Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 234281 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1171(@200wpm)___ 937(@250wpm)___ 781(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 234281 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1171(@200wpm)___ 937(@250wpm)___ 781(@300wpm)
Mairi’s voice had become hoarse. “Drake, please stop.”
“It’s his call, Mairi.”
Her eyes swung wildly to Damen, and the swollen and bruised face made Mairi lose all color. “Why are you doing this?” she whispered. “Can’t you see? It won’t work between us.”
“I love you.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but Drake cut her off, his head whipping towards her. His voice was bland, but his gaze was icily challenging when he asked softly, “Are you going to believe him again, Mairi? After what you learned today? Your body was mine last night. And his body...”
Had belonged to Alina.
The pain of those words, of the pictures it invoked in her mind, made Mairi cry out.
While she had been hurting, he had been with Alina.
While she had cried for him, another girl was crying out his name in his bed.
While she had loved him, he had loved Alina’s body with his.
Her eyes closed, and the tears fell quietly.
Damen didn’t know what was happening. He didn’t understand a damn thing that Drake had said, but he knew that Mairi was hurt – so goddamn hurt that she looked like she had just been through hell. “Mairi?” She didn’t answer. His voice became frantic. “Mairi, answer me.” But still she didn’t answer. It was as if he no longer existed for her.
“MAIRI, ANSWER ME!”
But she only shook her head, the tears still falling silently.
His voice broke. He was losing her. He really was losing her. “I love you,” he said fiercely. “I know I fucked up so many times, but I fucked up because of love and that love will always be there for you.”
Drake’s tone was cutting as he said, “Give it up, Leventis. You lost.”
He said seriously, “You’d have to kill me first.”
And then he took a swing at Drake’s face, this time giving it all he had, this time hitting the other man as if he wanted to kill Drake. And maybe he did. For Drake was doing the same thing by taking Mairi away from Damen. Mairi was his life. Without her, his life was worthless.
The fight might have lasted for minutes or just mere seconds. It didn’t matter. Soon, blood covered Damen’s entire field of vision, and he was down on his knees when Drake’s last punch threw him to the ground. The last thing he saw was Mairi turning her back on him.
“Mairi.” It hurt to speak, but he had to call out to her, had to beg for her to come back, to forgive him and let him love her.
But she didn’t stop.
She left.
And he was all alone.
Chapter 7
A HAZY AND CHAOTIC mix of images periodically ran through Damen’s mind. It was like he was watching a movie, but it was a movie of his life, something he was and wasn’t a part of at the same time.
He was being carried away in a stretcher, his body engulfed in flaming pain.
He was being rushed to the E.R., with close to half a dozen specialists surrounding him, their tones urgent but their words precise.
He could recall himself thrashing in the bed as he went in and out of unconsciousness.
And Mairi...
He always saw Mairi.
He was running after her, but somehow he just couldn’t get close enough to even touch her.
Mairi, Mairi, he would shout frantically at her. Come back. Don’t leave.
But she never stopped, never said anything, and never even looked back as she kept running until she disappeared from his sight...and his life.
DAMEN. DAMEN. DAMEN!
Why wouldn’t he listen to her? Why wouldn’t he look at her? Why wouldn’t he come back? Didn’t he know she needed him? That she was about to drown and only he could save her?
But he remained where he stood, gazing down at her, standing atop an imposing cliff, a cold unflinching mask on his beautiful face.
Damen, Mairi sobbed. Help me, Damen. Help me.
He opened his mouth.
And suddenly, the ocean that was trying to swallow her disappeared, leaving Mairi falling in the darkness of her guilt as Damen’s accusing words tried to eat her alive.
You were the one who left me.
You were the one who abandoned me.
You were the one who KILLED me.
“Mairi, wake up.”
Aunt Norah’s voice eventually reached Mairi through her nightmares, and she woke up with a gasp, her body bathed in cold sweat. Her voice was panicky and high-pitched as she grabbed her aunt’s hand and told her frantically, “Damen needs me.”
Norah gently unclasped herself from her niece’s clammy hold. “It was just a nightmare,” she soothed. “You’re fine.”
Mairi shook her head. “You don’t understand, Aunt Norah. Damen needs me.”
“You need to calm down. You had a nervous breakdown and you’re still recovering.”
“Listen to me, Aunt Norah. I need to...” she stopped. She looked around, disoriented. This was not her bedroom. Mairi opened her mouth to ask her aunt where she was when a bolt of pain struck her head, making her cry out.