Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Tears, ones that I haven’t shed since her funeral, rush down my cheeks.
What have I done?
How could I?
Pressing a hand to my mouth, my eyes fall on a note sitting on an old coffee table. A note that wasn’t there yesterday, or last night.
I’m scared.
I don’t want to read it.
I don’t want to look at it.
I’m afraid of what it’ll say.
Taking a step forward, I reach down for it, and with trembling fingers and a raging headache, I open it up and read the scrawled words on the piece of ripped paper.
Imagine how she would feel about you now – sleeping with her man. You’re going to give me what she owed. You’ll repay her debt. An eye for an eye.
What the hell is going on?
I read the letter over and over, but no matter how many times my eyes scan over the page, I still don’t understand what’s going on.
Someone is watching me, someone who clearly has a problem with Chloe. I have already come to the assumption that whoever this is, is the reason she left town. The problem is, I don’t know what it is she did that is causing this person to come in and threaten me. What do I have to do with it? Or is it purely because Chloe left and now they have another reason to continue whatever sick game they were playing with my aunt? An eye for an eye to me indicates that Chloe most certainly did something to this person ... But what?
What could she have done to make someone feel the need to torment her and now her family?
None of this makes sense.
The fact that whoever this is watched Colt and I have sex makes my stomach turn and my heart race. I don’t bother holding back the tears that insist on flowing, because I’m tired of being the strong one all the damned time. I should have never come to this place, I should have just paid someone to fix this house instead of trying to save money by doing it myself. I should have just told Chloe I couldn’t do it.
I sink to the ground and angrily toss the note onto the floor in front of me as I drop my head into my hands and sob.
God dammit Chloe.
Why did you leave me with your secrets?
“Hey. Shit. Are you okay?”
Bonnie’s soft voice has me lifting my head. I know what I look like—I’m an ugly crier, and add the fact that I probably have mascara running down my cheeks and I’m hungover to the point I’m holding back vomit doesn’t help. I am a hot mess, and the moment her eyes scan over my face, she gives me a look of pity as she squats down in front of me.
“What happened?”
I blurt it all. I tell her I slept with Colt. I tell her about the note. I tell her how god damned bad I feel about that.
“Oh, honey. Come on. I’m going to get you some coffee and we’re going to talk. You go and get into the shower. We’ll get to the bottom of all this.”
I don’t know what I’d do without her. Seriously, I don’t.
I push to my feet and bring the note with me, handing it to her as I turn and numbly walk to the shower. I stand under the water for as long as I can, wishing it was just a little hotter. Still, it makes me feel better, and because of that, I manage to get my mind a little calmer. By the time I’m dressed and in the living area again, Bonnie has a cup of coffee in her hand for me and a smile that makes me feel immediately better.
“Western has the best coffee,” she tells me, handing it to me.
I take it, thankful for the strong-smelling brew that fills my nose.
“Let’s sit outside.”
We go and find a spot by the fire that is still hot, the once orange flames now embers at the bottom of the pit. It’s warm, though, and the cool breeze trickling through makes my head feel a little clearer. I avoid staring at the log beside the fire. The one that Colt was sitting on. I can’t think about last night. I can’t even let myself remember how it felt because the guilt will eat me alive.
“What happened with Colt isn’t something you should feel guilty about,” Bonnie says carefully.
I stare down at the cup in my hand. “He was the love of her life ...”
“You don’t know that. They have a story, that much is clear, but you don’t know how it ended. She left him. What happened between the two of you has nothing to do with what went down with them. She isn’t here anymore, honey, and I know that makes you feel worse, but I don’t think she would be angry at you.”