Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 135792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
He didn’t expect the gentle hand on his back. It burned hot enough to brand him forever.
“No. It means we can…... just talk about what we want instead of making assumptions.”
Knox pulled away at the risk of blowing his cover, because he couldn’t take this shit. “What you want is pussy, so don’t touch me.”
Silence. Of course. Because how could Liv deny the truth when it was thrown in his face? Too bad that only lasted so long.
“Like…it’s not news that I like girls. But I like you too.”
“Wow. What a confession. Never saw that one coming,” Knox said, rolling his eyes.
Liv liked him. Just like he liked putting his dick in Knox. Or an extra scoop of jam on his toast.
Liv liked him, while Knox’s whole being burned with the need to melt into Liv, to kiss him, to suffocate him with the intensity of his emotions. He’d beg and steal for Liv’s gap-toothed smile. He’d set himself on fire to get Liv’s attention, and he could see he always had.
One time, Liv had used his own T-shirt to soak up the blood dripping from Knox’s nose, and Knox had kept it instead of giving it back. He’d lied to himself that he’d done it because it was a cool top.
He’d kept it because it was Liv’s.
And he’d provoked the next fight at school because he’d known Liv would have his back.
He’d helped Liv dispose of a body, but he would have given Vlad that same push, were he in Liv’s shoes, because Liv meant everything to him. Even when he’d stolen Amanda, even when he ate the last slice of fucking pizza, even when he’d spent their rent money on booze or a new girlfriend.
But now Knox didn’t know how to move on from the new kind of relationship they’d developed in the junkyard. Because Liv liked him, and Knox would probably accept that as enough the next time Liv’s treacherous fingers traced his nape.
He hated himself for this weakness, but how could he resist scraps of affection when they came from the only person he’d ever cared for?
“Nothing happened with that girl. Knox… just... will you give me a chance?” Liv asked as if he didn’t already know the answer the pathetic creature who was so painfully addicted to his attention would eventually give.
Knox had heard these words from Liv’s mouth before. The walls in their trailer had been thin enough to give Knox more insight into Liv’s past relationships than he would have liked to have. ‘Give me another chance’ was a frequent plea.
But what would this chance be for? A chance to break Knox’s heart when Liv inevitably chased another skirt?
He hated that Liv would get away with this, and could already see a future in which he got his heart broken over and over again. Where he got back home from work to find Liv cheating on him, because Liv wanted everything and wouldn’t stop until he got it.
He wanted to yell into Liv’s face, tell him how much he hated this situation, but the words got stuck in his throat, and not just because they had to stay quiet. What was the point of fighting a battle he already lost?
He’d be under Liv again by midnight.
The gunshots erupting in the house cleared his mind and forced him to focus on the here and now.
Someone screamed. Another gunshot followed, and Knox’s skin tingled from the tension in his whole body. A door slammed somewhere.
More screams.
“Fuck,” Liv muttered as they both shifted at the same time. The roar of Shane’s dogs became even louder, blocking out whatever information they might have gotten from the noise otherwise, but then, out of nowhere, a shadow dashed past their hideout, running for its miserable life.
Knox froze, but Liv was already raising the gun. “Stop, or I’ll shoot,” he yelled at the top of his lungs.
In the faint moonlight, he appeared gray, but Knox could still see the tense set of his shoulders, his feet braced, as if he expected needing to chase the fucker.
The guy gave Liv one glance and took his chances, no doubt hoping to hide in the vast junkyard.
Liv shot, and the man toppled, hit in the leg.
For half a second, Knox was too shocked to do anything and listened to the guy’s scream as Liv’s arms dropped. He stared at the gun in his hand, as if he too couldn’t believe what had just happened. But Knox saw movement a few paces ahead and looked that way in time to see the felled bastard roll to his back with a pistol of his own.
Knox could hear the bullet whooshing through the air before it happened, and he threw himself at Liv with a scream on his lips. Losing balance, Liv grabbed his arm, and the moonlight captured his wide eyes as they both fell.