Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 58883 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58883 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
I let go and she rasps in air, crosses her arms around herself and stands her ground.
“How did I destroy you? Seems like life’s been good to you, kinder than it’s been to me.”
I grip the lapel of my Italian leather jacket. “You think this is the meaning of life? Money? Material things?”
Shock flashes in her eyes as she looks up at me, “No, of course not. You know I’m not like that.”
My head falls back as I stare at the star-lit sky and laugh. “How would I know that, Kat, since the last choice you made was wealth over love, status over connection, them over me? Remember how you said you didn’t love me, never had? How you were provided for, and all I could give you was a roach-ridden run-down apartment in the Bronx.”
“I-I was young and scared.”
I move in close until my nose is pressed against hers, fist her hair and yank her head back. She winces. and I shove the pang of guilt aside.
“Yeah, so was I, Kat. So was I. Eighteen, alone, and I’d just woken up and told myself that the life I’d planned my future around was a joke. When you fuckin’ dumped me like trash, you took everything from me. Now, I’m back, and I’m going to take everything from you. You and those entitled assholes you surround yourself with. You’re mine, Kat, forever mine. That hasn’t changed. I realized you were right. Money is all people like you know, and if it’s money you need to tie us together, then so be it.”
“You don’t need that, Heath. I don’t need any of that.”
My fingers tangle in her hair, wrapping her soft tresses around my hand as I yank her head back again and peer down at her. “I do because money is what will get me the only thing I’ve ever wanted.”
“What do you want?” she asks me, eyes wide, lips barely moving.
“You.”
I crash my lips to hers, and they part for me. The kiss is violent. It’s not loving or sweet but an inferno of need and desperation. It’s ten long years of misery and a past so turbulent that I’m shocked we’ve both survived to adulthood.
She wraps her hands around the nape of my neck, pulling me toward her, and all I want to do is drown in Katelyn Shaw. Because we were born for one another. She is mine, and I am hers. No matter how many times we shatter one another’s hearts, we are perpetually connected, she and I. Bound to each other for eternity. Separated, we spiral into our own versions of living hell.
Begrudgingly, I pull away from her first, my mouth still close to hers, as if she’s the one that gives me life, providing the air in my lungs.
“Everything I’ve ever done was for you, Katelyn. When I open my eyes and rise, it’s because of you. When I close them at night, even my dreams flood with visions of you. I can’t escape you, even if I wanted to.”
My fingers dig into her arms, and she winces. I know I’m hurting her, but it’s nothing compared to the pain she’s inflicted on my soul. I scan the beach, remembering our special place, our days of innocent bliss, peace and freedom taken for granted. What we presumed to be a given—the two of us united—would one day come crashing down. I now know love isn’t an indulgence to be enjoyed, it’s a rare gift we have to fight for.
I push on Kat’s arms, and the urge to crush her bones into dust ignites briefly under my hands.
“You chose this,” I gesture to this cursed land, Wainscott Hollow. You chose Henry and Eddie fucking Lind, over us. The dark ocean roars, and the low-hanging silver moon looks like we could pluck it out of the sky.
“Heath, you’re hurting me,” she cries.
“You’ve damned us, Katelyn. You’ve damned us straight to hell. Because we will never be okay apart. You chose wrong and condemned us to a lifetime of pain.”
I get up and walk away, abandoning the woman I love like I did years ago. But no matter how hard I try to forget this place and my past, I can’t because Katelyn Shaw is so deeply planted in my soul that she runs through my very bloodstream.
CHAPTER 11
Katelyn
Violence is something I’ve lived with in one form or another my entire life. From the stern hand of my father’s belt connecting to my brothers’ backs, to Henry’s volatility and sick nature, all the way to Eddie’s humiliation and torture. All I’ve ever known is violence, and even my solace in the ocean vanished when its angry waves consumed my mother. The only peace I ever had was the soft caress of Heath’s hand. I never got any real love or affection from my dad or Henry. Heath’s presence in my life gave me something to live for, a profound peace and adoration that was devoid of any brutality. But last night proved to me that even he’s become contaminated, riddled with the need for destruction, too.