Total pages in book: 260
Estimated words: 245483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1227(@200wpm)___ 982(@250wpm)___ 818(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 245483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1227(@200wpm)___ 982(@250wpm)___ 818(@300wpm)
Who could make her break down? My hellcat. I only survived that first year because of her. What the hell is going on?
“Cillian, just sit down, man.” Reed glances to Kat, his agony in her pain … I finally put two and two together.
It’s a bullet to the chest. Shocking and paralyzing as I realize it was Reed.
“Was it you?” I manage, the words sounding heavy and deep as the room blurs and all I can see is my best friend’s face.
“You fucked her and dropped her,” I speak the reality out loud. It was him … and he let the club drop her? He let her turn into this weak version who’s more afraid than I’ve ever seen her.
“You did this to her?” My body’s heavy as I stand, the legs of the chair scraping against the floor as I straighten my back.
“No, it wasn’t like that,” Reed insists, taking a hesitant step away from both Kat and myself.
Kat’s apologies are drowned out by him telling me to calm down.
“You fucked her?” I ask although they’ve already admitted it. Denial and betrayal bring my hand to form a fist, the skin across my knuckles stretched so tight they turn white.
With a single glance down, Reed’s hands fall to his side, resigned to the fact he’s about to get the karma he’s had coming.
I get one in, one solid punch before he yells out something incoherent and as I go in for another, purely fueled by rage, he slams his fist into my jaw, the crack and blister of pain barely registers.
Just like I can hardly hear Kat’s scream.
Kat
* * *
“You don’t understand. It wasn’t like that,” Reed tries to explain as if Cill’s in any state to listen.
“She was mine! Mine and you were supposed to protect her.”
I beg him, “You’re scaring me Cillian, please! Please! Stop!” I can’t get out the words: they have to stop yelling.
The cops can’t come.
“Stop,” I cry out, watching the two of them barreling their fists at each other’s faces. Reed throws his weight into Cillian and the two of them slam into the kitchen table. It gives instantly, splintering between the two of them as they crash onto the floor.
Make it stop.
“Please! Cillian, let go!” Reed’s attempt to back away is denied. Cillian’s hell-bent on getting his anger out and as much as I can’t blame him, I can’t let it happen.
He can’t go to jail.
“Please, Cillian,” I cry out again and as they scream at each other, their voices getting louder and louder, I act without thinking. My body wraps around Cillian’s back, my arms over his shoulders and my legs around his waist, my face buried in his neck.
Everything is hot and turmoil rages inside of me as I beg him to stop, knowing it’s all my fault. I did this.
“Off me, Kat! Get off before you get hurt!”
“Run, Reed!”
Cillian’s hands wrap around my arms as he grits between his teeth, “Off, Kat. Get off before you get hurt.”
It’s enough time to give Reed the chance to get out of the rubble and the moment I see his feet steady on the ground I yell out for him to leave. “Get out! Go!”
Cill attempts to stand but my weight throws him off and he staggers back, falling and my shoulder bashes against the cabinet.
“You’re protecting Reed!” Incredulity is clear in his voice and for the first time in my life, I’m afraid of him.
“Please! Please! Mulberry.” My world spins and my body trembles pressed tightly against Cillian’s hard body. “Mulberry,” I whisper again and hate myself. “Please, Cillian. Please.”
“Let go of me, Kat.” His voice is lowered as the front door shuts. But I can’t let go yet. I have to give Reed time. Unable to speak, I shake my head.
“I need you to let me go.” Betrayal sinks into his words.
“I can’t, Cillian. Please. Please just … I can’t.”
Kat
My hands won’t stop shaking, not even as I clean up the chunks of glass and the shards of ceramic from the debris left behind from Reed and Cill’s fight.
The table’s broken and Cill’s face is already bruised on the right side across his sharp jawline. Tears spill silently as I clean up the mess, attempting any semblance of sanity.
“I’m sorry,” I repeat in a whisper as I pull my legs into my chest, leaning against the counter and feeling the cold against my heated cheek.
Everything happened too quickly, far too quickly and it’s at odds with how slow and long the last four years have been.
More importantly, everything is broken. It was always the three of us and when Cill went away, time shredded any chance of us staying the same.
Cill’s hands run through his hair as he paces in the threshold.
I’m grateful Reed’s gone and they’ve stopped. I’m grateful Cill knows because he needed to. And that’s all I’m grateful for.