
I didn’t expect things to escalate as far as they did. Though I was mighty proud of all the licks I got in. I wasn’t entirely sure how I got hold of the pool cue that I was beating him with, but I was happy it found its way into my hands.
I probably wouldn’t have stopped beating him until people finally pulled me off him. I was still very pissed. By the time the police got there, I was even more pissed. And I may’ve made them aware of that fact. With my fists. Which pissed them off and got me arrested. Which caused me to do a lot more yelling about how they were arresting me and not the pussy crying about a broken nose and a couple of cracked ribs. Maybe I threatened to hunt someone down and kill them. I couldn’t be sure.