Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
The lines across his forehead made another appearance.
“And it was just a bunch of other stuff that compounded over the years. His mom is the Antichrist, and he was a momma’s boy. She hated me with a passion unless I could do something for her or him. We just ended up growing into totally different people who wanted totally different things… and now that I think about it, I guess it really isn’t that complicated. I guess I just wanted someone to be my best friend, someone good and honest who doesn’t make me second-guess being important. And he would never give up his job or even try and compromise.” I felt like it was always me that had to give and give and give, while he took and took and took.
I made a farting sound with my lips and shrugged at Rhodes. “I guess I am a little clingy.”
His gray eyes roamed my face, and after a moment, he raised his eyebrows and dropped them back down with a shake of his head.
“What?” I asked.
He snickered. “He sounds like a fucking moron.”
I smiled faintly. “I like to think so, but I’m sure there are some people who would think he was too good for me.”
“Doubt it.”
That got me to full-on smile at him. “I used to want him to regret the end of our relationship for the rest of his life, but you know what? I just don’t care anymore, and that makes me pretty damn happy.”
It was him that touched my arm that time. His thumb a two hundred degree point on my wrist. The gray pools of his eyes this close were deep and hypnotizing. Rhodes was so handsome in that moment—so much more than usual—all partially scowling and so focused on me, it was easy to forget we weren’t in the middle of the woods, just the two of us alone. “He was an idiot. Only somebody that’s never talked to you or seen you, would think you were the lucky one.” Rhodes’s gaze flicked to my mouth, and he let out a soft sigh through his nose, his words a hoarse whisper. “Nobody in their right mind would let you walk away from them. Not once and no way in hell twice, angel.”
My heart.
My limbs went numb.
We looked at one another for so long, the only thing I could hear was our steady breaths. But eventually, with this loaded moment strung so tightly between us, he looked away first. Mouth parted, eyes going to the top of the tent before he picked up the tablet and tapped the screen all while clearing his throat. “Ready to watch the movie?”
No, no, I wasn’t, but somehow I managed to say, “Yes.”
And that was what we did.
Chapter 21
I scrubbed my hand over the back of my neck as I filled the last of my water bottles. Through the window overlooking the sink, the sun was barely beginning to peek out. If I’d had just about any other plans, I would have still been in the tent from last night.
Only my mom could get me to roll out of bed this early. I’d had a dream about her the night before. It wasn’t that I could remember what had happened in it, because I couldn’t, but there was a certain feel to my dreams when she was in them. I woke up happier. The happiness usually tapered into sadness, but not the bad kind.
I figured the dream had to be some kind of omen for the hike I was doing today.
I was here because of her, after all.
But, some part of me couldn’t help but wish that I’d stayed in the tent last night with Rhodes.
Lying on the sleeping bags, me in my pajamas, and basically lined up along that incredible body, we had watched one movie and started another. The night had been quiet and comfortable, with only the slight sounds of the occasional car driving down the county road, interrupting the voices of the actors coming from the tablet.
Honestly, it had been the most romantic night of my life.
Not that Rhodes had known that.
And as we’d rolled up the sleeping bags and torn down the tent, he had asked me what I was taking with me to do the hike I was going to knock out today. Rhodes had given me some quiet warnings, and sitting in the camp chairs afterward, we’d checked the weather on his phone.
And that was exactly why I’d drug myself out of bed at five thirty in the morning. I needed to get an early start. This might be my last shot at doing the Hike From Hell, unless I wanted to wait until next year. Snow was going to be hitting the highest peaks soon.
And I probably would have waited, but… I needed to do it.