Total pages in book: 185
Estimated words: 191421 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 957(@200wpm)___ 766(@250wpm)___ 638(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 191421 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 957(@200wpm)___ 766(@250wpm)___ 638(@300wpm)
I watch emotions go through their faces. Surprise for a second or two, followed by elation for me. Which lasts another second or two but is eventually replaced by confusion.
And then concern.
Probably because I don’t look as elated as I should be.
“Okay,” Poe goes, nodding.
“Yeah.” Jupiter nods too. “Okay.”
“It’s just that… I personally thought that it was a good thing. Him forgiving you.” Poe looks at Jupiter. “Right?”
Jupiter nods at Poe. “Yeah. It is a good thing. It is exactly what Echo’s been working toward.” She turns to me and repeats, “Right?”
“Yes,” I whisper. “But.”
“But?” Jupiter asks.
“But he wants me to…” I sigh. “Do something first.”
Poe frowns. “Do what?”
“He wants me to stop talking,” I worry the edge of Jupiter’s textbook, “or having any sort of contact with… Reign. But I…”
They both give me time to put my thoughts together.
“I don’t want to,” I tell them. “I’m not going to.”
My determined tone would’ve shocked them a few days ago. Like it did when I’d told them how I’ve been meeting up with Reign at night and how he’s been helping me with Lucas.
But it doesn’t.
They get it.
Because now they know. They know everything that I know about Reign.
About my ex-boyfriend’s asshole ex-best friend.
Who as it turns out isn’t that much of an asshole after all.
I mean, he is.
But not the kind who makes me sick with hate anymore. He’s the kind that protects me, keeps me safe, makes me warm and laugh and yes, blush.
The kind that I’m not giving up.
It’s not even a question. I knew it as soon as Lucas hung up the phone.
I’m not giving up Reign and it pisses me off that Lucas wants me to.
Why is he doing this?
It’s Reign. It’s his best friend. His brother.
I understand that given the situation, Lucas’s trust is shaken. Of course it is. But if he can give me a chance, why can’t he give Reign one too?
If the crime was committed by the both of us, then why am I getting forgiven and not him?
“Lucas isn’t going to like that,” Jupiter tells me.
I realize that.
I realize that this isn’t the way to be a ‘good’ girlfriend. And after everything that I’ve done I probably should give Lucas whatever he wants.
But if not giving up Reign makes me a bad girlfriend then so be it.
I’ve only just found him. He’s my friend — well, kinda; I mean he’s more but still — and I don’t give up on my friends.
“Well, he’s going to have to deal,” I say.
“But are you ready to deal with it?” Poe asks. “This is what you wanted.”
“I did,” I say, clenching my teeth. “But not like this.”
They both look at me, probably trying to determine how serious I am.
But then, both Poe and Jupiter smile and high five each other.
“I’m so glad you said that,” Jupiter says.
“Me too.”
They both love Reign now. Especially Poe, after I told them how he gave me a phone with reading apps on it.
Because someone gave her something as well.
A sewing machine. A purple sewing machine.
Because Poe not only loves fashion but she loves to make fashion too. As in, make dresses.
And so someone — a man — who cares about her deeply gave her a sewing machine. He also happens to be her guardian turned school principal — yup, our principal; Principal Alaric Marshall.
She used to hate him too, actually.
Long story there, but now it looks like that hatred is gone and something else has taken its place. Something that makes my friend smile and blush more often.
Anyway, it just warms my heart to see that my friends like Reign. That like me, they finally see the truth.
“That’s why I need your help,” I tell them. “He’s blocked my number.”
“What, why?” Jupiter asks.
I shake my head, my heart squeezing in my chest. “Probably because Lucas said something to him.”
If Lucas said something to me, I’m pretty sure he said something to him. I’m pretty sure it happened the night Reign convinced Lucas to give me a call. While I can’t say exactly what went down, I know that it must’ve been horrible.
It must’ve been awful.
Because ever since Lucas’s ultimatum, I’ve been trying to call Reign but I can’t.
I can’t call. I can’t text.
Which means I’m blocked.
“I need to talk to him,” I tell both my friends. “I need to tell him that I’m not doing it. That I’m not giving up on him. It’s not happening.”
Not only that, I’m going to make Lucas forgive Reign.
I know what he’ll say.
I know he’ll curse a bunch of times and tell me to not worry about it.
But I don’t care. Like I don’t care about Lucas’s bogus ultimatum.
But first.
“I have to find him and I need your help to do that.” I look at Poe. “He’s friends with Callie’s husband, right? Reed? Can you talk to her? Can you ask her if Reed knows where Reign is? He’s staying at a motel. But I don’t know which one and I need to find him.”