Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 91434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“I love you, Everleigh. My heart is yours. It was always yours; it will always be yours.” I bend my head and kiss her lips softly. “It will always be yours. If anything, I wanted you to know that. I need you to know that. I won’t bother you anymore,” I say. “I won’t cause you any more pain than what I’ve already caused you. But you had to know.” My hand comes up to cup her cheek, my thumb sweeping side to side. “I’ll love you forever.” I take one more look at her before walking away from her, not willing to be the cause of any more pain that comes to her. Also, not willing to hear her say it doesn’t matter. Not willing for her to tell me she doesn’t care. Knowing my body and soul wouldn’t be able to survive that for sure.
Chapter Twenty-One
EVERLEIGH
“I love you, Everleigh. My heart is yours. It was always yours; it will always be yours.” He bends his head and kisses my lips softly, the tears just rolling down my cheeks. I thought my tears had dried up. I was wrong. All I want is for him to wrap his arms around me. “It will always be yours. If anything, I wanted you to know that. I need you to know that. I won’t bother you anymore,” he says, and the way he says it sounds like closure. It sounds like it’s over. It’s been over since I walked out on him, but a part of me never shut that door. “I won’t cause you any more pain than what I’ve already caused you. But you had to know.” His palm that has held my face countless times before comes up to cup my cheek. I push my face into his hand while his thumb sweeps side to side, brushing away the tears. “I’ll love you forever.” I stare into his eyes, the lump in my throat making it hard for me to breathe, before his hand drops from my face, and he walks away from me. I close my eyes, not willing to open them to see him walking away from me. Not willing to see the back of him. Not willing to watch the heartbreak yet again.
I don’t even know if he’s gone before I drop to my knees. I sit back on my feet, looking up at the sky, not able to see it. “I love you,” I whisper back to him and think back to the day everything changed.
I knew the minute I walked into the apartment that something was wrong. Fuck, I knew something was wrong for the last six months. I found him on the couch with a bottle of whiskey in front of him and his elbows on his knees, with his head hanging down. My eyes went from him to the empty bottle. “Hey,” I said, putting my purse down. I took one step into the living room, and his head came up. His eyes were bloodshot, from the whiskey or crying, I didn’t know. “Are you okay?” I asked even though nothing had been right since the night of the accident. Instead of us being closer than ever, we were miles and miles apart. At first, I made excuses for him: he lost his best friend in the accident and his other best friend, Charlie, was off the rails.
“The court case starts tomorrow,” he said, his voice husky, and I took steps toward him. “I’m being called as a character witness for Waylon.” Some of the survivors were suing Waylon’s estate for wrongful death.
“What?” I asked, shocked. “What do you mean?”
“It means, I’m going to go on that stand and tell them what kind of guy Waylon was.” I waited for him to tell me he was joking. “And the accident wasn’t his fault. He wasn’t being reckless.”
“But he was,” I snapped, my heart pounding. “He was not in his right mind, and we both knew it.”
“We knew fucking nothing.” He stood, and I guess he was more drunk than I thought he was because he fell back on his ass. “He was fine.”
“He was all over the fucking place on that road, and you know it!” I shrieked. “Why are you saying this?”
“Because they asked me to,” he admitted, his voice soft, “and I’m doing it.”
“Why?” The loaded question. “Why would you do that?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do.” He avoided my eyes.
“You are not.” I shook my head. “You are not going to fucking do that. Are you crazy? You will be lying under oath.” He shook his hand away, and I was livid, so livid I had tears running down my face. I stood. “Brock, you do this and it’ll be the end of us.” I finally had enough, and I knew he would choose me. He had to choose me.