Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 82949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
He gives me nothing back, his smile staying the same.
“Fine.” I shuffle into his body and try to ignore the way my heart calms down at the touch of his skin. I close my eyes and take in a deep breath, kind of like breathing for the first time after being suffocated from the world. As though my heart recognizes his and has found an easy pattern.
I flick the silver bar of his nipple ring, and he stills, the arm holding me into him tightening. “If you do that again, Poppet, the story I’ll be telling you will be done between your thighs.”
Clenching my fist, I hide my chuckle into his side. “Got it.”
He relaxes. “Once upon a time, there was—”
“Start a different way.”
“A different way?” he asks, and I hear the clock faintly ticking in the background.
“There was a boy. Well, no…that’s not true…he was a lost boy.”
I shuffle into his arm, already eager. “Is this about you?” I can’t help it.
He snorts out a laugh. “No. Definitely not. Let’s just see how good I am at this storytelling, but only on one condition.”
I choke on my yawn. “What’s that?”
“You don’t share with anyone what I tell you.”
“Right.” I stifle a laugh by pressing my lips against his ribcage. Electricity buzzes beneath my skin and I break away. “Because this isn’t about you, right?” It is totally going to be about him.
“It isn’t, but I don’t care if you think that. Now, shhh.”
I snuggle back into him. Would he tell me his life story? Maybe about his parents? Does Malyk even have a family? I know so little.
“There was a lost boy who didn’t really know his place in the world…”
I stumbled and rolled as grass and leaves flew from my face. I couldn’t tell if my arms and legs were bruised or if I had gone completely numb. All I knew was that I kept rolling. The world spun around and around as I continued down the hill, praying that my life is ended easily. One hit. Straight to the head and knock me out cold. I hoped a grizzly bear or somethin’ wasn’t waiting for me at the bottom of the hill, ready to rip me apart, limb for limb.
Something hit my stomach, and I wheezed out my breath, peeking up at the sky in a daze. The blue and white clouds merged together to create a swirl of color, but when I looked back at what I had crashed into, I was met with an old tree. Damn. I for sure thought I had crashed into someone. Someone who could maybe save me.
I groaned as I rolled to a sitting position, taking extra long on my hands and knees so my brain could catch up with my movements.
Sure, they were gone. I had run so fast that I had slipped and fallen, so there was no chance they would find me down here. Hopefully they called off the search, and I could find my way to safety. To help.
Plucking the leaves out of my hair, I finally pushed up from the ground. I needed to find a way to the local police station or something…what happened? Where the hell was I, and how did I end up here? I think over my final memories. I was in my father’s office…he smelled of stale alcohol…and that’s it. I couldn’t remember anything after we all got into the van.
My mouth burned from thirst, and I was pretty sure I was about to die from starvation. When could that have been? My mind felt like it was just yesterday, but my body was saying no.
My hand came to my belly, and I looked down when I felt the foreign material. “What the hell!” I grabbed at the hospital gown, reaching up to touch my hair. My once-long hair was now a shaved mess.
“Wait!” I interrupt Malyk. “Is this a true story or fiction?”
He shifts until he’s facing me, so I realign myself to use his arm as my pillow.
“Wanna know what the difference is between fact and fiction, Poppet?” I don’t answer. He reaches out and touches the edge of my jaw. “Factual stories are just told by better bullshitters.”
“Good point.” I don’t press the issue because I want to know what’s next.
Something wasn’t right. Maybe I was in a wreck, and those people who were chasing me were actually trying to help me?
I padded my way through bush, ignoring the stabbing of sticks and stones as I stumbled my way through. I needed to find a road at least, especially if I had any chance at all of getting help.
Looking up from my picking of nature, I stopped moving when I heard waves crashing against the sand. London didn’t have any beaches with surf big enough to hear. Moving stray branches away from my face, I stepped through a clearing and watched as the path went from dirty grass to sand. The ocean was blue. So blue it almost reminded me of the sky, and the sand was so white it burned my retinas.