Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 146548 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146548 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
“I sounded like a fucking brat,” she mumbles against her palms and groans. “Nothing is going right.” She’s referring to more than this moment.
On the yacht, she confessed to Ryke, her dad, about passing out twice after drinking. Uncle Ryke is pretty much a pushover when it comes to his two daughters. But not on serious issues, and at the news, he looked fucking horrified.
Now Sulli only wants to drink if it’s at home, not in a public place. I think it’s a good idea. But I also think her dad’s reaction scared her more than actually passing out.
“You just sounded like you were expressing yourself,” I tell my cousin.
She takes a bigger breath and glances down the stairs to where Akara, Jack, and Farrow climb up. “I’m going to be replaying this moment in my head for eternity. Fuck my life.”
“Don’t stress about it, Sul. Really.” I nod towards the stairs, knowing that there’s only one thing that will take her mind off this. “Race you?”
She gives me a wide-eyed look, but I don’t wait for her to say it’s a bad “fucking” idea.
I just go.
And she runs with a skilled, untiring stride. Soon, she’s passing me, and the three other guys catch up to my pace.
I’m not slowing. Not stopping.
I want something to go right for Sulli.
And I push and push and push. Temperature escalating, humid and hot, the harsh drumming in my bones roils my stomach to the umpteenth degree. Around the 400th cobbled step, my body revolts against my persistence.
Lightheaded, clammy, nauseous—I stop dead in place. My hamstrings spasms, and every muscle feels like it’s cramping at the same time.
How I’m standing—I don’t know.
Farrow skids to a halt next to me. He’s slowed down the last ten minutes for me. I hate that he has, but he has and he holds my neck while I try to rub my hamstrings.
I look up at him deeply, and there’s no amusement in his features anymore. I’ve reached the threshold of what Farrow is willing to take. He endures more than anyone else could or would with me. Because I can’t live life feeling restrained or imprisoned.
And he makes me feel so goddamn weightless. But if I don’t respect my body’s limits, he’s going to—and my chest rises because I know this is it.
This is the end of my fight. Of all the physical pain that I’ve withstood in fear of disappointing her and myself.
“You’re human,” Farrow says toughly, clutching my face with so much love and care. “You’re human. Step back, wolf scout.”
Step back.
Maybe if I had more time. Maybe if I didn’t need surgery. So many maybes could’ve changed this, but maybe this is what I really needed all along. The hardest things are usually the right things, and pushing my body to extremes is too easy for me.
I hang onto Farrow’s shoulder for support. “Sulli!” I shout.
She races down the steps. “Moffy, what happened?” Once she stops on the step above mine, I let it out.
“I can’t do it.” My eyes sear. “I can’t do the ultra.”
She expels a giant breath, hands on her thighs hunched forward. “Thank fucking God.”
I’ve known that she’s been afraid I’d hurt myself, but I thought if I could do it for her—it’d mean something in the end.
I was wrong. I think quitting meant more.
37
FARROW KEENE
Beach parties with the Hales, Meadows, and Cobalts consist of one massive sandcastle competition, and since I’m with Maximoff, I’ve been recruited onto Team Hale.
And if I look at the water’s edge—which I try not to do all that much—SFO are on-duty and placing bets on this contest.
“Wait, I’m confused,” Xander says. “How do we make the towers pointed?”
“Just pack it in,” Lily replies. “Pack that sand in.” She pats at the base of the structure. Being brutally honest here: it looks like nothing.
We’ve been at this shit for ten minutes, and the furthest we’ve reached is a huge mound of sand that’s supposed to be the mountain beneath the castle. Maximoff shaves the “sculpture” flat with a shovel, and I lean back on my hands. More or less watching.
His movements are tensed like his entire body is sore. Muscles shot. The source: the stair climb from this morning. It’s hard to believe he’s even out here and not resting.
But that’s classic Maximoff Hale. At least he listened to his doctor and soaked in an ice bath before the beach party.
I’m his doctor, by the way.
I catch myself unconsciously smiling before I focus back on my boyfriend.
Maximoff takes a quick glance at the competition, then turns back to the mound of sand. “You know,” he tells us, “we still have time to build something other than Hogwarts.”
My smile widens as Xander, Kinney, Luna, and their parents look at Maximoff like he’s spoken blasphemy.
“Because I love you,” his dad says, “I’m going to forget you said that, bud.”