Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 151097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 504(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 504(@300wpm)
“Hunter! Stop!” a familiar voice shouted once I stood on the other side.
Fucking Kellan.
I straightened and paused to flip off Ocean’s associate, and then I was gone. I knew Kellan would report to Ocean that I’d run from him. I just hoped Coby could forgive my deceit. Penniless, we raced through the city on foot, and we didn’t stop until we reached the unlikeliest havens.
“You couldn’t help yourself, could you?” Coby snapped as soon as the front door slammed shut behind us.
“Coby, not now.” I wasn’t ready to have this argument, not just because I hadn’t caught my breath yet. Abel had been right. My stamina was shit. And we weren’t out of the woods yet. “Let’s just get what we need and go before your brother comes home.”
“Go? Why? We can just stay here. Roshaun won’t mind.”
“No. Not happening,” I barked. Coby gave me an exasperated look, like now was not the time to be beefing with her brother. She knew her brother had sold her to Ocean, and it didn’t matter. She still loved Roshaun—still felt an incredible amount of guilt over “stealing his life” from him. “They’ll know to look for us here,” I explained. “We can’t stay, and we can’t go home.”
Coby began to pace. “We should just call Ocean. He’ll understand why we ran. His father was going to kill us.”
Feeling the back of my neck grow hot, I blew out a breath and winced. Yeah, about that…”
Reading me like a book, Coby closed her eyes and tilted her head back. “Hunter, what did you do?”
“The SUV that chased us wasn’t one of Malcolm’s. It was Kellan. I think he was trying to help us.” I swallowed nervously. “I know he was. I saw him, but I made you keep running anyway because of what happened between us last night and at the boutique. I wasn’t ready to go back, and it’s not just because I’m jealous as hell that he gets you. It’s because I’m scared of saying yes. I need more time, and if I see him…” Coby’s eyes opened, and I lost my nerve to admit my feelings. “Call Ocean if you want, but I can’t go back. Not yet.”
Moving toward the stairs, I jogged to the second floor and went straight for Roshaun’s bedroom. The urge to burn it all down as soon as I entered nearly overcame me until I remembered that this place wasn’t just another source of my trauma. It was also where Coby grew up. It was the home she shared with her parents. And she loved them, unlike me. She loved them so much that she’d turned herself into a remembrance. It’s why she wore a ribbon every day. To remind herself that though they might be gone, they lived on through her.
When Roshaun moved me in, I think he’d been relieved to have someone else emotionally available for his sister, so he didn’t have to be. He moved me in, and I endured his leering because it meant I could be close to Coby, but my gravest mistake had been assuming he was content to look but not touch.
Eventually, my body became the price I paid to be with her.
She still didn’t know what a dirty dog her brother was, and if I had my way, she’d never find out.
I scrunched my nose at a pair of Roshaun’s worn boxers sitting on the floor and beelined for the nightstand.
Roshaun couldn’t be that stupid, could he?
I slid open the top drawer and lifted the false bottom, grinning at the thick roll of green with rubber bands around the wad to hold it.
Roshaun was a fucking idiot.
Who doesn’t move their secret stash once someone else knows about it? I grabbed the cash and tucked it into my bra. I knew from experience that it was at least ten grand. The same amount of hush money that he paid me when I finally moved out and took Coby with me. I would have kept my mouth shut anyway—for Coby—but Roshaun didn’t need to know that. The money had funded my new life with his sister, away from him.
The house was quiet when I left the bedroom. My steps grew heavier as I returned downstairs, where I left Coby.
She wasn’t there.
Feeling like my legs would give out at any moment, I sat on the stairs and stared at the floor.
Coby had chosen to return to Ocean without me, and while my heart was tugging me in that direction, too, I couldn’t bring my feet to move. I was so afraid of the things he made me feel. The things he made me want.
I needed more time. I needed to think. I—
“Why so glum, bubble gum?”
My head darted up, and I felt my chest cave with the crushing weight of exhilaration when I saw Coby standing with her hands on her hips.