Total pages in book: 188
Estimated words: 179812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 899(@200wpm)___ 719(@250wpm)___ 599(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 179812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 899(@200wpm)___ 719(@250wpm)___ 599(@300wpm)
Biting my lip, I shake my head. “To prove to me that I’m safe with you.”
Something passes through his features. “Because I…” His grip on my waist flexes, his blood wetting the dress, seeping into my skin. “I didn’t before. I couldn’t. On so many levels. And I—”
I press my forehead against his and cut him off. “You avenged me though.” He freezes and I continue, “Snow told me what you did.”
Along with telling me about the article that nearly killed me with embarrassment, she also told me what he did. How he went to our parents’ house and had them arrested. It was so strange to hear that. That cops came to the house and took my mother and his father away. Not in a million years would I have ever imagined something like that. My mother getting arrested. I don’t know what to feel about that. I know she said all those awful things about me in that article but… I guess, somewhere along the way I stopped hoping for a better relationship with her. Or maybe my new family showed me what a loving, supporting family looks like so I decided to simply move on.
Either way, Snow had no further information about it, about what happened or what he did. None of the girls did either.
As shocking as that was, my only concern at that point was about his career. He was already facing so much shit because of bad publicity and then something like this happened. I couldn’t help but think I should’ve been more careful. I should’ve protected him better, thought of my surrounding before pulling the kind of stunt I did. But as soon as Isadora pointed it out he loved me and I realized that myself, I stopped thinking.
In any case, I know he thinks the same thing. That he didn’t protect me either. I guess, we’re similar that way, aren’t we?
“Are you going to tell me how you got them arrested?” I ask then.
His response is to simply shake his head once.
I shiver. “Is it bad?”
He nods, again silently and staring into my eyes.
I bite my lip. “I’m so—”
It’s his turn to press his forehead into mine. “It’s because I wanna keep you safe from all the ugliness of the world, the fucking monster my father is. You’ve already lived with that monster long enough. Just let me keep you safe.”
My mind is going a hundred different directions, all bad. But it doesn’t matter. Because I can see it’s important to him. And if I really wanted to know, I could piece it all together in my head because he’s right, I lived with his father. I know how low and disgusting that asshole’s mind can get. So I nod. “Okay.”
He breathes out in relief. “I broke my promise to you though.”
“What promise?”
He licks his lips. “I punched him.”
“Your dad?”
“Yeah.” Then, “I wasn’t going to. I promised you I wouldn’t but then I… I couldn’t control myself. I couldn’t… But it was only once. Mostly because that’s all it took to make him go down.”
I chuckle, thickly, sadly. “It’s okay. I forgive you. You did good.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes,” I whisper, stroking his stubbled jaw with my thumb.
He breathes in deep before whispering, “I told him something though.”
“What?”
“You’re always telling me to talk so I thought… I thought I’d tell him we did it. We had a family. All of us. And we’re happy. We have everything he never did and he never will.”
I chuckle again, a tear streaming down my cheek. “How did that make you feel?”
He shakes his head again or more like rolls his forehead against mine. “Shitty.”
Another chuckle. “It’s okay. I know. It’ll get better. I’ll be with you. We’ll do it together.”
He squeezes my waist, his eyes penetrating. “I can’t… I can’t live without you.”
“Me neither,” I say truthfully. Then, “It’s going to be hard though. The world. Your team…”
While our family seems to be okay with our relationship, to the rest of the world, we’re still stepsiblings, aren’t we? I know it doesn’t feel like it and he only found out about it recently, but the world is cruel. Especially when you live on top of it like he does. They’ve already suspended him for the next five games because of the video. And if we go public with our relationship, there’s bound to be backlash. What if he loses his place on the team?
It’s as if he can read my thoughts—and he can—he goes, “I’m the best player on their team. That’s why all they did was suspend me instead of firing me outright. They know they can’t lose me. And I can’t lose you.”
“I know.”
“And I’ll make it easy,” he continues, his eyes fierce, his words a vow. “I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe. To keep our family safe. I’ll—”