Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 116268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
“We’re one question in and this is already being derailed,” he says, “and yes, I did. Back to that same night—”
“Hallow Friends Eve,” Lily clarifies.
“Such a cute name,” her little sister Daisy smiles.
“You’re only saying that because your daughter coined it,” Rose rebuts.
Daisy mock gasps.
Connor ignores the sisters, and he asks me point-blank, “Why did you have bite marks?”
My mom’s eyes dart to Jane. I start shaking my head. No. She can’t actually believe that Jane is the one who bit me. Aunt Daisy eyes us both. So does Aunt Rose.
I blink slowly like my world is starting to spin, and I’m gripping hard to hang on.
My dad’s jaw sharpens with each passing beat. New uncomfortable tension vacuums the air from the cabin. I sense the shift again.
I sense the unease.
I crack my knuckles, my back achingly straight. “How much do you guys not believe us?” Pressure packs on my chest. “You’re not just asking these questions for publicists. You’re asking for yourselves, aren’t you?”
Jane’s hand returns to mine, and our fingers intertwine. They’re all watching with suspicion.
It knives my ribcage.
“Before we make a decision, we need to hear your side of things,” my dad tells me.
I disentangle my fingers from Jane. Not able to sit any longer, I stand as tall as my dad. Glowering. “You honestly believe I could be having sex with Jane?”
“I don’t know what to think, Moffy.” His eyes flash hot. “It’s incest, for Christ’s sake. That’s not something you’d come to me and talk about!”
“I’m your son.” I motion angrily at him. “You know me. You know me better than most people ever will. How could you even think…” My words stick to the back of my raw throat. He doesn’t even look sympathetic.
He’s still on guard like I’m straight up lying to his face.
I want to scream at the top of my goddamn lungs, I’m not fucking Jane! But I can’t even unleash the words. The wind is knocked out of my chest. Stunned in the face of their doubt.
Jane’s mom takes over. “When I was your age, I thought I knew my sister, but for years Lily hid her sex addiction from me,” Rose tells me. “She was lying. She was sneaking around. I missed every sign.” I hear the guilt in her voice. She wishes she’d been there for my mom earlier.
And she thinks I’m lying like my mom.
Fuck. I run my hands through my hair and growl, “I’m not an addict. We’re not lying!” But their experiences shaped them.
They’ve shaped us. And how many times did my parents tell Rose, Connor, Ryke, and Daisy, we’re not lying. How many times were they caught in one?
Goddammit.
“We’re not lying,” Jane says more clearly, less hostile. “I promise, we’re not.”
I nod over and over and fucking over.
“It’s fucking incest, Mof,” Ryke says, his rough voice strained. “Like your dad says, it’s not something you’re going to willingly admit.”
“So then what?” I question. “You want to catch us in a lie until we’re forced to admit it? Is that the goal here?”
They don’t say anything.
“Jesus,” I murmur.
“Here…” My mom gets up, watery eyes. “Have some trail mix.”
I glare. “I don’t want your trail mix, Mom.” Instantly, I feel like an asshole. I don’t think I’ve ever snapped at my mom in my life. She sinks back onto the trunk, her chin quivering. She sniffs and tries to raise her chin.
“I’ll take some trail mix, love.” My dad snatches her bag.
“Dad,” Jane says, her voice soft and wary. “We are telling the truth.”
Connor barely blinks. “I have to stick with the facts.” He pauses. “And I want you two to realize the health risks if—”
“Stop.” Rose covers his mouth with her hand.
My mom bursts into tears. Aunt Daisy wipes her eyes with the edge of her shirt.
“Fucking A, Cobalt,” Ryke growls.
My dad looks sick.
“We’re not having sex!” I yell, veins almost protruding in my neck. I set my hands on my head, breathing hard. Farrow.
I almost turn to my right. Expecting him to be there. He’s always next to me, but he’s outside the closed door. Listening to my frustration and fury.
Ryke points to me. “Explain the fucking bite marks.”
“It wasn’t me,” Jane says, still sitting, but confidence and power boosts her words. The truth.
It’s the goddamn truth.
“Then who the fuck was it?” Ryke asks me.
Shit.
Shit.
Shit.
Jane, Farrow, and I already talked about the secret. The real one. Where I’m sleeping with my bodyguard. Jane said, “I’m not going to be the reason you two go public.”
She was adamant that we not expose our secret to the world. She’s intelligent and calculated and she told me, “There’s no certainty the media will even believe you and Farrow were dating. They’ll most likely say it’s a ploy to hide our supposed love affair. The timing is suspicious. And then what, Moffy? Farrow loses his job and his privacy. You get a new bodyguard. And everyone will still believe we’re having sex.”