Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 80197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
"Jesus." Dornan shakes his head.
Elias straightens and pulls away, running both his hands through his hair and turning to face the wall. His broad back heaves, muscles bunching beneath his shirt. "He's gone too far this time."
Dornan steps between us as though he's worried Elias is going to lose his shit. I'm not worried, though. Elias would never hurt me. I know that. Dornan should know it, too.
"Who? Who did this?"
"My fucking asshole dad."
Dornan's wide eyes meet mine. We speculated, but hearing it's true is shocking. "Was there a witness?"
Elias spins to face us. "There doesn't need to be a witness. He's been violent since I was a toddler."
"Are you serious?" I regret the words as soon as they're out of my mouth because who the fuck would joke about something like this. "I'm so sorry, Elias," I add before he can respond.
"He's going to be the sorry one."
Elias starts to stride down the hallway towards the exit, and Dornan is quick to keep up. I have to run to match their long strides. I catch up to Elias and grab his arm. "You can't do anything to him, Elias. I'm not going to lose you, too."
He whirls, fury narrowing his eyes to slits, but when he sees the unshed tears in mine, he seems to soften. "Please." I'll beg and plead…whatever it'll take to make him see. "We can go to the police together. I'll tell them about Eddie. You tell them about your dad. You can hold my hand, and I'll hold yours. Dornan will come to back us up. You don't have to deal with this alone."
He blinks and turns away again as though my words are making him want to escape. I touch his arm, seeing how hard he finds it to accept kindness and affection.
Sex, he can handle.
Stupid jokes and holding people at arm's length are fine.
But accepting care from another person seems like a foreign thing to him.
It breaks my heart.
So much falls into place. His tough exterior and his preference for being on the edge of friendship groups. It has all come about because of what he experienced when he was too young.
A flash of the innocent boy he once was breaks my heart.
"Come on." I take his hand. "Let's go."
When he lets me lead him, I can hardly breathe from relief.
24
DORNAN
Everything is falling apart.
Elias's mom is in a coma. Celine is reeling from the circulation of a video she didn't even know existed, and Travis has been dragged out of the country by a toxic ex. I'm the only one currently not dealing with a crisis, but I feel frustratingly helpless as a result.
I battle through a boring class, knowing that Celine and Elias are at the police station, reporting their separate issues together. Celine decided that she should leave Marie out of it for now.
It's hard to concentrate because my brain wants to anticipate every possible outcome. I'm just thankful that I haven't seen Eddie yet. The rage I feel towards that fleck of dick cheese is unlike anything I've ever felt before. Watching Celine with him on the video destroyed me, not because I'm jealous but because he never deserved to touch a hair on her head, let alone take pleasure in her body.
I text Travis to let him know what's happening. Halfway through, Professor Letterman asks me a question and I have no idea what he's talking about. I really need to keep my mind on my work, but with so much drama circulating, it's hard to care about things that won't matter in a year.
When I finally escape into the fresh air, I continue the message to Travis, then decide to call him while I walk back to my room. He answers on the second ring.
"Dornan. How are you, man?"
"How are you, more importantly?"
He huffs out a long breath, rasping like static in my ear. "Fucked, Dornan. I'm fucked."
"What's going on?"
"Lina's a complete nightmare. She's vomiting all the time and then raging at how this baby is ruining her life…and then she blames me for ruining her life because, of course, I got her pregnant on purpose."
"Fuck, Trav, that's hardcore."
"Tell me about it. I met a few friends from my old company last night just to get out of the house."
"Doesn't she still work there?"
"Yeah. Andrea, who works for her, tried convincing me to return to the US."
"How come?"
"She said she overheard Lina telling someone that the baby's father doesn't want to have anything to do with her."
"When was this?"
"The day before she came to tell me about the pregnancy."
"Fuck." I shake my head, narrowly avoiding a girl holding a stack of books and running in the opposite direction. "So, that can't have been you?"
"I guess she might have said I didn't want anything to do with her."
"Did she say it that way, or did she say it as though he knew about the baby?"