Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 64979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
“I don’t think—”
“Caleb, it’s fine. I’ve been in there before.”
His gaze went from me to her. “What’s going on? Are you two together? Dating?”
“No.” She shook her head. “We’re just friends.”
“Friends?” He jerked back. “Tristian, if Grandfather finds out your friends with a Montgomery, he’ll—”
“Just drive and let me worry about him, okay?”
“Fuck, man! Why are you even driving a street bike to begin with? Especially with what happened to your par—”
“Caleb!” I yelled, annoyed with all his questions. “Stop riding my ass and just drive. I’ll explain later.”
He reluctantly sighed, doing as he was told.
Lucky for us, Belle’s plan worked.
From the second he helped me onto her bed, he warned, “You know what Grandfather will do if he finds out about you two.”
I nodded.
“What are you doing? Why are you even friends with her?”
“The less you know the better.”
“Don’t do that. Don’t push me away like you do everyone else, Tristian. I’m not the enemy. I’m just worried that you’re in way over your head.”
“I have it under control.”
“Have what under control?” The realization hit him fast and hard. “Holy shit. Please don’t tell me you’re in love with her?”
“Alright, I won’t tell you.”
“Do you have a death wish?”
“Maybe.”
“Obviously, or why else would you be riding a street bike?”
“For fuck’s sake, man! Can you get off my dick for a minute? I know what I’m doing. You can go now.”
“You’re so fucking stubborn.” He backed away. “This conversation isn’t over.”
“Noted. If Grandfather asks, I crashed at your house tonight, okay? I need you to cover for me. Now go.”
He shook his head in disappointment before he spun and left, fully aware I’d win this argument. I closed my eyes, breathing a sigh of relief that he was gone. I wasn’t sure how long I laid there, lost in my own personal hell when Belle suddenly walked into her bedroom. Pain reliever in one hand and an ice pack in the other.
Slowly, I sat up against her headboard, groaning out in pain.
“Here.” She opened the pill bottle, grabbing the water that was on her nightstand and handed them to me. “These are my dad’s pain pills. He uses them when his back is acting up. They’re strong, so only take one—”
I took three.
“Tristian!”
“What? Do you want me to be in pain?”
“I want you to be coherent.”
“I’m a big boy, kitten. I’ll be fine.”
I handed the glass back to her, and she sat it on her nightstand.
“Are you really okay?”
“Mmm hmm.”
“Even if you weren’t okay, you wouldn’t tell me the truth, would you?”
“I don’t lie to you.”
“I find that hard to believe, but I’ll accept it for now.”
The look on her face was full of concern.
Confusion.
Longing.
Which had me questioning my resolve about how much I’d share with her in that moment.
—Belle—
After I helped him get dressed in some of my brother’s clothes, I changed into a hoodie and sweats. The uncomfortable silence hammered all around me, tearing into my insecurities that it was a bad idea having him in my bedroom with my parents not being home.
But what else was I supposed to do?
I couldn’t just leave him to face the consequences by himself. Although, Tristian’s body was in the room with me, his mind was somewhere else entirely.
He looked lost.
I’d never seen that look on anyone’s face before.
The quietness was deafening, stirring me to ask, “You live with your grandfather?”
His eyes locked with mine as I sat in front of him on my bed.
“I have since my parents died.”
“And when was that?”
He winced, it was quick, but I saw it.
“Never mind, we don’t have to tal—”
“I was six.”
“Oh my God. I’m so sorry, Tristian. You were just a little boy.”
“It made me a man.”
“No one should have to go through that. I couldn’t imagine what I’d do if something happened to my parents.”
“You learn to adapt.”
“Can I ask what happened?”
He thought about it for a second. I didn’t think he’d reply, so when he looked away, I felt as if he was reliving it all over again.
“It’s my first memory…”
My mouth parted, hanging on by a thread.
“Watching them die in front of me.”
I sucked in a breath, feeling his response in the pit of my stomach. My heart immediately ached for him.
“He had all kinds of different bikes. It was his addiction. He collected them.”
“The bikes that you’re riding. Are they his?”
“Yeah. It was the only possessions of his that my grandfather kept. He knew how much they meant to him.”
Chalk it up to hormones, or maybe it was me desperately wanting to form a connection with him. In that second, sitting in front of him, it felt like I was the first person he’d shared this with. He’d exposed a side to him that no one knew existed, possibly not even him.
It seemed like he needed to get out whatever was weighing on him. His body shifted around as he abruptly looked deep into my eyes and searched for something I couldn’t place. The only thing I could see was a war raging in his stare. An internal battle was taking place of what was right and what was wrong. It was sitting directly in front of him this whole time.