Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 102929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Farther and farther, it flew out of our paths.
More confusion.
More questions and no answers.
Waiting.
Everything was intertwined, pushing and pulling in a game of tug-of-war.
I lay there on Julius’s bed with my eyes closed in a trance.
Stunned.
Angry.
Guilty.
It was as though I was having an out-of-body experience. I was there, but I wasn’t. I wanted to open my eyes, but I was afraid of what I’d see.
What I’d feel.
When I was already feeling everything.
Mistakes.
Regrets.
Memories we could never change.
I heard the front door slam. It was loud and chaotic. Full of anger and resentment. I knew it was Julius who left. I felt it. His presence, his heart, his soul, it was all gone.
My heart dropped.
My breathing hitched.
I was lost all over again.
Once I started crying into the pillow, I heard Kraven’s piano. He was playing for me, and my hand instinctively went to the wall. It vibrated into my skin, my fingers, my body. This time, it wasn’t just the music I felt deep in my bones.
No.
It was Kraven’s heart…
* * *
That was breaking for me, too.
Chapter
Forty-Two
Julius
My mind had been struggling with a decision, going back and forth an obscene number of times, trying to decide what was right or wrong. The thoughts consumed me until there was no doubt left inside me, knowing what would come of last night.
I had no peace of mind, blaming myself for what happened to Isla. I should have fought her more. I should have banned her from being around Melody. I should have threatened Melody to stay away from Isla. There were so many things I could have done, and still, it wouldn’t have made a damn bit of difference.
We’d always revisit this same spot, to this place and time when Isla and I weren’t seeing eye to eye. It was more than that. We’d been avoiding each other, or maybe it was me. I didn’t want to fight with her, so I threw myself into work. It kept me out of the house.
Maybe that was another problem. Maybe she was lonely, or perhaps she found something in Melody we’d never be able to understand. I still knew so little about her, but what I did know was all horrible. Isla was an orphan. It was only natural she’d feel some motherly connection to Melody. I should have been more understanding and tried to be more patient with her.
I didn’t, and now, she was hurting in ways I understood more than anything in this world. The aftermath of Hurricane Melody was usually filled with utter devastation for whoever was within a five-foot radius of her. She was pulling.
Catastrophic.
Tragic.
Isla never stood a chance.
At least it happened sooner rather than later. Although time never mattered when you believed in someone. They could hurt you in a day, just as they could hurt you in five years. The only difference was the memories acquired over that time.
I didn’t sleep a wink, and by the time I arrived at the house, it was around noon. Placing my hand on the doorknob, I halted before walking back into my broken home. Melody once again took the hammer, smashing it into a million pieces.
Call it intuition.
The air pressure was changing.
The calm before the storm.
Flipping on the light as I walked in, I threw my keys on the entry table, making my way into the kitchen. Within seconds, I saw Melody in our backyard. She was placing G.I. Joe figurines on the steps that led to the porch.
“I knew it,” I whispered to myself.
The gut feeling I had for years that she was the one behind the random shit we’d find in our backyard was true all along. This woman knew no bounds, no respect, no damn remorse.
I wasn’t sure if it was the smile on Melody’s face as she placed the toys around the backyard, or if it was remembering the heartbroken expression on Isla’s face when the clock struck midnight, but the little bit of restraint I had left broke right along with my last nerve and mercy for her.
With one foot in front of the other, I stormed out there. This caused her to lose her footing, stumbling back to remain upright from the impact of my looming presence.
She raised her hands in front of her in a surrendering gesture. “Julius, I’m so sorr—”
“This is how it’s going to go down,” I gritted through a clenched jaw, close to her face. Fueling the rage that lived deep in my core. “You’re going to listen to everything I have to say, whether you want to or not. I’m done playing your little games of when it’s convenient for you to keep your meaningless promises.”
“Julius—”
“I told you! I warned you to stay away from us, but you couldn’t listen, and you did what you wanted, like you always do, and now you have to deal with my wrath for what you put Isla through last night. Do you have any idea how much you hurt her? How much she believed in you? Trusted in what you had to say. How can you keep doing this to people you claim to care about? What the hell are you made of, Melody? Because I know you don’t have a heart.”