Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70106 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70106 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
“You don’t.”
“It’s not safe here.”
“It is.”
“It’s not!”
“It is.”
“It. Is. Not!” I shriek on a defiant foot stomp. “Do you have any fucking idea what happened tonight?!”
His head tilts sarcastically to one side. “You really think The Kid didn’t immediately call and tell me?”
Probably before he came over to the car for us to go home.
Or maybe while waiting for the cops?
Or…I don’t know.
He was out of my sight plenty, but this is the first time I’ve been out of his.
I probably should’ve just run then.
Off into the nearby woods and kept running until I found a lake to drown in.
“After what The Kid did tonight, how can you possibly think for even a fucking minute that this isn’t the safest place for you?”
“I-”
“How could you think for even a fucking second that there would be anywhere else in the world safer for you than in a home protected by the two men who willingly put people in the ground for trying to get near you?”
“I-”
“Fuck, Bunny, what more do we have to do to prove that we’re fucking here for you? What the fuck else do we have to do to prove that we’re loyal to you? That we lo-” The word isn’t finished; however, it doesn’t have to be. I know what it is. Hell, I can feel what it is. “You belong with us. End of story.”
“Not end of story…” My head rapidly shakes in denial. “This is not some fairytale bullshit where the handsome princes from a different town come in on flowing white horses and rescue me from the evil king trying to make me his bride. This is the real world, Nolan! Me staying here is the difference between life and death, not just for myself but for you! For Kipp! And I know you’d do anything and everything in this world to keep him safe!”
“I will.”
“Then that means letting me go!” Tears roll down my cheeks against my own volition. “That means letting me walk out that door and put as much distance as possible between all of us! That means forgetting my name! That you know me! That you ever fucking met me! That you-” It’s my turn not to let the word loose in the room. “You wanna keep The Kid alive? Forget. Me.”
Nolan casually gives his lips a slow lick during an even slower nod prior to proclaiming. “No.”
“No?”
“No.”
“What the fuck do you mean no?!!”
“I mean we waited a lifetime for you, Rabbit.” His shoulder shrug is clumsy. Uncertain. “At least that’s what it feels like. You got here, and fuck, I just…we just…felt it. And every moment you’ve been with us, our lives…they suddenly make sense in a way they never did before, in a way they never will again if you’re not with us. And you know what? I think you feel the exact same fucking way.”
My lips press together in a refusal to admit that to be true.
“I think that’s why you’ve really stayed. Because you don’t wanna be without us either. And that’s what really fucking scares you. Not some psycho ex asshole’s little lackeys that come sniffing a little too close or the bastard himself that you know we aren’t afraid to put down like the rabid dog that he is. No.” Nolan arrogantly shakes his head while stepping closer. “You, Bunny Abernathy, are afraid of staying fucking put and fighting because it means you give an actual fuck about someone besides yourself, which is scary shit you haven’t had to do in a really long ass time.”
All the air in my lungs seems to be stolen in a single sentence.
“You wanna leave? Fine.” His eyebrows bounce into the air. “Fucking. Leave.” The craning of his neck forward paralyzes me in place. “But grow a pair and stop lying about the why.”
All of a sudden, a door opening calls our attention over my shoulder to where Kipp is frantically panting. “Fuck! There you are!” He scrubs his face as if hoping to rub some sanity back into himself. “What the fuck is goin’ on?!”
“Good question, Kid.”
I cut my glare back to him.
“What the fuck is goin’ on, Bunny?” An unreadable expression plants itself in his face. “Are you comin’ or are you goin’?”
Chapter 20
Nolan
I can’t believe this is really fucking happening.
But it is.
And you know what?
I feel like I’m too old to be doing this shit.
Tossing the hinge pin over to Kipp prompts our runaway culprit to stop gnawing on the pen in her mouth to grump, “Is this really necessary?”
“Yes.”
“Seriously?”
“Still yes.”
“Okay, but I didn’t actually leave,” Rabbit poorly argues at the same time I carry my bedroom door to join the others that are stacked near the kitchen table.
“Only because Nolan fucking saw you first!” bellows The Kid.
Huh.
Didn’t know his voice could get that loud.
Or that fucking deep.