Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 138775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
“I’m not your brother, and she isn’t your toy.”
If there were a trap door here, I’d gladly sink down into the basement. Anything to get away from this humiliation. From the disgust in Lucas’s voice. And from the feeling that I’d let him down. All the excitement I’d felt minutes ago was gone, replaced by shame.
Jayden moved behind me, and the cushion shifted as he got to his feet. Probably as disappointed with me as Lucas was.
I couldn’t look at any of them, while Lucas and Kyle continued to argue, but then fingers swept over my shoulder with a light touch. Jayden had his hand out, offering it to me.
In the dark, I couldn’t properly see his face, but the vibe I was getting from him wasn’t disgust. I took his hand, and he pulled me to my feet. He kept hold of me as he led me around the arguing stepbrothers and out into the kitchen.
I twisted around to look back, feeling immense guilt at the way they were still saying such hurtful things to each other.
Jayden grasped me by the shoulders and waited until I met his eyes. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Tori.”
His words almost made me cry. I didn’t believe them, but they were said with kindness. But still, the raised voices came from the other room. “I should go back in there,” I began, though it was the last thing I wanted to do. But they were fighting because of me. Because of my lapse in judgment.
Jayden kept hold of me. “This isn’t your fault.” He sighed, his gaze on the living room before he turned back to me. “Want to go lay on the hammock and look at the stars?”
His offer was an escape route—and it was also support.
“I really, really do.”
20
LUCAS
“Why are we here again?” I asked, standing at the back of the dark pub.
“Because they don’t card.” Jayden handed me three red darts. Likely he wanted me to throw them at the target, not take them back home and stab my stepbrother.
I took a few practice throws. I was a little rusty—but so were the stools lining the bar. “How’d you find this place?” He’d driven us twenty minutes away to Janson Falls, one of many small towns nestled in the hills.
“Tori’s friend Hailey told me about it. This is her hometown.” He took a drink of his beer. My soda was untouched on a table nearby.
I frowned. “When did you meet her?”
“One day when I gave Tori a ride home. They were hanging out while she waited for my class to finish.” I stepped aside as he took aim with a blue dart.
“And you just marched up to this woman you don’t know and demanded she tell you about a weird little pub in her hometown?”
“Basically, yes.” Jayden threw his darts, one after another, with a quick flick of his hand. “That’s what I do.”
That was valid. He was a collector of odd, out-of-the-way places. And it wasn’t bad here. It was Saturday afternoon, so it wasn’t crowded. Just kind of dark and empty. At least I didn’t have to worry about any scenes like the one last night.
Jayden plucked his darts from the board. “Not bad, if I do say so myself.”
“And, of course, you do.”
“We could talk about something else,” he said, stepping back. “Like, say, movie night.”
“No thanks.” I threw a dart harder than necessary, making it thud into the board. Jayden didn’t even look to see where it landed. He just stared me down. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Yes, you do.”
Shit. I didn’t—not really. But he knew me almost as well as I knew myself. This best friend thing was a double-edged sword. They could see right through you and call you out.
My next two throws were worse than the first, and I grumbled as I plucked them off the board. Jayden was still studying me as I returned to the throwing line. Finally, I exhaled sharply. “He needs to leave.”
Jayden didn’t miss a beat. “It’s his house, too.”
“That doesn’t mean he can do whatever he wants to people.”
“To her, you mean.”
“Yeah.” I watched as Jayden took aim. “He was harassing her.”
“No, he wasn’t,” Jayden said quietly. His dart landed cleanly in the triple ring, giving him twenty-four points.
Not that I cared about the score. “Are you blind? Did you see what he was doing?”
Jayden sighed. “Yes. But it wasn’t… unwelcome.”
My head swung around, but he was staring down, eyes focused on the red darts I kept transferring from hand to hand. “How can you say that?”
“Because I was there.”
“He uses people. Uses women. You know that.” Jayden was my best friend, and he knew how my whole world had come crashing down when Kyle had taken Natalie from me. He knew that better than anyone. “He’s a fucking predator. And I let him sleep in the room right next to hers.” As mad as I was at Kyle, I was also furious with myself.