Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 131821 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131821 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
“Put. My daughter. Down,” my mother demands yet again.
“Get the hell out of here, Ava,” Parker growls. “Now is not the time for this shit. For once in your life, be a good mother, and let her have some time before you start your shit again. Please.”
I curl into myself even more, because I know what he might have forgotten.
There isn’t a decent bone in her body.
“Time for what?” She proves my thoughts right. “It’s not like it happened in front of her, and she’s sixteen! So her little crush is no more. Not my problem! Deaton is dead. She’ll get over it!”
My lips part, desperate for air, but the knot in my throat denies it, and I feel my face burn with the lack of oxygen.
“Oh my god!” someone shouts, and I peek left, spotting the woman who must be Nate’s mom charge toward mine, but her son blocks her before she can lunge at my mother.
Guilt burrows its way into my bones. Her daughter wouldn’t be in that room if it weren’t for me. Kenra brought me to California.
Deaton followed.
This is all my fault.
Uncontrollable, gut-wrenching sobs burst from my throat. I might be screaming.
Shadows crowd me, telling me the boys have moved closer, but I can’t see them. I don’t hear them.
My vision is full of broken glass and mangled limbs.
I see Deaton’s bloody body as he screams in my face that this is my fault.
That I ruined his life.
That I ruined everything.
The next thing I know, the cool night air whips me in the face. My body trembles, and then my ass meets something cold. The arms releasing me slip farther away, but my hands snap out, clinging to them.
“Please,” I beg.
They come back, holding me tighter this time, and the last thing I hear before I pass out again is “I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”
It’s like a sledgehammer taken to the last of my strength.
Deaton made me a lot of promises before he left.
I refuse to accept, let alone make, any more.
My boyfriend is dead.
I wish I were too.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Payton
Now
The sweet sound of my little boy’s whimpers has my eyes opening.
I frown, my brain taking a moment to realize where I am, and my gaze finally snaps to the monitor on the coffee table before me. My muscles settle, a soft smile covering my lips as I stare at my sleeping baby boy on the screen.
I lean forward to grab it but freeze instantly when something tightens around me. My head snaps down to find an arm wrapped around my middle.
Mason.
Chase.
Deaton…
The night comes rushing back, and I swiftly tug myself off the couch, glancing back just as his eyes open.
“Hey.” Chase eyes me warily, moving into a sitting position on the couch.
“Hey,” I breathe, meekly tucking my hair behind my ear as I glance away. My eyes fall to the bag sitting at the edge of the table. I drop my chin to my chest, guilt settling over me as heavy as always.
“What time is it?” he wonders, his voice groggy.
We both look to the clock on the back wall.
It’s just after three in the morning.
Chase swipes his hands down his face and scoots to the edge of the cushion, snagging his phone from the floor.
I bury my face in my hands. “God, Chase I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you to come like that. You just got back to school, and you have shit going on and—”
“No one forced me to come here, Payton.” When I look up at him, he continues. “I know what it’s like to have a lot of people who love you and still feel like you have no one to talk to.”
“You can talk to me if you want.”
His lips curl to one side. “I know.”
We stare at each other for a long, quiet moment before I finally speak.
“I never got to thank you.”
He tips his head. “For what?”
“For that night,” I whisper, tugging at the hem of my hoodie. “I was a disaster, and your best friends needed you, and you just…stayed with me, the whole time. You probably think I was too out of it to know, and most of it is foggy, but I remember you being there. So thank you.”
Chase gives an understanding smile, but that smile slowly fades, and he curses as he looks away. “Today is…or was…”
I nod, dropping my head back to look up at the speckled ceiling. “One year since he was taken.”
“That’s why Mason was here.” It’s not a question. Neither is what he says next. “And you didn’t call him tonight.”
My eyes sting, but I swallow the self-pity, undeserving of such a thing, and shake my head.
Another curse leaves him, and this time when he looks at me, there’s something deeper in his gaze. “I have to go.” He swallows, looking off. “I don’t want to, but I have to.”