Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“All right.” Solon took a deep breath. His heart was hurting—but so was his pride. “So you want me to leave you alone? Where should I go—back to the Monstrum Mother Ship?”
“I don’t care where you go,” Abbey swiped at her eyes but her voice was flat. “Just let me have some time to think, all right?”
“Fine. You can have as much time as you want,” Solon growled. “But let me remind you that you told me several times how happy you were the exemption didn’t go through when we were on Tengula Five together.”
“But it did go through and you lied to me about it,” she pointed out. “Look, Solon, I just…I can’t right now. I need some time.”
“Then you’ll have it. I’m leaving.” His desperation had turned to anger. Yes, he had cheated the system but it was only because he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt they belonged together! Why couldn’t she see that?
“Fine.” Abbey’s voice had gone cold. She twisted the engagement ring he’d given her from her finger and held it out. “Then you’d better take this with you.”
Solon felt sick with anger and grief. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go! They should be planning their wedding ceremony and Bonding right now—not ending their relationship! But he took the ring from her anyway.
“All right,” he said stiffly, slipping the ring into his pocket. “I’ll keep it in case you change your mind. But for now, I assume that our time together is over.”
“Completely over.” Her voice was flat again. “Goodbye, Solon. Have a nice life.”
Her words cut him like a blade and he couldn’t even answer. Instead, he turned and left her room, feeling sick with anger and grief inside. Was this it? Was their relationship really over?
It seemed that it was and there was nothing Solon could do about it but leave and never come back.
39
ABBEY
The next few weeks were pure agony for Abbey. She cried herself to sleep every night and dreaded every day. She forced herself to go to work at Rose’s Roses but every time the door chime tinkled she flinched, knowing that whoever the customer was, they had surely heard about what Chris Brander had done to her.
The way Solon had punished her rapist had gone viral and made national news. Seven other women besides herself had come forward and now he was being prosecuted—not that he could be sent to jail just yet. He was still in the hospital, recovering.
Abbey had agreed to testify, but she was dreading it. She had so much guilt and fear and regret tied up in those awful memories. Part of her felt like if she had come forward, she might have prevented at least some of the other rapes Brander had committed. But almost all of the other survivors were saying the same thing she had felt—that Brander had seemed to be above the law because his father was powerful and they knew they wouldn’t be able to get justice.
Well, Solon had gotten justice for her, Abbey thought bitterly. Surgeons had tried and failed to reattach Brander’s penis and testicles. They had been too mangled and his body had rejected them, so he was effectively a eunuch for the rest of his life.
She took a certain bitter satisfaction in her rapist’s fate, but that was offset by her longing for Solon. She wished now that she hadn’t sent the big Monstrum away. Their time on Tengula Five played over and over in her head. She remembered all the fun they’d had and the way he had loved her so gently and so passionately. She missed the comfort of his arms and the feeling of his warm, furry chest under her cheek as he cradled her close to his big body. And she missed his Bonding Scent—it made her feel so safe and protected when he held her and she inhaled the warm, spicy, wild fragrance that his body made just for her.
But that time was over now, Abbey reminded herself. They were broken up and it was all her fault. Maybe she shouldn’t have gotten so upset over his lie about the exemption. Maybe she shouldn’t have told him she needed time to herself.
He did lie to me, but only because he wanted to be with me so badly. But does that justify him being untruthful?
Abbey didn’t know. She only knew she was mixed up and confused and unhappy and her life, which had seemed so full and perfect just a few weeks ago, now felt flat and empty and lonely.
She knew she ought to get out and do something…but she just didn’t feel like it. So when Aunt Rose invited her to go to the annual Rose Growers Association convention, which they attended every year to find new supply sources for the shop, Abbey turned her down.