Total pages in book: 150
Estimated words: 142818 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142818 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Swiss didn’t say anything more. He just stared at me for a beat longer, glared at Elden then stomped out of the room.
Mom looked at me helplessly. “He’ll come around, sweetheart.”
I rubbed my hands up and down my arms, giving her a weak smile. “You should probably go with him.”
Her lip was trapped between her teeth, obviously torn between going to make sure her husband didn’t burn anything down and comforting her pregnant, unwed daughter.
“Mom, I’m fine,” I lied. “Please go with him so he doesn’t do anything stupid.”
She nodded, blowing me a kiss before quickly chasing after her husband.
There was a very long, very loaded silence that followed.
“It’s official, I love it here!” Sariah cheered with glee.
I didn’t have the opportunity to respond to her or respond to anyone for that matter because Elden grabbed my arm and dragged me down the hall.
I didn’t fight him because I knew doing so would be pointless. He was mad. I expected him to be mad. I’d just stood in front of him and made a whole speech in front of him, a speech for him. For us.
So yes, I expected him to be pissed.
I did not expect him to slam the door to his room closed then sweep everything off his dresser to send it crashing to the ground.
I jumped, my back pressed against the door. I wasn’t scared, exactly. But it was unnerving, very unnerving to see him like that. Completely out of control.
“I told you to stay in this fucking room!” he roared, turning back to face me.
He was shaking. Literally shaking with rage. I’d never seen him like that. He’d never yelled at me. Not once. He’d gotten pissed. He’d done the growling and glowering thing. He’d manhandled me. But he’d never yelled like that. Never turned into the man standing in front of me.
“It was Sariah,” I said quietly, not moving from my spot against the door. “I knew it was Sariah.”
“You only knew it was her because you left this fucking room,” he spat out. He wasn’t yelling anymore. Or smashing things. But this was somehow worse.
“It was fine,” I argued with him.
Elden stood in the middle of the room, his hands fisted at his sides. “It was not fine, Violet. Because you stepped in front of a gun for me.” His voice shook.
“Swiss lowered the gun the second I stepped in front of it.”
That was not the right thing to say.
“My pregnant woman, instead of staying the fuck in this room like I told her to, instead of believing me when I said I was going to handle it, stepped in front of a gun.”
It was all too much. All of these men yelling, pointing weapons, smashing things, telling me what I could and couldn’t do. Thinking that protecting me meant taking away my agency, locking me in rooms.
“Yes, I stepped in front of a gun for you!” I screamed. “I stepped in front of a gun for you because you were calmly standing there, declaring your love for me like you were saying goodbye to me.” I stepped forward so I was right in his face. “I am not letting you say goodbye to me. I am not letting you take a bullet for me. I am not doing this alone.” I was screaming so loud now that my throat ached. “You are with me. I’m not a girl, I’m a woman. One who is not going to cower in a room while you might be in danger. I am not going to stand back and watch as someone waves a gun in front of your face. I am not an instrument in your story, that you save. I will save you. Whenever I need to, as much as I can so I do not have to live life alone.”
My chest was heaving at this point, and there were black spots dancing in my vision from how loud I was yelling. I didn’t feel at all like myself. I wasn’t myself. Screaming at people wasn’t really my thing.
But in for a penny, in for a pound.
“You want to smash things?” I asked, not registering that Elden was no longer scary broody, he was just plain broody
“Fine, we’ll both smash things!” I yelled, looking for something and focusing on the lamp, picking it up and throwing it across the room. Well, I tried to. It was still attached to the wall, so it landed on the bed disappointingly. So I pushed the nightstand itself over.
That crashed satisfyingly to the ground. Unfortunately, it took my coffee with it.
“There,” I declared, breathing heavily. “Now we’ve both smashed things.” I stepped forward, glaring at him. “Don’t ever yell at me like that again,” I whispered. My voice was much shakier than I intended it to be, and all broodiness left Elden’s face. But it was too late. “Don’t you ever think that because you’re angry you get to scream at me and smash things,” I added, tears streaming down my face. I wiped them away angrily.