Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 19688 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 98(@200wpm)___ 79(@250wpm)___ 66(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19688 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 98(@200wpm)___ 79(@250wpm)___ 66(@300wpm)
“It’s okay, Kate.” His smile nearly levels me. It’s just not possible to be so charming and so gorgeous, but somehow, he does it. “I knew you would have come if you could have.”
“You’re damn right I would have,” I squeak.
“This will change things now, right?” Christian asks. “Your parents can’t have you marry him now.”
“That depends,” I reply.
“Depends? Depends on what?”
“On whether they believe me or not.”
Christian blinks twice and gawks at me. “Wait, what?”
I realize as I say them how ridiculous the words sound coming out of my mouth. I mean, how could my parents not believe me when I tell them what Malcom just did to me? But then again, they didn’t believe me when I told them Jess McCormick was the one who was drinking at the house and that it was she and her friends who broke the downstairs sliding glass door in high school and not me.
They also didn’t believe me when my “boyfriend” Josh took the keys to my mom’s car and ran it into the neighbor’s tree at ten miles an hour and completely messed up the hood and front bumper.
So I guess you could say there’s a reason I don’t have much faith in my parents’ trust in me.
“Yeah, it’s a long story,” I sigh. “I mean, I’ll tell them, but I don’t see it changing much.”
I put a hand on Christian’s chest to try and calm him down, as he’s looking like he’s ready to go down to where my parents are sitting and give them both a piece of his mind. That of course would not be good.
“That bastard tries to do that to you and you’re supposed to just…” His voice trails off as his hands ball up into fists. I reach up and take him by his perfect jaw, lean in, and kiss him gently on the lips.
Again, I feel the magic between us. It’s undeniable.
If only there was some way to get away from all this—away from my family, away from this place. If only I had some kind of device that could whisk us both away like something out of a science-fiction movie or something.
God, wouldn’t that solve all our problems?
Suddenly, the sound of sirens blaring fills the air, shattering the serenity of the moment like a hammer against a pane of glass.
Christian and I both look up to see two police cruisers coming down the hill.
“Jesus,” I say as they speed toward us. “He actually called them…”
6
Kate
“This is crazy!” I scream as I watch the police officers place handcuffs on Christian while Malcom stands by, doing his best not to smile too big. “Why is Christian being arrested when it was Malcom who tried to force himself on me?!”
“Oh, Katherine, stop being so dramatic,” my mom scoffs, waving her hand in the air.
See, I knew this was going to happen.
“Dramatic!?” I reply. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Force himself on you? Why do you have to use such words?”
“Um, because they’re accurate?”
One cop places his hand on the back of Christian’s head as the other opens the door to the police cruiser. I watch with horror as they place him in the back seat like he’s some kind of actual criminal, instead of the hero that he really is.
“Dad!?” I almost scream, turning to him in the hope that his fatherly instincts will kick in and cause him to show some sense. “Are you really going to let this happen?”
“Honey, I’m sure Malcom would have backed off if you’d have just made it clear you weren’t interested,” he replies.
My heart drops. Guess not.
“All of this nonsense could have been avoided if Prince Valiant over here”—my mom waves her hand dismissively in Christian’s direction—“hadn’t decided to try and impress you with violence. I told you to stay away from him. That he wasn’t one of us.”
“You two have to be joking…”
“It’s all about signals,” my mom goes on, making me hate her even more. “I know you haven’t had much experience with boys, Katherine, but maybe you were just giving off the wrong signals and Malcom misinterpreted them and thought that you—”
“I’m leaving this family.”
The words push their way out of my lips before I even have a chance to process them. But as soon as they’re out and in the air, in my parents’ ears, I realize just how long I’ve been dying to say them.
That gets my parents’ attention too. They both perk up and look right at me. There’s a brief moment of tension where it seems like I might have some power in the conversation, but then my mother frowns.
“Katherine, don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’m not. I’m serious.”
“Leave the family?” my dad asks. “And go where? And do what? You’ve never spent five minutes in the real world.”
“She’s never even had a job,” my mom scoffs.
Embarrassment rushes through me. I somehow keep it together despite the fact that I want to turn around and run away from this entire situation. My stomach is sinking lower and lower with every second that passes. The police are talking to each other about something, but I know it will only be minutes before they take Christian away.