Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 152045 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 760(@200wpm)___ 608(@250wpm)___ 507(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152045 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 760(@200wpm)___ 608(@250wpm)___ 507(@300wpm)
“Please stop.”
“I’d rather you were safe and sound...”
“Goodbye!” I snap. “Tell James to stay out of my room.”
“Wait!”
I sigh, stopping.
“Your birthday is Thursday,” she points out. “You mentioned maybe an outdoor movie night?”
Oh, that’s right. I’d forgotten.
I hesitate. I want to do something, but I think I’d like to…not leave captivity between now and the big game. I need these two weeks.
“How about we do it when I get back?” I ask. “I don’t need cake on my birthday. Any time, really, is fine.”
She laughs at me. “Are you sure? It doesn’t feel right.”
“It’s fine,” I tell her. “I need this right now. But…I expect really good stuff when I get home.”
“You got it.”
“Talk later.”
“Love you…” she sings as I hang up.
I toss my phone onto the bed and try to raise my eyes, but it takes a moment. I can feel the wetness between my legs, and embarrassment rises to my cheeks.
Finally, I look up, the air between us growing so thick it hurts to breathe. God, he’s changed. I was too shocked to find him here at first to take inventory, but it’s surreal to be in the same room with him—alone—after more than a year. He looks like a stranger.
And yet, I can’t really say what’s different. Blond hair like his dad mixed in with strands of his mom’s light brown. Cropped close in the back, a little longer on top as it messily grazes his temples. Green eyes like grass, sun-kissed cheeks, and the collar of his gray T-shirt stretched out a little to show that his collarbone is just as tan as his neck. He’s spent a lot of time outside without his shirt this past summer.
And while he and Kade are both the same age, Hunter seems older than him now. Maybe it’s the clothes. He wears jeans and a collarless black leather jacket. Not the usual hoodie he used to wear, or that his brother still wears, because Kade loves being an athlete.
Or maybe it’s the eyes. I don’t like the way he’s looking at me, and I used to. I fight the urge to shrink.
“If you’re not leaving, then I want a few things understood,” he says.
I tense.
“We’re not family here. We’re not friends.” His tone is resolute. “Leave me alone and don’t interfere.”
My nostrils flare.
I’m just supposed to pretend like we’re not in some class together, or not talk to him at lunch?
“You will not speak to Kade about me,” he orders next. “Where I go, what I do, or who I talk to, is none of his business.”
He doesn’t trust me now?
“And you’re on your own,” he tells me. “I’m not going to hold your hand here.”
I swallow hard, clenching my sheet in my hands as I watch him rise and head for my bedroom door.
I don’t believe this. What the hell did I do? I…
But I stop.
No.
I don’t care about this anymore. If they don’t want to explain why they both pulled away from me, I’m not giving it my attention.
“I missed you,” is all I say.
It’s all I want him to know before we’re never alone together again.
But he just stops at the door and laughs. Turning his mean eyes on me, he asks, “Why?”
I go still.
He doesn’t give me time to reply. Swinging open the door, he’s gone quickly, his footfalls fading down the stairs until I hear the front door slam shut.
It takes a moment to steady myself. I’ll stay away from him. Fine. No problem.
He better not think I came here to be with him as a motive in the first place. I came here to be on my own anyway.
Checking the time, I see it’s just after six. I whip off the sheet and climb out of bed, dialing Aro as I head into the bathroom. Before I start the shower, though, I check the shelf for clean towels.
There are two. Brilliant. I think I saw a washer and dryer just off the kitchen, in the mudroom by the back door. I’ll have to go to school today in the same clothes I came in, but I can wash them tonight.
The line picks up. “Are you okay?” Aro says, almost sounding like an accusation.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
I hear her sigh, muttering, “Seriously…”
I reach into the shower, turning on the water and running my hand under the ice-cold spray. After a few moments, the water doesn’t get warm, so I leave it running and walk back to the bedroom. I better have hot water.
“Why couldn’t I get a call out last night?” I ask her.
“They probably put out a signal jammer.”
I exhale a laugh, closing the window. “Christ. They’re…a lot, aren’t they?”
But she chastises me instead. “Dylan, you shouldn’t have gone there.”
“And I’m tired of everyone telling me what I should and shouldn’t do,” I reply. “Can you just be the one person I don’t have to hear it from?”