Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 140896 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140896 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
He’s often been our knight, but yesterday, he definitely didn’t act like one.
I understand his animosity toward Landon, and I get his need for revenge, but the fact that he shut me out so cruelly still hurts.
I texted Landon on my way to the plane.
Mia: I’m going back to New York to visit Mom and Dad. Maybe this is a good opportunity to put some distance between us.
Landon: Nonsense. The word distance doesn’t exist in my vocabulary. It’s for cowards who don’t know what the fuck they want. I know exactly what I want. The question is, do you?
I didn’t reply to that text.
I couldn’t.
My mind has been a mess since the whole encounter with the Heathens.
“What’s going on?” Mom studies me and my sister closely.
“It’s nothing.” Maya throws her hands in the air. “She’s just being unreasonable.”
I glare at her and she glares back.
She wasn’t supposed to come home with me for this long weekend that coincides with a bank holiday, but she likes to think that we’re twins attached at the hip.
“It’s not nothing,” Dad retaliates. “You weren’t speaking on the ride here, which is unusual, to say the least.”
“Well, Mia is being unnecessarily dramatic.” My sister releases a long breath.
I narrow my eyes on her, but I refuse to reply when she doesn’t even want to admit what she did wrong.
“What’s this all about, girls?” Mom asks. “You know it’s a house rule to talk about our problems so we can resolve them.”
Maya sighs and lets her phone with some fashion design case drop to her side. “Well, Mia has a crush on this British guy who’s more notorious than Satan himself, but she wouldn’t listen to reason when everyone—Niko, Kill, Gaz, and I included—told her that he’s bad news. Like the worst of news, Mom. Imagine Kill on steroids. Yeah, it’s that dire. So Niko decided to take matters into his own hands and teach the prick a lesson, and rightfully so. Kill and Jeremy joined in because, well, remember the part where he could give Satan a run for his money? He actually caused shit with the two of them as well, including hurting Kill because he just wanted to date this guy’s sister. Mia is illogically mad because I didn’t tell her about their plan to teach him a lesson he desperately deserves.”
“Illogically mad?” I sign, my lips curled in what must look like either a snarl or a growl. “Niko told him either he leaves me or he breaks his wrist, Maya! Landon said no, so if I wasn’t there, an artist’s wrist would’ve been broken to pieces. Is that the lesson you wanted to see?”
“Yeah, well, maybe that would’ve taught him to stay in his own lane.”
“Maya!” Mom scolds, her voice rising a little.
“She’s being unreasonable, Mom!” Maya shouts back. “She’s been choosing this idiot Landon over me and Niko over and over again, not caring how the fuck we feel about it. Maybe it hurts. Maybe it makes us feel like we’ve been cast aside, but she doesn’t seem to care!”
I swallow, my heart beating fast and erratically. This is the first time in over a decade that Maya has been this mad at me.
Ever since the incident, she’s often treated me with kid gloves and overwhelmed me with overprotection. The current situation is far from that.
Dad grabs us each by the shoulder in a firm fatherly hold and softens his tone. “I think we need to sit down for this. How about coffee or tea?”
“Yeah. I have your favorite strawberry pudding.” Mom proceeds to the massive open-floor kitchen that’s every cook’s dream.
Dad pulls out my chair like the gentleman he is. Seriously, considering his very British accent, his style, and the way he carries himself, no one would suspect he’s actually the most lethal human weapon anyone could cross paths with.
Maya and I sit across from each other and we avoid one another’s gaze as Mom pours both of us coffee. Dad brings out the pudding from the fridge and places one serving in front of each of us, then he sits beside me.
Mom settles beside Maya and places her arms on the table. “Okay. Now that we’re more settled in, let’s talk in more detail. Is there a reason why you didn’t tell me you were in a relationship, Mia?”
“Because he’s a psycho who actually physically hurt Niko and Kill, that’s why,” my twin says. “She was ashamed of him, as she should be.”
“Maya,” Dad says in a warning tone. “The question wasn’t directed at you. Don’t speak on your sister’s behalf when she’s fully capable of that.”
Would it be too cheesy to jump Dad in a hug? Probably. I just can’t help feeling grateful for his important form of validation of my voice, as nonexistent as it is, especially after Niko ignored me not too long ago.