Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 87961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
The room is empty, which I’m grateful for. Caleb is of course going to know about this. He’ll have to, because I’m staying in here tonight. I stagger back and slide down the wall as tears spill down my face. Shit. I should have kept my mouth shut. Why did I tell him? Because I’m an idiot, that’s why. I told him because a niggling gut instinct knew that it would freak him out, knew that it would force him to let me go. I guess the stupid bloody girl in me is feeling stung by the rejection.
I swipe angrily at the tears. I’m angry at myself, really. This isn’t his fault, I mean seriously, what kind of person gets kidnapped and then falls in love with the guy holding her? The kind of girl who was tortured and broken. A girl who evolved in order to survive, even if that meant becoming someone she no longer recognises.
I stay in Caleb’s room until the light starts to fade. I’m lying on his bed in the fetal position when he eventually comes in.
“I thought you might be in here,” he says quietly. “Jude was looking for you. Asked me to come check in here.”
But wouldn’t come and check himself, of course. “Here I am.” My voice sounds raspy and hollow.
He sits on the bed next to me. “What’s going on, Ria?” He strokes a strand of hair away from my face, tucking it behind my ear.
“I asked your brother to let me go,” I whisper.
His eyes narrow. “Huh, he didn’t mention that. How did that go?”
“It went the way it always goes when Jude doesn’t get his way. He grabs me by the throat and orders me into submission.” I pause. “Only this time it didn’t quite end like that.” I pick at a loose string on the blanket I have wrapped around me.
His eyes narrow, and I see concern fall over his face. “What do you mean?”
I look up and meet his dark eyes, so full of compassion, so unlike his brother’s. “I told him I love him, Caleb.” Even to my own ears I sound small and broken. Pathetic.
He inhales heavily before releasing a long breath. “And what did he say?” He’s not even surprised. How could he have seen it, and I not?
“He told me that I was right, and I should leave.”
“Goddamn it,” he mutters as he stands and turns away from me. “You’re not going to, though, right? It’s not safe.”
“Caleb, I am in love with Jude, a man who would kill me without a second thought if I pushed him.” I’m not sure that I actually believe that anymore, but I’m the one in love with said killer, so clearly my mind isn’t exactly in the best place to call judgement.
“He would never kill you, Ria. Trust me on that.”
“I don’t trust anything anymore,” I murmur.
Caleb stays with me. It’s not pretty. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced true heartbreak. My heart isn’t broken, it feels like it’s bleeding out, shattering inside my chest.
I press my palm to my chest as my body heaves with sobs. Caleb holds me against him, letting my tears soak through his shirt. He doesn’t say anything, there’s nothing to say. My own stupidity has brought me to this point. I thought that Jude was my absolution in this hell. I’m painfully aware of how ironic that is. We lay here in silence, my broken sobs the only sound in the room.
I cry until I’m all cried out. I will be out of here soon and this entire nightmare will be behind me. My life will never be the same, but at least I’m alive. I will survive. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and I, of all people, know that.
My eyes get heavy, and I fall asleep with Caleb’s arms around me. He may well be my only friend left in the world, and the thought of leaving him hurts just as much as leaving Jude.
I wake to the sound of low voices. “Just leave her alone,” Caleb whispers.
“She’s mine, Caleb. Remember that,” a low growl that is all Jude threatens.
Strong arms are holding me against a very solid chest. I squint an eye open, and am looking at the side of Jude’s neck as he takes easy strides down the hall. “What are you doing?” My voice is hoarse from crying.
He opens a door and then slams it shut behind him. “You’re not sleeping with my fucking brother.” I know him well enough to hear the barely restrained anger behind his calm words.
He lays me down on the bed, pulling the duvet over me. His scent engulfs me, a subtle combination of cigarettes and his cologne. The smell makes me feel safe, protected.
“I don’t want to stay with you,” I whisper groggily, sitting up. I watch as he pulls his shirt over his head, the dim light of the lamp playing over his tattoos.