Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69610 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69610 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
“No.”
He stares straight ahead, and the moonlight allows us to hide nothing. My heart is beating erratically, and I take as many deep breaths as I can to try and calm it. I suffer from anxiety on the best of days, and a situation like this doesn’t help. At all.
“Caiden, I’m sorry, but I’ve made my choice.”
He laughs, cold and bitter. “This is another one of your weird attempts at perusing some ridiculous career. You’ve done it before, and we’re still here. You and I both know you’re not leaving me, Amalie, so we’ll have no more of this conversation.”
My cheeks get red, and my heart beats so wildly I can’t hear myself think.
There he goes again. Talking at me. Making decisions. Making me out to be the bad guy. Turning it around on me. Once again.
Not this time.
“I’m leaving.”
My words are final, my tone harder than it should be. I hate that, but I’m not backing down. He doesn’t own my life, and he doesn’t own me. I don’t want to hurt him, but I am doing this.
I’ve had enough.
“You’re not.”
Breathe, Amalie.
“I am.”
“No,” he roars suddenly, spinning around and facing me. “You’re fucking not! I haven’t wasted four years of my life on you for you to just leave. No. You’re being ridiculous and I won’t take it. Couples have rough patches, that’s all this is. We’re going to fix it. You’re going to stay around so we can fix it. I will not speak any more about it, Amalie. Do you understand me?”
Breathe.
Breathe.
Breathe.
“I’m sorry, but I have made my choice. I won’t discuss this any further with you, Caiden. Not until we arrive home. I’m trying to drive. We’ll be there in a few minutes and we can have a proper discussion.”
I should have waited until we arrived home. I realize that now. But I was hoping that as soon as we got home, I could pack my bags and leave. I didn’t want an argument that would last all night long. Because I knew that’s how it would end. Caiden doesn’t just accept things, at least in the car I have an escape as soon as we stop. When we’re at home, he’ll do anything to keep it dragging on.
Still, this probably wasn’t the best idea.
“Pull over then,” he demands. “You start this conversation and now you want me to wait? No. Pull over.”
“When we get home, we’ll—”
“I said pull over!” he bellows. “If you’re going to break up with me, you’re going to damn well look me in the eye instead of waiting until we get home.”
“Caiden, calm down,” I try to say, but he’s angry.
Really, really angry. And his temper is never good. He does stupid things when he loses it.
“I said,” he grinds out, hands shaking, “pull over!”
He reaches over, grabbing the steering wheel and pulling it. It isn’t much, but it’s enough. I turn for a split second to look at him out of pure shock, to try and stop him, and the car jerks to the side. We hit the dirt on the side of the highway and I panic, trying to correct it, but it only makes it worse. Caiden is yelling something, but I can’t focus. I try to correct the car again and hit the brakes at the same time.
It’s the worst mistake I ever make.
I lose control, and we flip.
The car launches, hits the side of the road, slips down the bank a little, and then we’re in the air and rolling. Over, and over, and over. For a moment, my vision blurs, my hearing stops, and all I can feel is my body being flung, my legs jerking, my arms flying around as we plummet down lower.
Then it stops. With a loud crash. Everything just stops.
My ears are ringing, my head is crushed against the window, and something warm is coating my face. Blood. I taste its metallic flavor in my mouth. Panic grips me, and I try to move, but my legs are trapped. The car is crushed.
“Caiden,” I croak, but I can’t hear myself speak.
Am I imagining that I am?
Why can’t I hear myself speak?
“Caiden,” I try again.
I try to turn my head, but I can’t; blood pours from one ear and pain unlike anything I’ve ever felt takes over, making me scream out in agony.
Only I can’t hear that, either.
I can’t hear a single thing in my nightmare.
And before I can cry out for help, my world starts spinning and it goes black.
Little do I know, it’ll stay that way.
-1-
NOW – AMALIE
They came out of nowhere.
I didn’t see them. I didn’t hear them. Of course, I didn’t hear them. But I didn’t sense them, either. One moment, I’m walking, heading back to the tour bus, then I’m being grabbed from behind and dragged into a dark alley.