Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
“I said that about Colt and me,” Myla appears, sitting down beside me on the log. “And here we are.”
“Stop eavesdropping,” I tease.
Myla laughs. “Absolutely not.”
“Food is up.”
Mex’s voice booms across the yard, and we all turn to see him on the porch, staring down at us.
“Oh, finally.” Bonnie leaps up. “Let’s eat.”
Yes.
Let’s.
14
“My god, this is incredible,” Bonnie moans, sliding another forkful of food into her mouth. “If I knew you could cook so well, Mex, I would have gotten with you instead of Western.”
Western gives her a look, and she smiles at him.
I numbly place another forkful of food into my mouth, my thoughts silencing me. They’re swimming around in my brain, and I’m finding it hard to concentrate. Bonnie is right, the food is incredible, but I’m so zoned out I’m eating without thought. It’s my phone that suddenly vibrates in my pocket that snaps me out of my thoughts. Only two people have this number – Jayme and Marek.
I already know, even before I look at it, who it will be.
“Excuse me,” I say, standing and pushing the chair back.
I pull the phone from my pocket and glance down to see the number I know belongs to Marek flashing on the screen. Exhaling, I answer it and bring it to my ear, glancing over my shoulder to make sure nobody has followed me outside or is listening.
“What do you need?”
My voice is clipped and short.
Marek chuckles down the line, a low, icy sound that only puts me on edge. “Now, Acacia, is that how you speak to the man who let you live?”
“How kind of you,” I mumble. “I’m forever in your debt. What do you want?”
“You.”
I want to roll my eyes, but I don’t, instead I demand, “Get to the point, please.”
“I wish to speak to you. Be here tomorrow, noon.”
Exhaling, I agree.
“Don’t be late, my darling, you know what happens when you are late ...”
“Oh, I know. I’ll be there.”
“Very good.”
With that, he hangs up the phone. I want to toss it off the porch and yell angrily, but instead, I stuff it back into my pocket and press my hands to my face. I’m going to make my request to him tomorrow and see if he’ll free me from this world, but I know that doing that means going to see Death. I have to tell him what is coming, to at least give him the chance to leave. I owe him that, at the very least.
I can never tell him it was me who killed my mother, but I can tell him she’s gone.
He won’t just lay down and accept that, of course, so I’m going to need to come up with a hell of a story to get him to not attempt to go after Marek, because I know he’ll assume that it was him who killed her. If he goes after him, he’ll die, and I don’t want that for him. I may not have a choice, though. Death will do what he chooses to do, the best I can offer is a warning.
“For someone who was starving, you’re not eatin’ much.”
Mex’s voice comes from behind me, and I clench my eyes closed.
“Have you done something in your life that you know you should regret but you don’t?” I ask, looking at him.
“Many times,” he answers, still behind me.
“How do you get past the guilt of having ... well ... no guilt. Of living with the idea that maybe you’re a bigger monster than you ever thought possible.”
I can feel his presence behind me as he steps up closer, but he doesn’t touch me. “Guilt only occurs when the thing you’ve done is wrong. If it isn’t wrong, it doesn’t matter how much you try, you’ll never feel guilty. Don’t make you a monster just because you don’t like how you react to somethin’.”
“Doesn’t it?”
“You’re not a monster, Acacia.”
God, the way he says my name has shivers running up my spine.
“But what if you’re wrong about that, what if I am?”
“Then we all are.”
I shake my head, a soft but broken laugh escaping my lips. “I suppose so.”
“You don’t have to protect him, you know.”
He’s talking about Marek.
God, he thinks I’m protecting Marek? Little does he know I’m actually protecting him.
“I should go finish my dinner.”
I turn, and our bodies collide, he was standing so close. His arm goes around my waist to steady me, and he stares down with an intense expression on his face. Pressing this close reminds me of just how sore my body is. Soon, the alcohol will wear off and I’ll be forced to take more painkillers to get through. It hurts, but I’ll never admit just how much, because that means I’m admitting that Marek could destroy me and I’ll never let that happen.
“Tell me what makes you a monster?”