Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 83221 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83221 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
“What’s wrong?” she asks. “You’re suddenly tense.”
“Had a terrible thought of someone taking you away from me.”
“I’m not her,” she murmurs. “I don’t want anyone else but you. No one can take me away from you.”
“I know.”
“Do you, though?” Her voice hardens. “I want you to trust me.”
Trust isn’t exactly my favorite thing to do, but Willa makes it easy.
“I trust you, sweetheart.” I nip her bottom lip. “And you’re right. I need to get you home before they send out a search party.”
We manage to peel ourselves apart long enough for us to both dress and for her to check her phone. I can’t take my eyes off her. Tomorrow, in class, it’s going to be nearly impossible to not look at her knowing that my dick’s been inside her mouth and her pussy.
Once we’re in my car and driving along the dark road, I feel tendrils of anxiety trailing through me. The farther we get from my house and my bed to the library, the more dread sinks in. Time ticks by all too fast, bringing me nearer to the time when we’ll have to part ways.
I clutch onto her hand, bringing it to rest on my thigh. My eyes are on the road, but I can tell hers are on me. It makes me wonder what she sees.
Do I look like some guy who has my shit together?
Or do I look like a guy who’s close to losing his shit altogether?
I hope she sees the former, though I’m one hundred percent the latter.
“Who called earlier?” I ask, glancing over at her.
She stiffens. “Mom.”
“Did she leave a message?”
“No. She never does. There was a text, though, that said she wants to talk about my behavior lately.”
I bristle at anyone thinking Willa is anything but a sweet, good girl. “Your behavior? Has she lost her mind?”
“To Darren,” she spits out bitterly. “Sorry. She just makes me angry sometimes.”
Bringing our conjoined hands to my lips, I kiss one of her knuckles. “I’m the king of being angry at a parent. I get it.”
“She’s just so up and down.” She sighs heavily. “I’m tired of always being the one to try, you know?”
“I’m sorry things are rough at home.”
“I could leave,” she murmurs. “I think about it a lot.”
“But you’ll miss her.”
“I don’t trust Darren not to completely drown my mother. Not literally. I just feel like she’s held on this long, for me, but he’s winning. She’s a shell of the woman I adored when I was young.”
We pull into the library and I turn off the car. Since the library is open until nine, the parking lot is still fairly full, being that it’s only seven.
“Is someone picking you up from here?” I ask her.
“No. I’ll walk home.”
“Not in the dark and alone you won’t.”
She leans over the console and I go to her, her magnetism drawing me in. Our mouths meet for a kiss that feels like one of the last few I’ll get tonight. The thought is sobering and causes my stomach to sour.
It’s a damn shame I can’t keep her at my house and in my bed all night.
“Callum?”
“Mmm?” I nip at her bottom lip.
“I’ve never really dated anyone before. Is this, uh, is this how it always is?”
“What?”
“This feeling,” she murmurs. “Wanting the other person so badly it physically aches.”
“Like the time you have with them is limited and never enough?”
“Exactly.”
“It’s never been this consuming for me,” I admit. “I can’t think about shit, sweetheart. Only being with you.”
“At least I’m not alone.” She sighs. “You can drive me home, but we have to be careful. If Darren or Levi are home and see you, this could be bad for us.”
I understand the risks.
Willa Reyes is worth every goddamn one of them.
Dropping Willa off three houses from hers and having to watch her walk away from me, was by far the most difficult thing I’d done this week. Since we slept together, it’s like she’s in my bloodstream. I can’t function without her.
I need some distance.
Some perspective.
A thump to my moral compass that seems to be spinning out of control.
“In here,” Hugo calls out.
I close the front door behind me, sweeping my gaze over Hugo’s living room. It’s normally tidy, but since Neena isn’t around, Hugo and Spencer haven’t quite kept things clean. I follow the sound of Hugo’s cursing to find him in the kitchen, sitting on his ass in front of two open cabinet doors beneath the sink.
“Law firm not paying you enough?”
He grunts, glancing at me over my shoulder. “I wanted to see if I could fix it before I called a plumber.”
“Since when do you tinker on your own plumbing?”
“Since I’m now running for AG and the last thing I need is someone calling me a worthless rich prick who can’t fix his own pipes.”