Total pages in book: 184
Estimated words: 176002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 880(@200wpm)___ 704(@250wpm)___ 587(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 176002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 880(@200wpm)___ 704(@250wpm)___ 587(@300wpm)
They likely all know the story by now anyway.
It brings so much back to me from days of old. I remember all the bitchy whispers and rumours from high school. People sniping that I was this or that. Weirdo with no friends. Stupid bitch. It used to hurt, walking into a room and knowing people were laughing about me, sneering about me, talking about me like I was worthless.
I’m never going back to that part of me. Not for anything.
“You alright?” Josh asks.
“Yeah,” I tell him. “I’m fine.”
“You sure?”
I nod, and smile up at him. “Yeah, I am. And thank you. I don’t know what I’d have done without you here. Probably run in the opposite direction. At least they won’t be bothering me when I come back.”
His eyes are still so fierce, but so protective.
“No, they won’t be bothering you again,” he says. “Because you won’t be coming back here again. It’s not just those little dipshits that will be keen to jibe at you.”
I take a look at all the windows around us. All the people out to sneer and gossip.
“We’ll pack your stuff up right now,” Josh says. “Everything. Let’s get you the hell out of this dump for good.”
He turns towards the house, but I pull him back and wrap my arms around his neck and press myself up against him, kissing him with burning heat, right here on the pavement.
Have some of that, curtain twitchers.
“Thank you,” I say when I break the kiss, my nose still pressed to his. “You’re quite a boyfriend, you know that?”
“No need for thanks, and I’d do it regardless, boyfriend or not. Nobody will ever hurt you when I’m around. That’s a promise.”
I get my keys out of my handbag, shaking at the realisation that this will be my last time in this place. I climb the cracked steps, and turn the key in the shitty lock, and lead Josh upstairs to the room that used to be my world, my new boyfriend at my side, instead of the old one who didn’t give a shit about me when it truly came down to it.
I grab my suitcases, and overnight bags, and a couple of holdalls I’d stuffed away when I moved here, and we bundle up my possessions. Clothes, makeup, bedding, shoes. Old mementos and my tattered old journals, taking it a drawer at a time.
It’s so weird to see the room changing, my old life being packed away.
“Is that everything?” Josh asks when we’re done, and I give the room one final check over.
“Yeah, all finished.”
We stand amidst my belongings, cases piled on cases, and Josh calls us a cab.
There are even more curtain twitchers staring down on us as we load my things into the car. I have tears welling as I see how carefully he treats my belongings, not breaking a sweat or rushing.
I’m all set to jump into the back seat of the taxi and speed away, but something holds me back. A pull I can’t ignore.
“Can I take one minute to say goodbye to this place?”
“Of course.” Josh says. “Take as many minutes as you need.”
Ok. One last time for me.
I walk back into the house and upstairs on trembling legs, surprisingly emotional as I reach my old bedroom door. I step into the room, empty and bare, so similar to how it was when we arrived here. I remember Connor’s cheer at the fact we were here in the city, and the vigour in how he slung his suitcase on the floor, spinning around like we were in a mansion, not a dive.
I can see the smile on his face. I remember the joy I felt at seeing his. The belief, the hope, the excitement.
And now it’s all over. The dreams that morphed into nightmares.
It’s me alone, saying goodbye to this place, no more Connor at my side, and I never want to see him again. Not for the rest of my life. The very thought gives me shudders.
Good fucking riddance.
Josh is waiting for me with a smile on his face as I get downstairs and finally shut the door behind me. He’s watching me as I post my keys back through the letterbox.
He wraps an arm around my shoulders before we get in the cab together.
“You ready?” he asks.
“Sure am.”
“Time to go home,” he says. “Belgravia, here we come.”
I’m still staring at the old house through the rear window as we drive away, but my hand is in Josh’s.
My heart belongs to him now, even if his dick is going to belong to someone else tonight.
Chapter Eleven
“How are you feeling about things now?” Tiff asks me as we reach the courtyard, on our way to grab some food from the pizza house on the corner. “Come on, you know what I’m talking about. Right here, right now. How are you handling it?”