Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
All that forbidding beauty clashed against the blinding light that emanated from within him.
“I mean, with all the wicked things I plan on doing to you, Finn is going to need his own room.”
It was nothing but an impish growl.
“Is that so?” I tried to play along like I wasn’t completely affected—like joy wasn’t screaming out from the depths of me—but the words were shaky.
“Oh, it is very so,” he grated quietly as he burrowed his face in the side of my neck. “What do you say, Little Liar? Move in with me? After we spend Christmas here with Finn?”
Pulling back, he tucked a lock of hair behind my ear, his perception and care so thick. “Want him to experience it here first since he already has his tree, and I know he’s had to move around so much.” He paused, then urged, “What do you think?”
What did I think?
I thought I was hopelessly in love with this man.
I stared up at him through the babbling shadows of the room.
The man written in menace and peril.
Dangerous.
My perfect peace.
The horizon I could finally reach.
And I repeated what my son had told him earlier.
“I say yes.”
FORTY-EIGHT
PIPER
NINETEEN YEARS OLD
“This is it. Pull over right here,” Justin said.
Confusion wound through Piper as she pulled to the curb in front of the enormous house. The silence was thick in the upscale neighborhood, and she squinted as she peered through the driver’s side window at the front of the home that was completely still.
The windows were blackened, the only light the faint rain of the moon and the glow of the city lights that forever crowned the city.
Her brow pinched, and unease twisted in her belly. “What are we doing here? I thought we were going to a party?”
“We just need to make a pit stop really quick.” Justin gave her one of his cocky grins as he said it. The one that told her she didn’t have to worry about anything.
Except she couldn’t hang onto that sense right then.
She hadn’t been able to in the last few weeks.
She’d become more and more certain that she’d bitten off more than she could chew.
More than she wanted to chew.
Along the way, she’d realized Justin didn’t just look bad.
He was bad.
Involved in sketchy things that she didn’t want any part of.
But when she tried to dodge his texts, he showed up at her door and told her he had big plans for her farewell.
She’d tried to divert and toss out excuses about why she couldn’t see him again, but he’d made her feel…
She tried to process what it had been.
Scared, she guessed.
Intimidated.
So, she’d cowered. Given into the demand that he’d made with a grin.
She was only in town for another week, the summer almost gone, so she tried to convince herself it wasn’t worth the effort of arguing.
She’d go out with him.
Tell him how much fun it’d been.
Kiss him goodbye and never see him again.
But now, she regretted that decision.
Disquiet buzzed through her consciousness as she peered at the sleeping house.
“What are we doing?” It left her thin and raspy.
“Need you to go up to the front door, ring the doorbell, and ask for directions.”
A frown pulled tight as she shifted to look at Justin from where she sat in the driver’s seat of her mother’s car. “Directions? Directions to where?”
“The nearest gas station.”
“Can’t you look it up on your phone?”
Justin huffed in annoyance. “Can you just do what I tell you for once?”
What an asshole.
She went to tell him no. That she was absolutely not going to be a part of whatever he was up to, but he reached out and snatched her wrist.
Hard.
He yanked her in his direction, nearly pulling her over the console.
A gasp tore out of her, and her eyes blew wide as she stared at the viciousness in his.
How hadn’t she recognized it before?
Or maybe she had, and she’d just ignored it.
The only thing she knew was there was no neglecting it right then.
She could feel it.
Taste it.
Cruelty.
Fear crawled across her skin. Pinpricks of creeping terror.
“You’re hurting me.” It was a bare scrape that she forced through the thickness of her throat. She tried to tug her arm free.
“Then fuckin’ listen, and I won’t have to.”
Her heart pounded so hard she could feel it in her ears. “What are we—”
“Get out of the car, cross the yard, and ring the doorbell. Ask for directions. It’s that simple,” he gritted.
Her nod was frantic, and he released her arm, basically shoving her back when he did. She fumbled for the door handle, and her hand was shaking so badly, she could barely get it to cooperate.
She finally unlatched it and opened the door to the summer city night. The sound of cars echoed in the distance, but an oppressive quiet filled the posh neighborhood.
Piper stumbled up the walkway to the front door. Two lights hanging on either side of the door spilled light overhead, making her feel like she was in a spotlight.