Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 71289 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71289 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
“Why are you here?” She whispered.
I stopped and turned, leaning my backside against the dresser that held her TV.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I’m just…tired.”
“Tired of working?” She guessed. “You do work a lot. That’s all I ever see you do.”
Because it keeps me from thinking about nothing but you.
Something crossed over her face. Hope and fear mixed in with reluctance.
“That’s not why you’re tired, is it?” She asked, sitting up and letting the blankets fall down, exposing her thighs to me.
I licked my lips, then moved my gaze back up to her face.
“No,” I answered honestly. “I’m tired of staying away from you, and I’ve decided that maybe you can forgive me and give me a second chance.”
Her head turned to the side in confusion.
“What are you even talking about right now?” She squinted. “There’s nothing to forgive you for. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“I’ve killed a man,” I snapped.
Her eyes softened.
“So what?” She snorted. “According to what Ridley told me, what I understand is that this happened at a time when you weren’t of sound mind, Apple. You don’t even remember doing it.”
I relaxed slightly.
“I have memories of being there,” I told her. “I just don’t know why I did it. Even when I was at my worst, I still didn’t have the urge to kill anyone or anything other than myself.”
My thoughts were about a thousand miles away, so it never occurred to me to hold my tongue and keep my darkest thoughts from her until I spilled everything that I never wanted her to hear.
“I see it—him—in my dreams,” I whispered, eyes going far away to latch on to a memory that never let me loose. “You were the only thing that calmed those demons. Then you looked at me like I was a speck of dust on your brand new shoes, after you heard that I killed my best friend.”
Kitt’s hands on my arm had me turning to look at her, the threads of my constant haunting dissipating as she did.
“I never, ever looked at you like that!” She insisted. “I would never look at you like that. What makes you say that I did? I never even heard you did that, and when I did finally figure it out, you weren’t even there!”
“You didn’t hear me tell them?” I asked.
She was shaking her head even before I finished.
“Then why did you look at me with that disgusted look the moment I turned around?” I asked.
Her brows furrowed as she thought back to that night so many months ago, then understanding dawned.
“My brother,” she said. “My brother was eating a donut with jelly in it. He had taken a bite, but you had said something and he’d immediately spit it out straight onto the floor. It looked like a gory mess. I was looking at him like the disgusting freak that he is. And when my brother caught me at his back, he was scolding me for creeping up on him. He hates it when I scare him.”
My stomach knotted.
“You…motherfucker,” I breathed. “Goddammit.”
“You’re telling me that you spent nearly seven and a half months away from me all because of a look you thought I gave you and didn’t?” She screeched, getting up onto her hands and knees.
Then she went a step further and stood up, thrusting her belly out and placing her hands on her hips as she glared.
“You. Fucking. ASSHOLE!” She finished on a scream.
I stood up and looked at her warily.
“I thought…” I started.
She held up her hand to stop me, freezing my apology and subsequent explanation before it even started.
“You can save your bullshit,” she said. “Get out of my room.”
I started forward.
She held up her hand again.
“You need to leave,” she insisted. “Before I start freaking out on you and say things I don’t mean.”
I nodded.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
She shook her head and pointed to the window.
“Go,” she ordered softly.
Stomach churning, I decided not to press the issue just yet.
With emphasis on yet.
Because I’d wait for her to calm down, then I’d do what I had to do to fix what I’d broken.
“Okay,” I said, getting up and heading toward her.
Her eyes watched me, shuttered with pain and anguish over what I’d done to her.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured, pulling her into me.
I liked the way she felt in my arms, so soft and warm in all the right places.
She didn’t put her arms around me, but I could feel that she wanted to.
Her arms partially lifted, and her head tilted back to look at me.
Instead of them curving around me, though, her hands went to the side of my shirt and clutched it tightly.
“You need to give me space. When I’m ready to talk to you, I’ll tell you, okay?” She trembled.
I leaned forward and placed my lips on her forehead, lingering as long as she’d let me before she pulled away.