Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 160041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
“You … you have some nerve showing up here, Foley,” she growls.
“I’m just passing through,” Atreus mumbles.
“Who was that fucker José that you brought into the room? Why didn’t you find him sooner?” Sunny’s dad barks.
“Justice doesn’t let anyone dictate how fast it should come,” Atreus responds. “It happens when it happens.”
“Well, then it should’ve happened sooner. You’re the one who kept her locked in a jail cell,” Kai growls. “Shame on you.”
“Guys, stop. It’s okay, I’m fine,” Sunny says. “Jail is nothing compared to the hell inside my brain.” Her laughter echoes through the halls, making everyone look at her like she’s lost her marbles.
But this is exactly the Sunny I fell in love with.
“If you’ll excuse me …” Atreus mumbles, as he waltzes past our families.
He throws one glance at us and quickly tosses his jacket over his shoulder as he nonchalantly tries to pass us, but both Sunny and him still catch each other’s gaze when they cross paths.
And from the way she looks at him, I can tell …
If I want this to work, her and me, I need to learn to share.
“Talk to him,” I whisper.
She nods, and gives me a final peck on the cheeks that means the world to me, before she follows him down the hallway. “Atreus, wait.”
He stops in his tracks and glances at her over his shoulders. “If you want to talk … you know where to find me.”
CHAPTER 48
Sunny
God, I didn’t know how much I could love my own goddamn shower after being away from home for so long.
I turn around under the water and watch the droplets roll down, but a soft click has me turning off the shower immediately.
Narrowing my eyes, I grab a towel and wrap it across my body, then step out and walk into my room. I don’t even have to turn around to know he’s here.
“Xavier … what are you doing here?”
He appears from the shadows, hiding behind my door. “How did you know I was here?”
“I knew I recognized that scent in the air somewhere … but your footsteps gave you away.”
He places his hands on my side and leans his chin on my shoulder. “I just wanted to come and see if you were okay.”
“I’m fine.”
“You wouldn’t tell a soul if you weren’t. That’s why you kill.”
I sigh.
Why does he always see through me so easily?
“Foley told you what they did to me,” I say.
My eyes lower to the floor, my own body suddenly feeling like it doesn’t belong to me, but his hands on my waist ground me.
I swallow. “I have more rage in me than I can contain.”
“I can handle it,” he says.
“I am not lovable material.”
“I will adore every part of your body,” he whispers.
My hands clench into balls. “I cannot ever have children.”
“It doesn’t matter to me. I have enough if I have you.”
Tears well up in my eyes. I don’t ever cry, but dammit … this just might make me. “How can you so easily look past that?”
“Because I’ve always loved you, nothing will ever change that.”
I bite my lip in agony.
“Your struggle, your pain … I do not ever want you to feel alone. I am right there with you, every step you take. No matter how far off the deep end you go, I will not abandon you. Ever.”
I turn around in his arms as the tear rolls down my cheek, and his thumb reaches up to wipe it away. “And if you feel hollow, take whatever parts you need from me to make yourself whole again so I can love the emptiness away.”
Fuck.
After everything I’ve done, everyone I’ve hurt, he still refuses to let me go. How could I not be head over heels for a boy like him?
I wrap my arms around him and hug him so tightly it feels like my heart might combust out of my chest.
“What did I do to deserve you?” I whisper.
I lean back and grab his face and kiss him harder than I ever have before, and it brings a smile to his face.
“This is all I’ll ever need,” he says. “And maybe your heel on my chest.”
I snort. “That’s my good boy.”
I kiss him again and tug at his bottom lip with my teeth, but then he groans out loud.
“I actually came here to ask something.”
I pull away and narrow my eyes. “What is it?”
“Please go talk to Orion.” He sighs. “He’s been moping around the Tartarus House for so long it’s starting to piss me off.”
I chuckle. “Why? Because of me?”
“He had a very hard time with losing you all of a sudden.”
I didn’t know it would bring him down that much.
“He’s always been gloomy, but when you got arrested, it’s almost like he went back to square one. Depression.”
I frown. “Did he try anything?”