Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 56885 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56885 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
“I won’t go into detail,” I mutter. “But life was terrible. It contaminated everything I ever did, everything I felt…”
She lowers her hand, bringing it to rest on my leg instead. Whenever we touch, there will always be passion shivering beneath the surface of every interaction, every word, whether spoken or texted. But this is something else—emotional, empathy, love.
Or the beginnings of love, at least, the start of a road that could lead there if we’re both reckless and don’t turn back before it’s too late.
“I always felt different from everyone else. I’d look at other people and wonder how they could live so easily, so effortlessly. Now that I’m older, I know that it was a mirage. Everybody is fighting their own battle. But when I was younger, I thought everybody except me had it figured out.”
She tightens her grip on my leg.
“Then I walked into that buffet room. I saw you… and everything changed.”
“Logan,” she whispers passionately. It’s like she’s torn between telling me to stop and telling me to never, ever dare stop.
“I saw you, and I felt, Hardcover. I felt… something. Full stop—and that was a miracle. You changed me. I didn’t plan on grabbing or kissing you, but the second our lips touched, it was like I was suddenly human. It was like the world suddenly made sense. But then it all came crashing down: the fact of what I was doing, the betrayal. I had to run. I had to pretend to try, anyway, even with myself.”
She blinks, her eyes glimmering, tears threatening.
“But I was only ever pretending,” I go on. “Deep down, I knew you were, and always would be, the person who had changed me. It was like I was sleepwalking through life before that kiss. Call me Sleeping Beauty if you want.”
When I wink at her, she laughs and sobs, a tangled noise of adorable confusion.
“I told myself it was just a kiss. As the years passed, I tried to reason with myself. Maybe this wasn’t me becoming normal. Maybe this was proof I was even more deranged than I thought. I tried not to think about it. But now, I can’t avoid it. Even if we’re forced to end this, I’ll never forget how it felt to finally feel alive.”
She wipes a tear from her cheek. “Logan,” she says, her voice trembling. “Oh, God. I want you so badly. But we can’t. Why is the world so unfair? I feel like we’re a match. I feel like we fit.”
“I can see us sitting in armchairs in front of a fire, the flames flickering, each with a battered copy of Wrath in our hands. We’d stop reading from time to time to discuss a particular passage or to bat a business idea back and forth.”
“That sounds beautiful,” she says, lowering her gaze. Her following words come out choked. “For another life, maybe.”
I sigh heavily. “Another life,” I repeat. “Let me take you home, Piper.”
It’s almost impossible not to hold her hand as we walk to my car. When I hold the door open for her, she laughs. “Is it Sleeping Beauty or Prince Charming?”
I grin, the sound of her laughter somehow pushing away all the pain. In the car, I try to convince myself we can find a way back from everything we shared today. We have to. For Elliot.
Outside the apartment building, I stop, looking across the street at a car parked on the corner.
“Is something wrong?” she asks.
“Let’s just sit here,” I mutter, glaring at the car, wondering. Did Sal send the car? Is somebody waiting for Elliot or Piper?
“Why?” She looks at the car. “You don’t think it’s them, do you?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to take the risk, not with you.”
“Is this about The Clam?” she asks.
I grind my teeth. “I don’t want you to be a part of this.”
“I already am a part of it if my brother’s involved, if my bo… if you’re involved.”
I turn to her. “You were going to say boyfriend.”
“Maybe,” she mutters. “I need to stop reading so many freaking books. It’s too easy to live in make-believe worlds.”
“I’d be prouder to be your boyfriend than I am being the CEO of Do It All.”
She rolls her eyes. “Ha, ha…”
“I’m not kidding,” I say.
“Look.” She gestures. “It’s just a food-delivery guy.”
I sigh when I see the delivery driver step from the car, putting my anxious energy at ease—for now.
“I want you to stay at a friend’s this evening,” I say.
“What happened, Logan?”
“Sal came by the office. I lost it. I put my hands on him. The little worm deserved it, and I’m almost certain he wouldn’t come after you. Why would he? But please, for me, stay with a friend. And remember, call me if anything happens. Whatever time it is.”
She sighs. “I could stay with Ruby… But I’m worried about you, too.”