Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 108709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
“Go to sleep, Riley. This is the only rest you’ll get for a while.”
“It’s Aria now,” she whispers, having no connection to her real identity, and despite not trusting me one bit, her exhaustion is too much. The second she tips her head back against the tree and curls up against it, a deep sleep claims her.
I sit in solitude, listening to the subtle sounds of the creatures around me. There’s an owl in the distance. Crickets chirping. And maybe a coyote or two. But they don’t concern me. My only thoughts are for the sleeping woman beside me.
There was a part of me that feared never seeing her again, and just knowing that she is here with me is comforting. She was my foster sister for so long. I was only seven when she came to us, and I claimed her as my own the moment I laid eyes on her. I knew she had to be protected, that there was something so innocently beautiful about her, and I wasn’t going to let that light fade from her eyes. She fell in so easily with my brother and me, but now, I have no idea what that dynamic is. Just because she’s my menace doesn’t mean she’s Riley Maddox anymore. This woman beside me is Aria Ashford, and she’s different. She’s a perfect stranger who wears Riley’s face, and that’s not something I’m going to get used to easily.
Though some things never change, and there’s no denying that Aria comes fully equipped with Riley’s fierce attitude. And being on the run with a woman who is that headstrong is going to be one hell of a challenge.
Reaching into my pocket, I pull out the small Polaroid photo I’d taken of her all those years ago and rub my thumb across the shiny paper, right where she’d marked it with her name at the bottom: Menace.
She was so innocent back then. We all were. It was a time long before the real world caught up to us. I was seventeen and had given her the stupid camera for her birthday and insisted she needed a photo of herself. She’d never had one before, and that photo has lived with me ever since. Even in the face of escaping the prison, I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving it behind.
As for the other Polaroids in my pocket—the rest of my kill list—I fully intend to make my way through them. Whether they know it or not, each one of them is directly responsible for the innocence that faded from Riley’s eyes. They’re the reason I was there that night—the reason I’ve spent the last seven years becoming unstoppable.
15
ARIA
Birds chirp high in the trees above as the morning sunrise hits my overtired eyes, forcing me awake. I cringe into the fresh brightness of the day, my body aching in a million different ways. The ground is cold and unforgiving beneath my body, but there’s a strong, warm arm wrapped around my waist. It takes too long for me to realize that my cheek is pressed against Stone’s ginormous chest.
What the ever-loving fuck? I must have scooted my ass over here in my sleep while searching for a source of heat. Either way, cuddling the oversized mass murderer? Probably not my finest moment. Though there’s no denying how good it feels. His whole arm circles my body, and right here, like this, I feel as though nothing could ever touch me. Buuuut, on the other hand, he’s a mega asshole with an attitude problem, and considering the sun is now in the sky and we were only supposed to rest here for a few hours, I think it’s fair to say we’ve overstayed our welcome against these particular trees. So I’m going to go ahead and cut this shit short.
Shoving my hand into his chest, I use his body as leverage to help scrape my ass off the dirty ground, sitting up as my face twists with a yawn. “Wake up, asshole,” I grunt, wiping a hand down my face. I feel as though I’ve been run over by a truck, and he has the nerve to look comfortable. “It’s morning. We overslept.”
Stone groans and reaches for me, attempting to pull me down against him, then his eyes spring open, suddenly remembering where the hell we are. “Fuck,” he spits, flying up off the ground in one swift movement, making me wonder if it was even his intention to sleep. Maybe he meant to just sit for a while but succumbed to yesterday’s exhaustion. “We’ve gotta get moving.”
“Geez, not even a good morning. How’d you sleep?”
“You slept like shit and used me as a human radiator. Now, get moving.”
I stare up at him, my lips twisting in annoyance. “You’ve never had girlfriends before, have you?”