Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 98264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
I wasn’t sure if I believed him. Eighteen years' worth of drawers in my head disagreed with his logic. But if there was ever a moment I needed to hope, this was it.
I was at absolute rock bottom. What was there left to lose?
Oh, right…
“What if he hates me? What if he hears the truth and never wants to speak to me again? I’d be all alone.”
He sighed. “Then I guess our only choice is to sneak you into my suitcase and fly you back to New York with me. Fair warning, my roommate is a total douchebag. He plays bass in a band called Streets of Eyeless Brutality, hosts concerts for all six of his fans in our apartment every Saturday night, and has never once been to the grocery store but always manages to have food in his mouth, but other than that, Mooney’s decent. He’ll like you.”
The slightest smile tipped my lips. How did he do that? How did Camden Cole always know what to say to put my turbulent mind to rest? Anchoring myself to him and his new life in New York wasn’t an option, but Camden made it feel like anything was possible.
Even telling Joe. Something I so desperately wanted to do but was terror-stricken no less.
“How long are you in town?”
The side of his mouth hitched. “I guess it all depends on how long you need me to stay.”
Forever hung on the tip of my tongue, but that wouldn’t have been fair. He might have thought he loved me, but he had a whole life that didn’t revolve around a girl who couldn’t decide if she wanted to live or die.
“Do you have classes or work or whatever to get back to in New York?”
He smiled, bright and beautiful. “Yeah. I go to Columbia.”
“Wow,” I breathed.
“Don’t be too impressed. I’d have gone to University of Antarctica if it had gotten me farther from my parents.” He winked.
It was wrong to ask him to stay.
It was wrong to ask him for anything.
But I really wasn’t ready to let him go. “Can you stay the night? And be here when I tell Joe. Whatever that entails.”
Pride beamed in his eyes. “Of course.” He released my hand but only so he could drag me into a hug. “Oh God, of course!” He shoved his face in my neck and laughed, and only then did I realize Camden had been living with the infection of my secrets too.
He deserved a break.
We all deserved a break.
He clung to me until Joe returned, and then, true to his word, Camden sat at my side, holding my hand while I confessed the depths of my soul. The truth poured out of me in a waterfall of confessions. Everything from how bad it had been with my dad, to Josh, to the night my choice ended his life. Ramsey at the police station. The guilt that had been ricocheting inside me ever since I’d promised my brother not to say anything. All of it, every single bit, right down to the moment I’d swallowed the bottle of pills.
As to be expected, Joe was shocked.
He cried.
I cried.
Camden held me tight.
When it was all said and done, nothing was better and everyone was still caught in my web of lies, but the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders.
The only time Camden left my side was when Joe pulled me into his arms, apologizing for things he had no control over. With a proud smile on his face, Camden winked at me before he stepped outside under the pretense of making a phone call. Joe immediately filled the gaping hole he’d left behind and perched on the edge of my bed, his hand wrapped around mine.
“We’re going to get this sorted,” he said, looking far older than his forty-five years. The room fell silent and Joe stared off into space, thought crinkling his forehead.
“How’d you know to call him? How did you have his number?” I asked.
“Who? Camden?”
I twisted my lips and leveled him with a glare. “No, the mouse in your pocket.”
He grinned. “You aren’t the only one who can keep a secret.”
“Good, then you owe me a confession too. Spill.”
He chuckled. “He showed up on my doorstep a few years back. Right after Ramsey went to jail. I opened the door and Camden barely introduced himself before falling into a long, drawn-out dissertation about how I needed to let you move in with us.”
My brows shot up. “What?”
“The boy didn’t let me get a single word in for five solid minutes.”
Yeah, that sounded like Camden, but he’d gone to Joe? About letting me move in? “Why would he do that?”
Joe shrugged. “He didn’t think it’d be safe for you at your dad’s without Ramsey around, so he all but dropped to his knees, begging me to let you move in and be close to Thea. I thought about it for a few days, but he was right.”