Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 35946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 180(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 180(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
“If you leave,” she whispers, shaking her head as me. “If you leave, I’m never speaking to you again.”
I growl, my jaw grinding.
“This is what has to happen,” she says softly, squeezing my hand before she turns to Principal Kane and clears her throat.
“How long do I have at my place, Colton?”
His face darkness as he sucks his teeth.
“I can give you until tomorrow morning. After that, the board is going to get hardcore on this, Emily.”
He glances at me and shakes his head as we all stand.
“I’m really sorry about this, son,” he says quietly.
I don’t say a word as I turn and follow her out of the office. And then out of the building and into the parking lot. Outside, my dad and Celia rush over to me, and Celia starts to open her mouth as she turns to Emily, but I stop her cold.
“No,” I growl, shaking my head. “Whatever you’re going to say, fucking save it. This wasn’t her; it was me. I pursued her. I seduced her. I fucked up here, not her.”
Celia frowns. “Ethan, she’s your teach—”
“Sweetheart.”
My dad puts a hand on her arm, and when she glances at him, he shakes his head softly.
“But Tom!”
“Please,” I growl, my eyes searching hers. “Looks, she’s gone, okay? She’s leaving Winchester. What the fuck else would you want?”
Celia swallows, eyes darting between us. And slowly, she nods curtly as she glances at Emily.
“Good luck in the future, Ms. Hayes,” she says tightly, frowning, but saying nothing else.
Emily just nods, looking down. I glance past my dad at Jamison, who nods. He gets it.
“Hey, dad.”
He puts a hand on my dad’s shoulder and beckons with his head. My dad frowns for a second and then gets it.
“C’mon, sweetheart.”
He and Celia and Jamison turn and head out, leaving us alone.
“Emily—”
“Ethan,” she says quietly. “This…”
“You don’t have to go, Em—”
“Stop, Ethan!” she yells suddenly, turning with tears streaming down her cheeks. She storms across the parking lot to her car, but I follow her. And when she starts to open her car door, sobbing, I slam it shut with my hand and spin her around.
“Goddamnit, Emily,” I hiss, my eyes searching hers and my heart breaking as the tears roll down her cheeks. I reach out, wiping them away with my fingers, and she crumbles into me.
“Please, Ethan,” she whispers. “Please, if this meant anything to you, you have to let me—”
“You mean everything to me!” I roar, and she sobs.
“Don’t chase me. Don’t you dare leave school for me,” she hisses, her eyes narrowing at me as she pulls back and jabs my chest with a finger.
“Do what you should do. Paint, go to college, find someone who—”
“Christ, Emily, I don’t want—”
“Please, Ethan. For me. Because if this thing between us ends up wrecking your future, I’ll never forgive myself, and I’ll never forgive you.”
I blink, stunned. So, stunned that when she opens the door again, slides behind the wheel, and closes the door, I let it happen.
“I—I have to go pack, okay?” she whispers, tears coming down her cheeks again.
“Look, we’ll talk later, okay? We will. I just…” she shakes her head. “I need to go breathe and clear my head.” She smiles wryly. “And pack my shit.”
Our eyes meet, and I nod.
“Don’t you run off on me before I get there.”
She smiles sadly, and when I lean in through the open window and crush my lips to hers, she sobs into the kiss, clutching my face tightly like she never wants to let me go. But then we do, because I know she has to go. She pulls away and gives me a small wave as I just stand there like an asshole, watching her drive away.
Fuck.
I turn, and I’m heading back to where I’ve parked my bike, when I hear the sneering voice.
“Aww, don’t worry, trash. I’m sure that slut isn’t the only trash-whore who’ll fuck your sorry ass.”
A red mist comes over my eyes, and I’m turning, roaring, and charging before the little shit even knows what hits him. I catch Derrick full in the chest, knocking the wind out of him and the smirk off his face as I drive him right back into the side of a parked car. My fist sinks into his gut, doubling him over. Then it’s my elbow on his back, and my knee in his face, And then it’s just fury and blind, red, rage.
Every single beat-down I took from bigger kids at Lenox Hill. Every single holiday my mom and her drinking ruined. Every birthday I spent locked in a fucking reform school. Every fuck-up, every misstep, and mistake, and every regret comes pouring out on Derrick. But most of all, every voice inside me that knows Emily’s already gone.
He gets a few hits in, I’ll give him that, but the fight is over the second he opens his mouth. At some point, I’m aware of some people—Chief Halter, I think—pulling me away from him and slamming me to ground. There are cuffs on me, so, yeah, I guess it is the cops. And then I’m being dragged away.