Total pages in book: 150
Estimated words: 136791 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136791 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
"Why couldn't you come back?" I ask, knowing we can't put this off anymore. He's so damn sure he couldn't come back. He has to tell me what he's been hiding, what made him feel that way. I have to know.
"Because I'm the reason they died, January," he says, his voice breaking. "Your mom and Titan were murdered because of me."
Chapter Sixteen
Cade
Then (Age Twenty-Two)
"You asked her to marry you?" Titan asks as soon as I step out onto the front porch and close the door behind me. He's standing on the far side, his arms braced on the railing and his back to me. His head hangs low between his shoulders. Defeat radiates from him.
"No," I tell him, refusing to be swayed by his stance. It's not a lie because I didn't ask her to marry me. There wasn't a question involved. I wasn't even about to give her a chance to shoot me down. Not that I think she would or anything, but still…I wasn't taking a chance with that shit.
"You put a ring on her finger," he says, still not turning to face me.
"You've known since we were kids that I love her. Don't know why you're suddenly surprised I put a ring on her finger," I mutter, crossing my arms and leaning back against the door frame. It kills me that things between us have reached this point where the only time we talk is to take swipes at each other.
I'm still mad as hell that he's running around with Kaleo. Part of me resents him for forcing me to lie to her every goddamn day. Except to omit the fact that I'm a millionaire, I've never lied to her.
"Fuck," Titan huffs and then sighs. "I don't want to fight with you, man. I'm glad she chose you. You'll take care of her, give her the kind of life she deserves. I'm not mad about it."
"Then what do you want, Titan?" I ask, staring holes in his back. "Because it's her birthday, and I'd rather be in there putting a smile on her face than freezing out here with your moody ass."
He jerks like my words wounded him, but I doubt that. What I think stopped mattering to him a long damn time ago. Well before I ever even realized that, as much as I wanted him in my life, he didn't want me in his. I resent him for that, too. Maybe my fuck-up was the excuse he used when he went running to Kaleo, but I think he was just looking for a reason all along. He grasped onto the first one he could find, regardless of what anyone else thought.
"Fuck this," I mutter and turn to go back inside to January when he doesn't say anything. He already ruined the day she got accepted to UCLA. I'll be damned if I let him ruin this one for her too.
"Wait," he says when my hand lands on the doorknob.
I lift my gaze to find him watching me this time. Regret shines in his eyes, and sorrow clings to him. He appears wrecked as he pushes his hand through his hair, fucking up those perfectly tailored spikes he's worn for as long as I've known him. He doesn't seem to care. He props himself up on the porch railing and studies me.
"I lied to you," he mumbles.
I snort, not surprised by that.
"I didn't start dealing for Kaleo because of you. I did it because January didn't get her financial aid."
"What are you talking about? Of course she got financial aid."
"Not all of it," he says, crossing his arms over his chest. He kicks at a loose nail in the porch railing. "Not enough to cover her expenses. Mom found out a couple of weeks after Tony attacked her that she made too much because of all the hours she worked. They weren't going to give January all the financial aid she needed to attend a school like UCLA. I found Mom sitting in the living room, bawling because she couldn't give her little girl her dream."
"Shit," I mutter and release the doorknob. I press my forehead to the door. We both know January wanted to go to UCLA because of me. That's the only reason she picked such an expensive school.
"It's a good school," Titan says like he knows where my head is at. "I never blamed you for her wanting to go there. Didn't blame you for the choices I made to make sure she got to go, either."
He might not blame me, but he doesn't know about the millions still sitting in a trust fund. Had he come to me and told me about January, though, I would have emptied that damn account to get her to UCLA. But he never said anything. Not a word.