Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 131209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 656(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 437(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 656(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 437(@300wpm)
I hit him for every lie and deceit.
I hit him for every, I love you.
I hit him…
I hit Landon.
“Jesus, calm down!” he sneered, grabbing at my wrists and locking me in place on the hood of my car. My legs were spread and he stood in between them, holding my arms down and my body from being able to move.
“Fuck you! Oh wait, she already did that, didn’t she, Landon! You fucking liar! I love you, you said, you’re the only one for me, you said, please be with me, you said, my soul mate, you said. All fucking lies! You’re just like my father! I knew it. I knew I couldn’t trust you!” I viscously spewed.
“That’s not true. I’ve wanted you for two fucking years, Brooke, for two years! You told me to move on, you told me that you didn’t love me! You did this! Not me! YOU!”
“It didn’t take you long to find someone else, did it? Huh? Was I that easy to replace? Someone who you claimed was your everything! Your one and only! You fucking lied! I hate you! I hate you so fucking much because you made me believe you. You made me believe in you!”
“Oh my God, Brooke, calm down,” he irrationally soothed, trying to control my thrashing body.
“Just go! Just go back to your girlfriend! I bet you’ve had her on the sidelines all this time, huh? I bet she was your other woman! You’re a fucking liar!”
“If you don’t calm down I’m going to—”
“You’re going to what? Break my heart? You already fucking did that, liar!”
“I’m not going to stand here and defend myself to you. I know in my heart that I didn’t cause this, you did. I’m not your fucking play toy, Brooke. I moved on because you told me to. Don’t you remember that day on the beach? I was pretty much groveling at your feet, just like I always had, and you turned me away, just like you always did, and now you come to me with this shit! Are you fucking kidding me?” he roared, shoving me away from him and stepping away from me.
My body shook from the adrenaline, bowing my head in hurt and loss. “I can’t believe this… I can’t believe I was coming to tell you that…” I finally looked up at him, spent and completely exhausted. “It doesn’t fucking matter, nothing does.”
“You’re broken, Brooke; you’ve been broken since that night. I can’t put you back together. I never could and I was drained from trying.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I never wanted you to save me. I don’t need to be saved.”
He scuffed. “You’re right about that… you can’t rescue something if it doesn’t know it’s lost.”
I jerked back, shocked and bewildered.
“I’m sorry you had to see that. I would never want to purposely hurt you. You have to know that,” he honestly proclaimed and a huge part of me wanted to believe him.
“There’s more, Landon, it’s not just his mistress anymore… there’s more,” I blurted, needing to tell someone. Needing to tell him. He was the only person I could tell, the only person that knew the truth.
His eyes widened. “What?”
“I found this card and it looks like some high society escort service; it was hidden in his safe,” I wept with tears streaming down my face. “The same safe that has his wedding anniversary as the code.”
He pulled at the back of his neck. “Jesus Christ...”
I shook my head, not wanting to say anymore. “Just go…” I whispered. “Just go back to your girlfriend, go back to your life.”
“Brooke,” he murmured, stepping toward me.
“Don’t.” I bowed my head again. “Don’t make this any harder than it has to be… please…” I proclaimed, crying. I cried so hard that my chest hurt and my eyes were raw.
I cried as I heard his steps walking away from me.
And I cried even harder when I couldn’t hear them anymore.
CHAPTER TEN
<>D<>
My sister and mom spent months planning the wedding. They were a dynamic duo. It didn’t take them long to get everything in order for the big day. It was an intimate wedding with seventy-five guests, mostly just friends and his family.
She looked gorgeous with her white silk dress and baby bump. She was six months pregnant and walking down the aisle at nineteen; she was glowing. My mom cried the entire time as I expected her to, as did my sisters. Alexis had turned twenty-two and about to finish her junior year of college. Lauren was twenty-four and progressing nicely in graduate school; she wanted to be a psychiatrist and help people. I never asked her why she chose that career, but part of me knew I didn’t have to.
I never expected them to grow up. To me, they were still little girls that wanted my attention. I was the only man in their lives for so long, even when my dad was alive. I knew they were my sisters, but they felt like my daughters and right now, one of them was officially married.