Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 167671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 838(@200wpm)___ 671(@250wpm)___ 559(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 838(@200wpm)___ 671(@250wpm)___ 559(@300wpm)
“Well, something hit him in the heart, that’s for sure,” Heath jests.
“What did?” I mutter. Max and Heath stay awfully quiet, and it pisses me off. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing,” Silas swiftly says, clearing his throat. “So how have you been doing?”
Fine. If he doesn’t want me to know, then he can keep the info.
“Good,” I reply, folding my arms.
“You found a place? Or is that lady with the frying pan still terrorizing you?”
“I’ve been staying at Océane’s sorority, Alpha Psi,” I explain. “The girls were quite welcoming. Even to Bagel.”
He nods a few times. “It’s safe?”
Even now, he still wants to know if I’m safe despite the fact that he was the one who used to make me want to feel the fear in my bones.
What’s changed?
Have I? Or did he?
“As safe as can be, with Talon watching over her shoulder like a bulldog,” I say.
Heath snorts. “Sounds about right. I’ve seen him train. That guy could probably take down a dozen guys with just one fist.”
“Well, I’m glad your friends were there to help when you needed them,” Max says, smiling.
“Yeah, I’m grateful,” I say, taking a deep breath. “I’m just glad we got to put this whole thing with my stepdad behind me. I can finally start off with a clean slate and not feel like I’m being chased.” I eye Silas. “At least for now.”
Silas’s eyes narrow.
“I mean, the debt never ends, does it?” I mutter. “Now that you also helped me get rid of him.”
His jaw tenses as he swallows.
Still, he doesn’t say a word.
Why should I expect anything else? After all, he’s still the same guy—still a psychopathic serial killer, still … heartless.
I take in a deep breath. “Anyway, I have to go,” I say. “I have something I need to take care of.”
Max raises a finger. “Wait, but…”
I glance at all three. “Yes?”
“What will you do after? You know, when you can’t stay at the sorority any longer?” Max asks.
I shrug. “I’ll figure it out. I'll make it work as long as I have Cora and we don’t have to run. Somehow.” I turn around and walk.
“Will you come back to us?” Max asks.
I pause. “That depends…”
“On what?” Heath asks. “I’ll do anything.”
“Anything?” I quip.
Even Silas’s eyes sparkle with excitement. “Anything … and everything.”
I remember those words all too well, and they still make me shiver, still make me crave.
I bite my lip and glance at them one last time. “Forgiveness only happens when it’s earned. So earn it.”
Slowly but surely, that same wicked smile that still haunts my soul to this very day forms on his face. “Deal.”
CHAPTER 61
Heath
Weeks later
Through the bushes, I watch Ivy scatter her mother’s ashes on the cemetery grounds. She grabs Cora’s hand tightly when the girl starts weeping, and it makes it so hard for me not to come and hug them tight.
The trees whistle in the wind while they stay put to watch the dust settle on the grass.
I know I should stay away.
I know I should let her deal with this in peace.
But a gnawing part of me just can’t let go.
Even if I have Max now, it feels like I’m missing a part of me without her.
Max was right. We’ve gotten addicted. Addicted to the rush of having a girl like her at our beck and call. And then we wasted it all because we thought she was a liar.
Prejudice is the killer of love.
Now we have to watch her from the sidelines, wondering if she’s doing okay.
Silas warned me not to overstep, so I won’t, even though I wasn’t the one who said “deal.”
But if I made a move now, it would only establish what we already know to be true; the Skull and Serpent Society men take what they want with no regard to anyone else.
So I stay put and watch her from a distance.
For a second, she turns around, wiping away a small tear, her eyes briefly connecting with mine before I disappear into the trees.
Even if she doesn’t want us close right now, I will always keep watch over her and Cora.
That is the promise I made to myself the moment she walked out of that hospital on her own despite every bit of adversity thrown her way.
A deal I made with myself when I swore I would never touch those fucking pills again.
And I intend to keep that promise until the day I die.
Ivy
“Why can’t I take Bagel to school?” Cora whines.
“Because cats aren’t allowed in there.” I laugh. “Besides, the teacher would probably get holes in her clothes from the number of times he’d want to jump on her lap for cuddles.”
“Aw … but he’s so cute.” She cuddles him thoroughly, entirely against his wishes as he moans in cat language to please let him go. I don’t speak cat, but I consider myself a connoisseur in Bagel-ese, and I know what it sounds like when he’s annoyed.