Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 160042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
After that, the man doesn’t get to make sounds, because Arsen doesn’t give him a break. He starts raining his fists down on him, and I’m so mesmerized by how fast he does it, how he keeps the man stuck to the wall with one hand while the other works nonstop to just annihilate my attacker, that I belatedly notice my husband didn’t come alone. Rad is here, too, and Peyton is wrapped around him in a hug in a corner. At which point I come out of my fog and slowly stand up.
What just happened? How are they both here? And God, if he doesn’t stop right now, Arsen is going to kill that man.
I think he probably already did because when Arsen started hitting him, I could hear the man making noises, even though they were mostly drowned out by his head hitting the wall and bone hitting bone, but now he’s completely silent. He’s also completely slumped over, his head is sagging like it was in the beginning, and his arms lie limply by his sides.
“Arsen,” Rad grunts from where he’s standing. “Stop.”
He doesn’t, though. It’s as if he didn’t hear Rad at all.
So Rad tries again, still holding on to Peyton, who’s gone all frozen, witnessing the brutal scene before us. “Arsen, fuck. Stop.”
Nothing.
Arsen doesn’t even slow down, so Rad thunders, “Listen to me, you’re gonna kill him and—”
“Arsen,” I call out then, my heart pounding in my chest. “Please. Just stop. Stop. Stop it, right now.”
I’m screaming by the end of it, my fists clenched at my sides, my body almost bent in half, but I don’t care. He needs to stop, or he’s going to jail. And he already did that once. He already went to prison for eight years for the woman he loved, and I’m not letting it happen again. Not for me. Not for anything.
I’m about to dash over to him, consequences be damned, when my voice finally gets through to him and he stops. His shoulders move up and down, his back swelling like waves with his heavy and thick breaths. After a long, tense moment, Arsen lets him go, and he falls to the floor with a thud. The sound echoes in my bones, and I can finally draw a full breath.
It immediately dissolves the moment Arsen turns around, his eyes homing in on me.
I was probably expecting to see anger. Danger and threats. And all of those things are there, of course. All of those emotions, along with a hundred others of the same variety, are lurking in his eyes, but what gets me is the fear. No, wait, it’s despair.
Yes, it’s fear mixed in with despair.
It’s subtle, and I don’t think anyone else has noticed it, but it punches me in the gut. I’ve seen it on him once before. Last night, in fact. When he talked about Annie. And I also know why it’s there now. It’s because he’s stuck in the past. His brain went back eight years to when the worst thing that could happen to a man happened to him. He lost the woman he loved because he couldn’t get to her in time.
He’s probably thinking the same thing right now. His dark, gorgeous eyes have grief in them because of me. Because I was so stupid. I didn’t think. I didn’t…
“What the fuck happened?” Rad asks, his voice angry, but I’m not looking at him right now.
I only have eyes for my husband. Who stands there, his breaths still wild, his frame so tight it looks brittle. Like anything could shatter it instantly.
“I… We…” Peyton struggles, but again, I can’t help her.
I can’t look away from Arsen. I can’t stop telling him with my eyes that I’m okay. He saved me. God, he saved me. Again.
“You tryna run?” Rad asks, his voice even gruffer than before. “That’s what this was?”
My eyes go wide, and I shake my head, my answer for Arsen. I promised him I wouldn’t run, and I didn’t. This wasn’t about that.
And Peyton confirms, “No! No, absolutely not. It’s… We w-weren’t running. We…”
“Then what the fuck were you doin’?”
Rad’s voice is the loudest here, and it makes Peyton squeak. Not me, though. I’m steadfast. I’m unafraid. My spine is made of steel so I can lend strength to the man who looks like he once again lost everything.
“I… It’s… fuck,” Peyton begins again, but to no avail.
“Listen to me, yeah?” Rad growls. “We just saved your fool asses. So you tell us what you were doin’ here or I’m really gonna fuckin’ hog-tie you and leave you in my room.”
“Fine, okay,” Peyton snaps. “First, it’s not Reverie’s fault. She didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to come here. I dragged her. It was me.”
“Why?”
“Because.” Another deep breath. “Because we don’t trust you, okay? We don’t fucking trust you. Can you blame us after everything?” I see her hand waving and snapping from the corner of my eye. “After how you forced me to fool my brother on the phone today. And while I don’t care about my family, because frankly they’re just like you guys, I do care about myself and my best friend. So we came here because we know your secret.”