Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 150968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 503(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 150968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 503(@300wpm)
God, I had been so fucking blind.
Two weeks have gone by since the night he broke my heart. I tried calling Grayson multiple times, wanting an explanation and needing to vent my anger. A part of me wants to beg him to love me again.
But he never picked up any of my calls.
He completely shut me out, as if I never existed in his life. As if he had only been a ghost in mine. A mere illusion I created to deceive myself.
But oh, it was such a sweet deception.
His words still echo in my ears, and I wonder how much truth there is in them. Had I really been so foolish? So desperate to be loved that I fabricated the Grayson I love in my head? He said I saw and believed what I wanted to see…
But I simply saw what he showed me.
“It’s not my fault that you fell for someone who was not real. It was your own damn delusion and you recklessly got your heart involved.”
Was everything…fake, and I was too blind to see it? Who is the real Grayson then?
I am so confused and Grayson had refused to give me closure. Now I’m left hanging on to the broken threads of my love and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to move on.
I know Lila is extremely concerned about me and I hate that I’m giving her trouble. I hate that Grayson walked into my life, only to leave behind a hurricane of heartbreak. And now I’m forced to pick up the pieces.
Grayson was the warmth I craved and the safety I needed…
But now the mere thought of his name brings me misery.
I seem to always end up attracting the wrong guys. First Jasper. Then Grayson.
And now there’s him.
Colton Bennett has been following me around like my goddamn shadow.
“Can you stop doing that?” I growl, walking into the library. My shift starts in five minutes. Spinning around on my heels, I turn to face him and cross my arms over my chest.
Colton is wearing dark jeans and a black sweater. His brown hair is messy, as if he has been constantly raking his fingers through it. His brow shoots up. “Doing what?” he asks, feigning innocence, but I’m not falling for that.
Colton is anything but innocent. He’s the devil’s spawn.
“Following me!” I throw my hands in the air. He’s being too obvious.
“And why would I do that? Follow you, I mean.”
I don’t know why Lila told him to ‘take care’ of me, as if I need a damn babysitter. I was heartbroken, not a sick child who needed constant supervision. What even possessed her to suggest such a thing?
I know she’s worried…
Rightfully so.
Because I almost fell back into bad habits two weeks ago. I guess a broken heart was another trigger I didn’t know I had. I didn’t realize what was happening to me when I was binge-eating. It wasn’t until after I had finished purging when realization dawned on me.
That’s when I had my breakdown.
I remember crumbling into Lila’s arms, sobbing and begging her to help me. To make it stop. Telling her that I couldn’t bear to go back to that Riley. The me who used her eating disorder to cope with the damage of her heart. I couldn’t go back to an unhealthy Riley.
I almost relapsed, barely hanging onto the threads of my fragile sanity. Maybe if it wasn’t for Lila, I would have fallen back into that miserable void of self-destruction.
And now I have Colton, who just won’t leave me alone.
Lila and Maddox are back home in Manhattan. Lila’s grandmother has been hospitalized after a sudden stroke. So she’s there to take care of her grandma and Maddox, of course, is with her. They won’t be coming back for another two weeks.
Which means…that leaves me alone with Colton Bennett. I don’t know what Lila told him and why he’s acting so unbearably nice all of a sudden, but it’s frustrating. I rather like Colton as a jerk, than this version of him.
Because if he starts being nice to me, I can’t hold a grudge against him anymore. And I don’t want to like him. Not after everything he’s put me through. Not after all the cruel, taunting words he has said to me.
“You’re in a library,” I deadpan. Is he really going to act oblivious? “Why are you here?”
Colton looks around, as if he’s seeing the place for the first time, and then nods. “Ah yes. In a library. I’m here to read. That’s what people do in libraries, Riley. Also, I need a library card. Could you register me?”
“You don’t read,” I hiss.
“Says who?” Colton frowns, looking quite offended at my statement. “I am an intellectual person who appreciates any kind of literature. Why are you always so angry, anyway?”