Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 129881 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 649(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129881 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 649(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
That secretly makes me happy.
“Don’t worry about work tomorrow, Felix. Just take it easy and check in with me.”
“Okay.”
“All right. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Bye.”
I reach behind me and let the phone fall onto the couch.
“Are you ready to go back to sleep?” Jake asks.
“Definitely.”
“Thank fuck.”
And before I can ask if he would prefer it if I never woke up again, because we all know that’s how my chemically rotted brain interprets his enthusiasm, Jake smooths his thumb over my exposed cheek in the most adoring way, like some romance movie shit, and I can’t remember someone ever caring about me this much before.
How can something so wonderful hurt like this?
“Do you want to go to the bedroom?” he asks.
“No.” I burrow closer. “Don’t move.”
I close my eyes as Jake turns up the volume on the TV until it’s just loud enough to hear, and I’m so worn-out and weak, I should pass out any second. Especially when he starts twirling pieces of my hair again.
It’s soothing, and I yawn so much my eye’s water.
But I can’t fall asleep.
I lay there and try not to move or fidget and wait. I squeeze my eyes shut when I grow irritated and clench my jaw, because I’m too exhausted for this shit, and if I don’t get any sleep, tomorrow will be worse than right now, and I can’t deal with that.
And when the fingers in my hair eventually stop moving as Jake’s breathing slows, I actually get angry at him for being able to pass out as easily as he does, and for not staying up until I fall asleep, even though I didn’t ask him to.
How ridiculous. I’m such a prick.
I slide out from underneath his arm and sit up, standing from the couch.
I consider taking another shower or going for a walk as I pace the length of the living room. Maybe I should keep eating.
I stuff half of what’s left of the sandwich into my mouth and yawn around the bite as I keep moving. I swallow it down and finish the rest, and I down the glass of tea.
There are car keys on the trunk, and I stop and stare at them, my mind racing.
Maybe they’re Jake’s. I could go for a drive until I’m tired (more tired). Maybe I could stop somewhere and buy him something, because he’s already the best boyfriend ever, and he deserves gifts too. Sweet things like him. I bet he wouldn’t even care if I borrowed his car. I’d bring it right back.
I’m excited now and happy again.
He’s going to be so surprised.
DONUT?
JAKE
I’M NUDGED AWAKE, the hand on my shoulder forcefully shaking me until my head snaps up off the back of the couch.
“Jake.”
“Mm?” I blink the room into focus and find CJ hovering over me. He’s still in his uniform. “Yeah. What.”
“Where the hell is your car?”
“What?”
“Your car. Where is it?”
I’m still mostly out of it as I look beside me, expecting to find Felix asleep on the couch, but he isn’t there, and even then, I still don’t understand my brother’s question, because where would my car be besides right outside where I left it?
I sit forward and plant my feet on the floor, and my head starts to clear the longer I stare at the trunk where I dropped my keys last night.
“Jake.”
My keys are gone.
I jump up and over the back of the couch, running down the hallway to my bedroom, and I wish I was positive Felix got up sometime last night to come in here and lay down and just decided not to wake me, but I’m not. Part of me already knows he’s not in my bed before I even push the door open and confirm that.
“Jesus Christ.” I dig the phone out of my pocket as I stride back down the hallway, and I worry. I start to worry so fucking fast.
Where the fuck would he go in the middle of the night?
“Tell me that kid didn’t take your car.”
I stop in the kitchen and frown at my brother as I bring the phone to my ear. “Kid?”
CJ grabs a Gatorade out of the fridge. “He’s young, isn’t he?”
“Don’t be a dick. You know his name.”
“Like that matters right now. How about we focus on the fact that your boyfriend stole your car. That’s fucked up. Where would he even need to go?”
“Would you shut the fuck up for a second? I can’t hear anything.”
The call rings a sixth and final time before going to voice mail, and since Felix hasn’t set that up yet, I can’t leave him a message.
Okay. Starting to get pissed.
“He’s not answering, huh.”
My brother sounds like a total fucking snob.
“Obviously,” I sneer. “Do you hear me talking to him?”
I rub at my face, my other hand clutching the phone at my side as I try to keep myself calm, but CJ is insistent on voicing his own concerns, and it sucks that they’re valid.