Total pages in book: 16
Estimated words: 14490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 72(@200wpm)___ 58(@250wpm)___ 48(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 14490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 72(@200wpm)___ 58(@250wpm)___ 48(@300wpm)
There’s a bruise already forming on his jaw as proof of my kindness, and I hope it hurts like a motherfucker. I want to hit him again, to make him suffer for what he’s done, but I want to get back to my girl more.
Abe sputters, not giving me a proper response.
“Do we have a deal, Abe, or do I need to show you what will happen if you disobey?” I ask, and he pales, realizing just how serious I am.
“Okay,” he breathes, nodding vigorously. “Fuck, okay.”
I drop him, and he stumbles on his feet before righting himself. He rushes inside, and I follow on his heels, ready to grab him again if he does anything but what I’ve told him to.
In the living room, Roxie’s father is seething, and she looks furious, but before the old asshole can get a word out, Abe starts to talk.
“I’ve changed my mind,” he declares, and the pastor’s jaw drops open. “The deal’s off. I’m sorry.”
Abe spares a glance at me before turning and practically sprinting out of the house, leaving the pastor gaping at him. His head swings in my direction, fury and disbelief written all over his expression.
“What have you done?!” he seethes.
I shrug, raising a brow at him. “I did nothing,” I lie. “Good old Abe just changed his mind. Deal fell through. What a shame.” Sarcasm drips from my words, and though the pastor looks ready to ask God to smite me, there’s fuck all he can do about what just happened.
“Go pack, sunflower,” I whisper to Roxie, squeezing her hand in silent reassurance.
“Roxie, come back here!” her father demands as Roxie rushes out of the room and up the stairs to gather her stuff.
“She doesn’t answer to you, not anymore,” I tell him.
He sneers at me. “And I suppose she answers to you now, is that it? You just ruined her future!”
I shake my head, utterly unfazed by this man’s bullshit. “Roxie answers to no one but herself,” I tell him. “Unlike you and the husband you’d give her away to, I don’t want her trapped and silent. I’m not out to control her. No, I want to help free her. From this town, from your decisions about her future, from the life she’s spent years caged in and miserable.”
Her father’s breaths come in heaves, and he’s shaking with anger.
I hear footsteps on the stairs, and a glance over my shoulder shows that Roxie has paused in the doorway, hastily packed bags hanging over her arms.
“You’ve ruined my daughter,” the pastor shouts, spit flying from his mouth.
I laugh in his face, reveling in his ridiculousness. “Unlike you, I don’t want Roxie to be anything but exactly who she is,” I answer, staring him down. “I hope for her sake that you can look past your selfishness and the petty attitude of this town to support her like she deserves. But until then, you won’t set sight on her again.”
I turn my back on him, an insult in and of itself, grab my girl’s bags, and walk out with her by my side, not bothering to look back.
Throwing the bags in the back of the car, I help Roxie into the passenger seat. As I round the car to slide behind the wheel, I catch sight of her father in the front doorway of the house, disbelief and sadness mixing with his rage.
He watches us drive away, and in seconds, her father is nothing but a shadow in our rearview mirror.
6
ROXIE
It’s been one week since we left Sunflower Springs and the horrible future set up for me there. One week since I felt the freedom of driving like hell out of there and into the unknown. One week since I said fuck you to the person everyone wanted me to be and embraced the woman I really am.
And I’ve never been happier in my entire life.
The city is so much bigger than I even imagined. Nothing like the tiny town my whole life has been confined to until now. There’s always something happening here, always movement and noise and life.
The first night I spent at Ronan’s apartment—our apartment as he declared—I stared out the window for hours, looking down on the city from the top floor of a high-rise building. Cars and lights and people as small as ants moved down below, fascinating me. The apartment was even more beautiful, though. Luxurious and modern but undecorated and sparse thanks to the fact Ronan had only just moved in before shit went down and he got sent to prison.
It’s the perfect blank slate, the perfect new start, and Ronan’s given me free rein to decorate however I like. I have so many plans for it, so many plans for my new life—our new life.
I know that running away and living with a guy two weeks after I met him is, well, insane in other people’s minds. But it just feels right. I regret none of it, and I refuse to fight the things that have brought me so much happiness. I love Ronan. I love how he makes me feel. I love how he supports and encourages me to embrace my freedom and do whatever the fuck I want instead of trying to control me and make decisions for me like everyone else always has.