Total pages in book: 156
Estimated words: 142833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
"I will."
I'm acting like an idiot. This I know, but I still can't seem to stop myself. Is it jealousy? Or just worry about what my parents were talking about that morning? Or maybe it's like it's always been - anything related to thinking about my mother tends to turn my head all around into a twisted mess because she's not here to talk to. There is no closure. No answers. Just questions. It's a bizarre feeling to have your parent here, but not. Maybe Aunt Katherine was right, and I should have been in therapy to deal with my confusion about my mother.
As I'm lost in my thoughts driving home in the dark, suddenly my Jeep starts to sputter, jerking me back into focusing on driving. A small light I’ve never seen before has suddenly lit up on my dashboard. Squinting at it, I realize it’s the gas light.
Shit.
I pull over to the side of the dark, woodsy road I'm on and the car dies. It just stops, and won't start again.
This can't be happening.
Driving to the beach and back today must have sucked up a lot of gas, and I didn't notice when I was driving us home earlier that the light was on or that the gauge had gotten so low. My father has told me a hundred times to always make sure I have a full tank of gas, and somehow, I still forgot.
Grabbing my phone from the passenger seat, my heart sinks when I see that I have no service out here on this mountain road that I need to take to get home. There are a few houses on this road, but they are all set way back off the road, and I'm not about to go traipsing down someone's dark driveway right to their house not knowing what kind of person could be living there. Realizing I'm going to have to walk until I reach the small town a few miles up the road to either get reception or find a phone, I dig the tiny flashlight out of the center console that my father had put there, and jump out of the car.
Okay, Kenzi. You know this road. There's a full moon, so it's not that dark. Just walk. And keep walking. And walk. Fast.
I'm doing okay as I chant this over and over in my head while I walk until a motorcycle roars up the road behind me, and pulls to a stop a few feet ahead of me. A chill runs down my spine as I realize it's not Tor as I fleetingly hoped. I know the sound of his engine, the shape of his body, and the man in front of me isn't him. And, besides all that, Tor's bike is still in the shop.
I freeze, rooted to the side of the dark road, contemplating running back the other way. I never should have left Tor's house in the middle of the night over a stupid fight. The rider turns sideways to me, a lit cigarette hanging from his lips, his long shaggy hair parted on the side and hiding half his scarred face. The night glasses are covering his eyes, but I know behind them are eyes the color of turquoise. Eyes that once belonged to the golden boy of this town. Captain of the football team. Star of the lacrosse team. Voted prom king and most likely to become a star. But not anymore. Tyler Grace is a psychotic maniac. A murderer. His gravelly voice breaks the night silence as we stare at each other.
"If you run I'll chase you. And I will catch you. Get on the fucking bike."
In the distance to my right I can see a porch light on at a house through the woods, and I choose to bolt down their driveway rather than stand here on a dark road with someone that I have absolutely no idea if I can trust. The fact that he's Tor's brother doesn't change what he's done, what he could do, or that he's been completely unhinged for years.
As I run down the dark dirt driveway, I hear him coming up behind me, his feet pounding on the dirt behind me.
Oh my God. He really is chasing me.
He tackles me from behind and we go down, with him snaking one arm around the front of me and using his other arm to brace our fall, we land on the dirt driveway with him laying on top of me. I gasp for air both from fear and getting the wind knocked out of me, and I'm petrified when he covers my mouth with his hand.
"Don't scream. Just breathe." He says against my ear, and eases up some of his weight off my back. His voice is so much like Tor's, only darker and full of torment and hatred.