Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 51713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 172(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 172(@300wpm)
They’re gone long enough that after an hour of uselessness, I get out of bed and make a hot cup of tea.
It feels better to wait in the kitchen. Lying under the covers and hiding has never been my thing. Maybe for a couple of days after Cill got arrested, but you can’t hide under the damn blankets forever. Eventually, the world finds you anyway.
Time slips by and I text Lydia. Her response is to call and the moment I answer she asks, “Want me to come over?”
“No, that’s okay. I’m just–”
“Waiting for two men who are nothing but trouble,” she half jokes, sleep evident in her voice.
“I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I wasn’t dreaming of anything special so I don’t mind,” she tells me. A sad smile graces my lips as I sit down at the table.
“How are you two?”
I chew my bottom lip at the word two. “We’re … kind of like old times, kind of like new,” I admit to her and pull out the chair at the table, debating on what I should tell her. “I want to spill everything, every last detail.
“Does he make you happy?” she asks.
“Yeah, happy but worried.”
“But happy?” she asks again and I let out a short laugh, pulling one knee into my chest balancing my foot on the edge of the chair.
“Yeah, he really does make me happy. He makes me feel like me.”
“It might take some time not to worry, you know?”
Swaying in my chair, I know she’s right. I hate time, though, it hasn’t been good to me.
“Yeah,” I agree with her and then ask, “Want to take my mind off of it? Or is one a.m. a little too late and you’d rather sleep.”
The sound of her rolling over in bed filters through the phone before she lets out an easy sigh, “I may have met a man,” she says and then hums. I’m grateful for her, for friendship, for her stories. I try not to think about the fact that I probably won’t see her very much once this is all said and done.
Instead I laugh along with her and decide I’m grateful phone calls exist.
It’s not long after that I hang up, thanking her and telling her to have sweet dreams of her dark-haired mystery man that I hear their bikes.
Breathing in deep, I down the last of the decaf tea and head to the sink to wash out the cup. I grew up to that sound, the rev of the engines. I know it so well, I can clearly hear two of them.
I don’t know what exactly is going on with the three of us, but I’m grateful both of them are coming home to me. Whatever it is we’re doing, I want it. I want both of them however I can have them.
Reed comes in first, holding the door open for Cill. Adrenaline pushes me to move to the threshold and fuck I wish I hadn’t. I’m paralyzed by the sight of Cillian. Tremors run up my spine.
He’s covered in blood. His shirt is stained.
“Oh my God,” I nearly fall to the floor, my trembling hands covering my mouth. “Hey, Hellcat,” he says. “It’s not mine,” he clarifies and although that’s fucking horrible in and of itself, the relief is immediate.
“Are you all right?” I ask and look over both of them, still standing in the threshold and too scared to move. Reed closes the door and I note there’s a bit of blood on him too that’s smeared across his shirt.
“We’re both fine.” Reed adds, “Promise.”
“What did you do?”
“We ended things here.”
Things. I know exactly what that means. It’s his uncle’s blood.
“Do we need to leave?”
Cill nods, catching my eyes as he pulls the shirt over his head. “We’ll pack up and move tonight.
“Tonight?” Surprise is evident in my rushed-out word.
Cill nods as if it’s not a big deal to pick up and move in the middle of the night. “We’re starting over. Just us, and Reed.”
It takes me a minute to process what he’s said, my head spins with all of this happening at once. “Reed too?”
“I think the three of us should keep doing what we are …” Cill says and lets his gaze drift down my body. “What do you think, Reed?” He looks over his shoulder at Reed, who’s stripping down to take off the bloodied clothes.
His muscles ripple as he does the same, looking me up and down like I’m some kind of meal for the two of them to enjoy together. He even licks his lower hip before nodding and saying, “I think that’s exactly what I want.”
My body flushes from head to toe. I can’t believe he just said that. I can’t believe that Cillian is standing in the middle of my kitchen with someone else’s blood on him, and talking about sharing me with his best friend.