Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“Oh, she has.” Whitney all but preened with excitement. “This is all so exciting. I’ve been waiting for years to find something I could use to take what I want. But you’re right about her do-gooder act. She really was a Pollyanna. But then she met Romeo.”
But then she met Romeo.
Irrational anger hit me like a sledgehammer straight to the chest.
And before I could stop myself, I charged forward and pushed her into a tower of boxes.
She bounced off of them, knocking several to the side, and came charging at me like a bull in a china shop.
Before she could get to me, though, Birdee stuck her crutch out and tripped her.
I helped her along to the ground and rammed her body to the side.
And just as she fell forward to the floor, the main door swung open and Cody came inside.
Or she would have had my stepmother’s head not hit the door at the perfect angle.
And I do mean the most perfect angle.
With a sickening thud, Whitney hit the floor and went utterly limp.
Birdee, me, and Cody all stared in shock at the sight.
“Did we just kill her?” I whispered in horror.
“I think I did,” Cody admitted.
“No, I definitely pushed her,” Birdee said shakily.
“Yeah, but I was the one to shove her to the side with my body…”
“We need to get out of here,” I whispered.
“It was an accident,” Birdee pointed out. “Maybe she’s alive.”
She went to bend down, but I stopped her with a hand on her jacket. “No. Let’s go.”
Birdee didn’t ask twice.
She stepped over her unmoving mother, and we all went outside.
“I thought you were staying in the car?” I asked in shock.
“I was, but I had to move it because some cop asked me what I was doing.” She cleared her throat. “I told him I was going for a run.”
“Which they believed because you’re a nut job,” I whispered, my voice slightly quivering.
“I like to run. That’s not a bad thing,” Cody murmured. “Come on. Let’s go.”
We left the door open. We left everything exactly as it was. Then we ran.
Well, Cody and I ran. Birdee moved as fast as she was able due to her crutch and broken leg.
It was only an hour later when I got back home that I finally turned my phone back on.
It dinged, and my whole entire heart seized in my chest.
Panic and excitement and shame warred inside of me as I hit the text.
When it opened, a wave of pure shock rolled through me.
One text was all it took for me to feel my entire world spiraling.
Romeo:
Just leave me alone, you crazy freakin’ weirdo.
The “Sent with Siri” was the least of my worries as I read and reread the text message he’d sent.
Was that what I was doing? Hounding him to the point that he’d finally had to respond?
Was he pushing me away on purpose?
And had I just killed the woman that I was supposed to love—even though she’d gone out of her way to kill that love—for a man that thought I was a total creep?
I walked to the kitchen and picked up a bottle of wine.
I didn’t drink much, but if anything called for an occasion to do so…it was this one.
It also helped that Birdee and Cody arrived on their own, without my inviting them, to join me.
If there was ever a time to gather and drink, it was when you killed a woman who was a threat to your very existence.
Right?
Twenty-Seven
I want a man to tell me to shut up and obey him. I won’t do it, but I reckon it’ll turn me on.
—Mable to Romeo
Romeo
“Two things,” Apollo said when he came strolling through the door. “One, you’re allowed to go home. The threat’s been eliminated.”
“Really?” I asked, standing up.
“Two, you are going to have more groveling to do than you thought, thanks to that text you sent today.” Apollo snorted. “What the hell were you thinking?”
I frowned. “What text?”
“What text?” Apollo rolled his eyes. “I literally told you multiple times to just leave it alone. I would handle it. And I almost had it handled, but then I got that bulletin from the local media in Sawtooth. But no, you couldn’t trust me.”
“We have no idea what you’re talking about, darling,” Dru said to Apollo.
“Well, this should give you a reminder.” He tossed his phone at me.
I frowned when I read the text. “Who sent that?”
Apollo sighed. “You did, buddy.”
I was already shaking my head. “I most certainly did not.”
“You did,” Apollo replied, more forcefully this time. “Don’t believe me, check your phone.”
I looked at my phone and said, “It’s dead.”
“Well, undead it.” Apollo pointed at the charger.
I plugged it in, and for two agonizing minutes, I waited for it to boot up and allow me to check my messages.
When I saw that I had, indeed, sent the message, my stomach dropped.