Total pages in book: 181
Estimated words: 181613 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 908(@200wpm)___ 726(@250wpm)___ 605(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181613 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 908(@200wpm)___ 726(@250wpm)___ 605(@300wpm)
“Wait.” Aspen suddenly grabs his wrist, and it actually makes him stop in his tracks.
Interesting. Very … interesting.
I chug back the energy drink I bought and keep my eyes glued like it’s a goddamn K-drama on television. And I don’t even watch that corny stuff, but damn, I certainly get the appeal.
“Please,” Aspen pleads, “talk to me.”
Levi abruptly retracts his arm and looks at her like he wants to pick her up and throw her into the bin too for even daring to touch him.
Ouch.
How’d it get so frosty between those two?
Oh wait, I remember.
Her sister is dead because of him.
Levi
Feeling her touch for the first time in weeks is like touching death and begging to be killed just for the chance to keep holding on.
But I can’t.
I fucking can’t, and I won’t.
“Don’t,” I growl.
Aspen frowns, confused. “It’s been weeks.”
The hurt reflected in her eyes doesn’t go unnoticed, but I can’t break now. “And?”
She lowers her gaze. “I don’t want to lose you too.” She tucks her dyed red hair behind her ear, showing off the many earrings she got in addition to the ones she already had.
My eyes scan her oval face, those pink lips and button nose, because another freckle has grown right there on her cheek that I’m sure she didn’t have the last time I saw her.
Seventy-two in total now.
Without thinking, I bring my finger up to her face and touch it.
“What are you—” She swats my finger away in shock.
“Another freckle,” I say with a muted voice.
How many more will appear when I’m not there to see them grow?
My nostrils flare, and I turn away. “I don’t want to talk.”
“What?” She follows me. “No. You can’t just keep on ignoring me.”
“Yes, I can,” I reply stoically, trying to keep the voices in my head from taking over.
“But we’re best friends.”
God.
Please.
Make it stop.
“Were,” I retort.
But the pain on her face. Fuck, it wounds me.
“You don’t mean that.”
If only she knew how badly I meant that.
“Yes, I do,” I reply.
“Levi, no. You can’t just turn your back on me,” she says, blocking my way back to the table.
Everyone’s staring at us, and it’s bringing even more attention to something that should’ve died down long ago.
Fuck.
“Get out of my way,” I say through gritted teeth.
My teeth are clenched so harshly a chip falls onto my tongue, but I swallow it down.
Tears well up in her eyes. “Please … talk to me. We can figure this out together.”
This. This is what death feels like.
No blade could ever wound me the way she could with those pristine tears rolling down those freckled cheeks.
There’s no way back from what I’ve done, no way to fix what I’ve broken, no way to …
“Didn’t you hear?” I take a step forward, lowering my face beneath my hoodie a little so she can see the chill of death in my eyes. “I’m a killer.”
Aspen sucks in a breath, her feet shifting on the floor, growing the distance between us.
Good.
“Mavis died because of me.” I narrow my eyes at her. “And if you value your life, don’t ever talk to me again.”
The tear that rolls down her cheek is the death penalty, and I lower my head and take it in stride, knowing the pain could never compare to what awaits us if I would ever dare to say what’s truly on my mind.
Our fate was sealed the second Mavis died, and along with it, my ability to look into Aspen Caruso’s eyes without guilt.
Fuck.
I turn around and waltz off, but I can feel her searing gaze on my back.
“I don’t believe it.”
Her words.
Not mine.
Because I truly, fully believe I’m the murderer they all make me out to be.
And this? This is the worst kind of punishment a criminal like me deserves.
I glare at her over my shoulder. “Believe it, because it’s true.”
The deathly stare she throws back confirms everything I knew to be true.
This is the end.
The end of everything that ever could be.
Levi Torres and Aspen Caruso will never be.
Because this is the start of her hatred for me.
Aspen
He walks off with that same swagger as always, scratching the back of his neck where his hairline meets the scorpion tattoo, but all I see is the shadow of a ghost of the person he once was.
Levi Torres … is a killer.
Those whispers in the hallway, everyone was saying it, but I never believed it to be true.
Until now.
My fist balls as I glare him down, wondering if he’ll ever look back at me, if he’ll ever attempt to undo what he just did.
I thought I knew who he was, but I guess you can’t really ever know anyone until you see them at their darkest moment. And Levi just confirmed my worst suspicions to be true.
His venomous words were injected straight into my veins.