Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Jesus.
Then there was the child television star looking at her as if she were his and he owned her. She wasn’t his. Was she? Had she done things with him? Had she finally kissed someone?
The wrench in my hand began to bite into my palm; I was gripping it so tightly. I wanted to hurl it through the wall. Roar like a goddamn animal because I wanted her. Me. I wanted Salem so bad that it consumed me.
But I had walked away. Only went to Mom’s twice a week at most, and Shana was always with me. It wasn’t fair to Shana, but she was my buffer. My insurance policy that I wouldn’t push Salem into the nearest closet and feast on her glossy pink lips.
What if he’d taken her virginity? Girls got attached and shit when guys did that. Was she like that with him now?
Rage became my pulse. I wasn’t going to be able to stand back and let this happen.
She’d wanted me. It was all over that gorgeous face. Those eyes had almost been my undoing. I guessed they still were. Because looking down at this photo, I knew I was going to get back what had been mine for the taking.
Shoving the phone back into my pocket, I dropped the towel in the dirty clothes hamper and barely glanced at Shana. “Can’t go tonight. I got some shit I need to handle.”
“What?” she asked in a higher-pitched voice than normal, which hinted that she was about to pitch a fit.
“You heard me,” I replied. “Go on so I can lock up.”
“Not until you tell me what shit you gotta handle. And what was that picture your mom sent you?”
I shook my head, stalking toward the inside of the repair shop from the garage. “Not your concern.”
“Was it that girl?!” she shouted. “I saw a hot-pink dress. I knew you liked her! But you swore that it was the other way around. You can’t keep from looking at her when we are at your mom’s. I see it, Rome!”
Stopping at the door, I knew I should feel guilty, but right now, I had so much fury and panic, thinking that I was too fucking late, churning inside me that there was no room for another emotion. “You’re right. I can’t. It’s best you go.”
“What?!” she shrieked. “You’re kidding me, right?”
Trying to find a shred of sympathy in my inner turmoil, I turned around. “You were a buffer. But I don’t need that anymore. We had a good time, yeah. Let’s leave it at that.”
Her face was a mix of disbelief and outrage. “Oh my God. Are you breaking up with me? She is sixteen. How many times did you tell me that when I mentioned her always staring longingly at you?”
I sighed, then nodded. “Yeah, she is. But it seems I’m gonna wait for the day she’s legal, and until then, I’m gonna keep the pricks away. Because she belongs to me.”
The tears glistening in Shana’s eyes meant more drama, and I didn’t have time for that. I had to get to that fucking prom and make sure Salem didn’t end the night in a hotel room. If she’d already fucked him, I might kill him.
13
Salem
Present Day
Doing my best to smile and pretend as if I wasn’t exhausted, I sat in our morning staff meeting and listened to Marlana’s ideas for summer exhibitions.
When I had finally gotten to sleep last night, it had been after two in the morning. Replaying Rome’s words, the looks he’d given me, and crying over…what I couldn’t put my finger on exactly. There were too many different emotions warring for first place. But perhaps the top spot was the hollowness that had come with the knowledge that Rome no longer cared if he hurt me.
Deep down, I’d carried his memories with me—what we’d had, how he had made me feel wanted all those years. I had felt guilty for needing that as a source of comfort when Eamon should have been my only place to seek that. I dealt with the weight of it when I let it surface by telling myself that Rome was my first love. That it was normal. If it could have stayed that way. My belief that the devastation Rome had caused me eighteen years ago was due to his pain over losing his mom no longer held any rank. He continued to make it clear just how little he felt for me.
“Okay, wait,” Banner said with his cup of coffee halfway to his mouth. “Did you just say, We love with our hearts and not with our parts?”
I glanced from him to Marlana, who was grinning and nodding her head.
“It’s brilliant, isn’t it?”
For the first time since last night, I felt like laughing. Not because I didn’t agree with her, but because it was funny.