Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
It’s nothing short of intoxicating. I have to battle myself to maintain control.
“Please?” he whispers.
Air escapes from my lungs like a slow leak as I gather my strength and shake my head. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
In fact, it’s a terrible one. I know how he affects me, and I can’t risk him ripping down the walls I’ve only managed to erect to keep him at bay.
“You really hurt me,” I admit.
Pain flickers across his expression as his voice drops. “I know, and I’m so fucking sorry. You were never to blame for any of it, and I should have realized it from the start. Instead, I took my anger out on you.”
“You used me. I was nothing more than an instrument for your revenge.”
His eyes widen. “That’s not true. My feelings…they were always there, simmering beneath the surface. Maybe they got a little twisted up, but they never changed.”
I shake my head, unwilling to let his heartfelt words cloud my better judgment. I allowed that to happen before, and I’ll be damned if I fall into the same neatly laid trap a second time. I conjure up a mental image of him and Aubrey together in the study and hold onto it for dear life.
“I saw you.”
His brow furrows as I steer our convo in a different direction. “I don’t understand. What did you see?”
I straighten to my full height and inch my chin higher. “The morning I left the beach house with Duke, I saw you and Aubrey together in the study.” No matter how much I wish it were possible to turn off my feelings for this boy, I can’t.
I still care about him.
He was my first.
For so many things.
Those memories aren’t as easily evicted from my brain as he’s been from my life.
Before I can blink, his fingers lock around my upper arms to hold me firmly in place.
His forehead furrows as his voice dips. “Wait a minute. You saw that?”
His lack of a denial steals my breath away as pain slices through my heart. The boy standing before me has so much power to wound me. I hate it but can’t imagine a day when that’s no longer true.
Understanding dawns across his expression. “That’s why you left with Duke.”
It’s not a question.
“Yes.”
He blows out a steady breath. “I don’t give a shit about Aubrey.”
A mirthless laugh falls from my lips as my eyes widen. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
He shakes his head as frustration flickers in his eyes. “That’s not what I meant. Aubrey mentioned something on the beach the night before you left and I couldn’t get it out of my head. I wanted to get her talking, so I pretended…”
“To be interested,” I finish for him.
“Yeah,” he admits with a sigh. “She told me everything Jasper did, from digging through my records to drugging you at the party and taking pictures.” A hard glint sparks in his eyes. “I made damn sure she went to the police when we returned to Hawthorne. I don’t give a shit that he outed me, but drugging you?” His jaw clenches and a muscle in his cheek tics a mad rhythm. “There was no way he was going to get away with it. I’m just sorry I didn’t listen to you from the beginning. I should have trusted you.”
I can only stare as I process everything that he’s telling me. The shitty things that Jasper did have now been exposed.
Aubrey admitted to it all.
“It’s why she shoved you on the boat,” he adds as my brain continues to spin. “I guess you were asking too many questions.”
My lips purse as I attempt to tease more memories of that night to the surface, but, for the most part, they remain elusive.
She probably didn’t realize I couldn’t swim, but still…
I could have died.
What a psycho bitch.
“Thank you. Without you getting to the bottom of the truth, we still wouldn’t know what happened.”
He takes a hesitant step. “Aubrey said that Jasper only took photographs. She was there the entire time.”
The fact that I was passed out and don’t remember if I was violated takes the situation to an entirely new level.
I don’t understand how Aubrey could do that to me.
Or anyone.
How could she go along blindly with Jasper’s plan?
It’s so messed up.
“Delilah?”
I blink back to the present and the boy standing in front of me. “Yeah?”
Uncertainty flickers in his green depths. He’s so close that it would be impossible to miss the various shades of green and gold that dance within his irises.
“Is there any way you can forgive me?”
The question rolls around in my head for a few silent moments. In the past, I’ve never been one to hold a grudge. I’ve always found it to be a waste of energy. What I want most is to move forward in peace and get through the remainder of senior year before leaving Hawthorne.