Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 92466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Ronan grimaced. “She’s not gonna bring him around, is she?”
My fists tightened. “Not if she cares about his life…”
Ronan stood and placed his hand on my shoulder. “You need me to come out to Monksville with you?”
“Why would I need that?”
He cracked his knuckles. “For moral support. And for backup, in case we need to kick some ass.”
Although it was tempting, I wasn’t a freaking baby. I could do this. “I’ll be fine.”
Ronan looked skeptical. “Well, just say the word, and I’ll be on a plane.”
I nodded. I knew he meant that. Ronan was the most loyal friend I could ask for. Tristan had my back as well, but now that he had Emily in his life, he didn’t have as much time. It had felt like Ronan and me against the world lately, two single jackasses with nothing better to do than to be there for each other.
Ronan’s phone rang, interrupting my thoughts. I watched as he answered.
His eyes widened. “No way! Congratulations, man. Holy crap.” He covered the phone with his hand and turned to me. “Tristan and Emily are engaged!”
My mouth dropped. “Wow. Congratulations.”
I knew Tristan had bought a ring and had been waiting for the perfect moment to propose to his girlfriend. But I wasn’t expecting it to happen today.
“You didn’t tell us you were gonna do that tonight,” Ronan told him. After a few seconds, he turned to me again. “He says he didn’t trust us to not act all weird and give it away.”
“You’re the one who would’ve messed it up, and you know it,” I teased.
Ronan shrugged and returned to the phone. “Okay, maybe I would’ve gotten a little excited. Better that you didn’t say anything.”
Ronan kept giving me the play-by-play as he got info from Tristan. “He did it after everyone left the barbecue.”
Smiling, I nodded, feeling happy for my friend, even if my own life was in shambles.
As Ronan continued to talk to Tristan, my mind wandered. It felt like forever since I’d experienced the kind of joy Tristan had right now. But it also seemed like just yesterday that I’d put a ring on Nicole’s finger, that we’d gotten married and planned a life together. The reminder of everything I’d lost stung. Especially after talking to Nicole today.
Now I’d have to face my past in a way I’d never anticipated. How exactly would one pretend everything was great in the face of the very person who broke your heart? The person whose heart you broke? The person who was now dating a guy who used to be your friend—a guy who was now my sworn enemy.
CHAPTER 2
ATTICUS
PAST
Who. Is. She?
I’d been hanging out in Cassius’s basement for two years and had never seen that girl before.
A mysterious girl with long, black hair lay on the old tweed couch, watching us practice. She was officially the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen—with the biggest eyes and the rosiest, full lips.
Cassius had a lot of female friends who came down here to hang out and watch us jam. But she’d definitely never come around before. I would’ve remembered.
After all, this basement was pretty much the main place I hung out. Cassius sang while I was on drums, and Julian played the electric guitar. I guess you could say we’d formed a band, although we didn’t have a name or anything.
People were always coming in and out of the basement, listening to us practice, but never had I been stopped in my tracks by any of them, never had I worried about messing up or whether I was performing well. It was rare that anyone or anything could pull my attention away in the middle of a jam session. But not today. This girl was distracting.
When Cassius’s dad called him upstairs for something, Julian asked me if I wanted to go for a smoke. I followed him out of the house. He handed me a butt and held the lighter out.
I took a puff. “Who’s that girl on the couch?”
“Cassius’s cousin.”
“What’s her name?”
“Nicole, I think.”
“How come I’ve never seen her before?”
“She’s hot, right?” Julian blew out some smoke. “Cassius said they just moved back to Monksville. Her father had a job out of state, but now they’re back.”
I was afraid to ask. “How old is she?”
“You mean, is she eighteen?” He smirked.
At nineteen, I was the oldest of the group. Cassius was eighteen, and Julian sixteen. They were both still in high school while I’d graduated a year ago.
He shrugged. “I actually don’t know how old she is. I haven’t seen her at school, so maybe that’s a good sign?”
That didn’t mean anything. There were private high schools, including a prominent all-girls one the next town over that many of the girls from Monksville attended.
I threw the cigarette on the ground and stomped on it. “We should head back inside.”