Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 129207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 646(@200wpm)___ 517(@250wpm)___ 431(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 646(@200wpm)___ 517(@250wpm)___ 431(@300wpm)
My phone rings, cutting through the Bluetooth in my car, and instead of rejecting the call until I find just a semblance of composure, a wave of anger infects me. Before I know it, I’m answering Axel’s call.
“Hey Turd—”
“It’s all your fault,” I rush out between my heavy sobs, barely able to catch my breath. “Do you have any idea what life is like for me? As long as you’re my brother, I don’t stand a chance of having a normal life.”
“Rae—”
“No. Don’t Rae, me,” I cry. “You have no idea what kind of hell I had to endure after you left. You were my only protection, both of you were, and then you were just gone. Do you have any idea how that feels? What he did to me? What it’s like to have to go through that night after night? How could you leave me to endure that?”
“What?” he says, a shift in his tone that sends searing hot panic through my chest.
Fuck.
I wasn’t supposed to say that. I’ve gone six agonizing years without saying a word, and in one fell swoop, I’ve word vomited it all out onto the pavement. My heart races as horror leaves me absolutely speechless.
“What the fuck did you just say, Raleigh? What are you talking about? Did someone touch you?”
“I . . . I . . . It’s nothing. Just forget I said anything,” I tell him, my whole body shaking with unease.
If he knew. If they knew.
I’ve gone out of my way not to breathe a word of my past to Axel because the moment he discovers the truth, his career is over. He would be back in Michigan within an instant, undoing everything he’s worked for. And the guilt . . . It would cripple him.
“Rae. I’m not fucking around. What are you talking about?”
“Really, I’m fine,” I tell him, wiping my tears on the back of my arm. “I’m just having a really shitty day. Madds talked me into going on a blind date, and after making me wait for over half an hour, turns out all he wanted was to fuck me in the hopes of getting an in with you.”
“The fuck?”
“Welcome to my life,” I say with a heavy sigh.
“Shit. It’s happened before?”
“Not that specific situation,” I tell him, feeling my heart begin to ease. “But as a whole. Yes. All the time. Just today my communications professor accused me of being a freeloader who thinks she can get a pass through college because I’m Axel Stone’s little sister simply for asking for an extra credit assignment. This is just my life, Ax. I don’t get to be normal.”
“Fuck, Rae. I’m sorry,” he murmurs. “Do you want me to put in a call with the dean and see if I can help?”
An unladylike scoff tears out of me. “Hell no,” I tell him. “Are you trying to make everything worse?”
“No, I just—”
“It’s fine, Axel. I know you mean well, and I swear, I didn’t mean to worry you. It’s just been a rough week, and you just happened to call right at the worst time. I just need the night to feel sorry for myself, and I’ll be good as new tomorrow.”
There’s a slight pause before a slow “Mm-hmm” comes through the speakers.
“You’re on your way home, right?” I ask, trying to act as though everything is right in the world. “You get two weeks off to relax.”
“Yeah, we’re on the jet now,” he says with a slight hesitation in his tone.
I force a ridiculous smile across my face. “After partying it up in Australia with hookers and coke?” I ask, trying to be supportive of his night, despite how the idea of Ezra being involved seems to eat me alive.
“Fuck,” he mutters, and I can all but hear the cringe ripping across his face. “You saw that, huh?”
“More like who didn’t see it? It was splashed across every news page in the country. You and Devil Spawn practically broke the internet.”
“Devil Spawn?”
“He Who Shall Not Be Named.”
“Right.”
“Yeah . . .”
An awkward silence seems to settle between us and, not being able to handle it, I quickly wrap up this nightmare. “Listen, it’s starting to rain, and it looks like it’ll be a nasty storm, so I better go before I get stuck driving in it.”
“Okay, sure. I’ll ummm . . . drive safe, alright? Text me when you get home so I know you’re okay.”
“Sure thing, Ax. Love you.”
“Love you, too, Turd.”
My thumb sweeps over the hang-up button on my steering wheel and as the car falls into a heavy silence, I feel another piece of my soul crumble. Then after looking up at the crystal clear sky, I finally dry my face and get my ass back home where I can spend the rest of my night wishing that my life could have been different.