Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 130221 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130221 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
They leave, their engines firing up outside, and Hugo shoots Aro a warning look before he closes the door behind him.
Nicholas heads for the driveway, Aro turns and backs away, holding my eyes as she goes.
I shake my head, warning her.
But she purses her lips, trying to hide her damn smile.
Stopping, she heads back over to me, glances around, and fixes her gaze on Schuyler. Walking over, she plucks a bobby pin out of Schuyler’s hair, the girl scowling as she jerks in her cuffs.
Aro straightens the pin, reforming it, but I meet her gaze and can’t look away.
Pressing her body into mine, her scent hits me, and liquid heat rushes through my veins as her mouth hovers over mine. She reaches behind me, and I hear the bobby pin slip into the lock of my cuffs.
I brush her nose with mine.
“I’ve been detained before,” she whispers as everyone in the room watches. “A few times…”
I almost laugh. Seven times, actually. I’ve seen her record.
She moves the bobby pin around, taking my bottom lip between her teeth. “It’s actually not that hard once you get the hang of it,” she teases.
I nod. “So, what you’re saying is handcuffs won’t work on you.”
She smiles. “Maybe duct tape.”
I graze my lips over her forehead, brushing her hair with my mouth and dying to have her in my arms. “I love you,” I say.
“I know, baby.”
The lock clicks, the cuffs open, and I pull out of them, letting them fall to the ground.
She slides the pin into her pocket and backs away as I rub my wrists.
“Aro,” Dylan calls out, holding up the bindings she shares with Kade.
But Aro only watches me.
I take a step, watching her get closer to the open door and the car with Nicholas and Tommy waiting.
“Don’t…” I tell her. “Don’t cross that river.”
But she doesn’t stop.
“Let us loose!” Kade demands.
Aro holds up her thumb and index fingers, forming a frame with Kade and Dylan in the picture, and studies it. “Mmmmmmm, no.” She drops her hands. “That’ll be funny.”
“Aro!” Dylan screams.
Followed by Kade. “Aro!”
She spins around and runs away, and I start after her but stop, knowing I can’t leave Kade and Dylan behind. Aro jumps into the waiting car and speeds away, and I twist around, digging into the side table for Kade’s motorcycle keys.
Aro
“What’s the plan?” Nicholas asks me.
Tommy climbs into the back, Nicholas taking the passenger seat next to me, and I hit the gas of his old Nova, speeding back to High Street.
“Get them out of town,” I tell him, “so you two shitheads don’t get arrested, and no Pirates get killed tonight.”
I check my rearview mirror, not seeing any lights yet.
But I will. Hawke will be coming, trying to stop me, I’m sure.
I zoom past trees and dark turn-offs, the sign for their high school ahead, but I jerk the wheel left and head toward the main area of town.
“You love him?” Nicholas inquires.
I try to keep my smile to myself, but I feel it escape. Nicholas is the only “brother” I ever really trusted. Well, I trusted that he never wanted to hurt me, at least. He was always apprehensive when Axel got aggressive, or Hugo tried to coerce me into doing things I didn’t want to do.
But he only put up so much of a fight. Ultimately, he did what he was told, and I was always on my own.
Until Hawke.
“What do you think, kid?” I glance at Tommy in the rearview mirror. “Should I love a Falls boy?”
“I think he wants you bad.”
I squeeze the wheel, trying to contain the flood of warmth and happiness. “He does, doesn’t he?”
Mr. Class President is my everything.
Tommy leans over the front seat. “If he comes to the bridge, you should be his girl.”
“That easy, huh?” Like playing ‘He loves me, he loves me not’?
“It shouldn’t be any harder, that’s for sure,” she says.
I watch the road, her words making more sense than they would’ve two weeks ago. Let us live, since we must die.
Fuck it. If he comes to the bridge, I’ll follow him anywhere.
Two bright circles appear in my mirror, but I turn onto High Street, losing sight of them. Could be anyone.
But as we make our way down the avenue lined with businesses and restaurants, I hear the town clock chime, the echo of the bell the only noise. Fog drifts in, clouding the street, and while I see patrons inside Rivertown, the sidewalks are now empty of al fresco diners, and everything is eerily quiet.
I pull over to the curb and park, looking around. “Does something feel off to you?”
Nicholas and Tommy just look around, but neither respond.
I open the door. “Stay here.”
But Nicholas grabs my arm. “He said to stay with you.”
I jerk away, climbing out of the car. I don’t give a shit what Hugo said. “Stay here.”