Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 102708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Instead, her body was turned so that she could look at us both.
Truly placing her in the middle of us.
I was hurt.
Betrayed.
Seeing red.
After the initial shock wore off, I comprehended the severity of the situation. I was stuck with the sound of her voice. Kraven didn’t have to punch me back since the fact that she finally spoke did.
Her concerned stare flew to him as she pleaded, “Kraven, please…”
Now that made me stumble back.
It wasn’t my name out of her mouth that I heard first. It was my brother’s, and that was a slow death on its own. It cut deep into my flesh, right through my bones, and lodged itself into my heart.
That was when it hit me.
That was when I understood.
It wasn’t just his name. It was her first words that belonged to him.
I stepped away from both of them and took a deep breath.
This wasn’t a surrender. It was a refusal.
“Julius,” she whispered, knowing I figured it out.
Is this why her face is filled with guilt?
It wasn’t my brother doing something wrong.
It was her.
Is this why he said he’s going to show me how little I mean to her?
My glare slid to Kraven, who stood there frozen with blood on his lip and hands at his sides, shoulders squared but not defensive. He wasn’t gloating. He didn’t have to.
“It’s not what you think, Julius,” Isla coaxed.
Kraven simply added, “I already told him that, but maybe he’ll believe you, Kitty.”
I winced.
The nickname wasn’t a blade. It was a bullet, and my brother was holding the gun.
“It’s exactly what I think, but not because of him.” I pointed at Kraven and then gestured to her. “You spoke, and it wasn’t to me first. After all of these months, it takes my brother one day to get you to use words. What the fuck?”
“I… I… I…”
“You can’t even form a sentence for me?” I shook my head in pure disappointment, the room caving in on me. It just kept getting worse.
Tunneling my vision back to Kraven, I demanded, “How about next time you’re trigger-happy, you do it without her between us?”
With that, I stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind me, and jumped on my bike.
Isla ran after me, trying to stop me from backing out of the driveway.
“Julius, please…” she begged beside my bike, her voice trembling against the engine rumbling. “Please… just let me explain…”
God, I want to.
Every part of me wanted to listen to what she had to confess. However, I kept thinking Kraven might know it all already, and I couldn’t see straight with just imagining that, let alone it actually being true. I spent all these months being patient, thinking it’d be worth it, that it’d lead to something. Not wanting to force her, I needed it to come naturally from her. I’d hoped that, in the end, she’d turn to me, yet I was slapped in the face with it being the furthest thing from the truth.
He devoured what I was starving for and had her speaking in only twenty-four hours.
She trusted him in one fucking day.
I explained, “I can’t listen to you right now. If I do, I won’t hear a word you say. Just give me space.”
She frowned with tears in her eyes, gripping my arm. “But you’re my best friend.”
“Yeah…” I rasped with my bated breath.
“And that might be the problem.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
ISLA
I burst back into the house, roaring, “What the hell was that?”
Kraven was leaning against the sink, wiping the blood off his face.
“Bleeding over here and you’re riding my ass?”
I spat, “The only reason he hit you is because you baited him! What is up with you and baiting people to fight you?”
“Now I baited Justin?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Do you?”
“Ugh!” I exclaimed. “You’re impossible.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
“Enough!” I chimed in, my body tensing. “You had no right to treat him that way!”
“You don’t get to take sides when you don’t know both sides of the story, Kitty.”
“I know enough, and he sure as shit didn’t deserve any of that!” I jabbed my finger at him. “Especially from you!”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re so fucking lucky to have him!” I couldn’t stop the tears from forming in my eyes. “You have no idea how hard it is being on your own and not having anyone in this world give a shit about you! You have no idea what it’s like to have to fend for yourself! You are so damn lucky to have a big brother like him who cares about you so much that he’s willing to put all his own hopes and dreams aside for you to make yours! He’s only seventeen, and he treats you like you’re his son, you ungrateful asshole! You take everything he does for you for granted, and you don’t even realize how blessed you are to have him in your life!”