Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
He chuckled softly. “You still sound like you.”
I dropped my gaze. “I was always me, Roan. You can copy someone else, but you can’t really become them. In the end, that’s all I w-was.” My throat constricted. “A cheap copy while the real Rainey needed me.”
“Hmm.”
I waited him out. “Roan, please, tell me what you’re thinking. Cairo dumped me yesterday. Legend pretty much dumped me ten minutes ago. Have your feelings changed about me too?”
He pulled a face, tugging on his cut brow, split lips, and swollen eye. “Is your pussy any less delicious than it was three days ago?”
“Roan, I’m being serious.”
“Do I not sound serious?”
“No, you don’t.” I moved up onto the bed, drawing us closer. “Say flat out and plainly that nothing changed between us. You still love and want to be with me.”
That pixie grin would never leave his lips. “Okay, I’ll say this flat out and plain: I am your sex toy for now until the end of everything. I wouldn’t give you up even if you were hiding a sixty-year-old man with a golden shower fetish in that split personality of yours.”
A sharp, barking laugh slipped through my teeth. I did ask him to give it to me straight, and this was straight Roan.
Leaning down, I carefully rested my head on his chest. His heart beat beneath my ear. Steady. Strong.
“How can you be so cool about this?”
“Because what’s really changed, Ivy?”
My name on his lips stunned me.
“You still lost your family. You’re still being targeted by these crazy, black-letter shitheads. You still know the truth about us and don’t care. And I assume you still know all of Rainey’s sex tricks.”
I rolled my eyes. “Shut up. I can’t believe the things we got up to. If things were different, I wouldn’t have looked twice at a bunch of guys who were younger than me and still in college, but then I would’ve missed out on the best sex of my life.”
“That’s right,” he hummed. “Technically, you are an older woman. Not my first, but I’m glad you’ll be my last. This opens up a whole new world of role-playing for us.”
I buried my smile in his chest, amazed it was there. How was he so good at making me do that?
Because he has me under his spell. Another guy who will not use his powers for good.
“The point is nothing’s changed for me. So if you rushed up here worried you were going three-for-three with the dumping, we’re good.”
I sighed. “I wish Cairo and Legend felt the same way. Plus, I haven’t really gotten to talk to Jacques or Arsenio. I know they’ll make it difficult for me, but if those fuckers think I’m giving up the hearts I fought so hard to win, they’re in for a surprise.”
“Mmm. Can’t decide if that’s crazy or sexy. Either way, we haven’t fucked in days. Climb in.”
I picked up my head, goggling at him. “Climb in? Roan, you just survived a severe beating. You were pretty much in a coma, and you can’t even shrug without pain. Not to mention we’re in a hospital,” I stressed. “We’re not having sex.”
He looked at me like he genuinely couldn’t see why anything I said was a problem. “What else are we supposed to do?”
“We could talk. A lot more happened on that bridge.”
Roan drew my head back on his chest. “Legend told me everything that happened on the bridge and what you talked about yesterday morning.” He scoffed. “We thought we knew everything that goes down in Bedlam. We didn’t have a fucking clue.”
“Cavendish was smart. He played me like a drum. It never even occurred to me to betray him until he overplayed his hand and pushed me too far. The charm he cast still has a strong hold over the others—dead or not. They’ll carry out whatever his purpose is, and they killed Zoey to make sure of it.”
“Wait, they killed Mariner? How do you know?”
“Oh, Legend and Cairo didn’t have a chance to tell you.” I explained everything that went down since we found that black letter on the sheriff’s welcome mat. “You know the saying that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Foundry has gotten a lot of families to sell to them.
“All they need is the vote to swing their way, and they had that locked up before the Crows went too far. They’re gone now, but we both know Steven Ellis is going to ride back in with more sweet talk, better offers, fancier promises, and then everyone will start dreaming of those chain malls, clubs, music venues, theaters, and all the rest we’ve been missing out on.”
“What are you saying?”
I looked him in the eyes. “I’m saying Foundry’s going to win, Roan. They’ve all but won already. You guys tried, but you couldn’t stop people from selling their homes. And you can’t stop a bunch of college students from wishing the only real fun around here didn’t only happen on Ruckus Royale night. Everyone wants Bedlam to become more modern, but no one knows that we’ll lose everything if that happens.