Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 95552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 478(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 478(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
I have no idea how much longer this can last. Being together, the two of us and nobody else. His presence is all I’ve craved ever since returning to school, and now I have it.
I don’t want to spoil it.
22
QUINTON
Finally, she’s asleep. So deep asleep, I’ve checked more than once to make sure she’s still breathing. Doctor Lauren wasn’t kidding when she warned those pills would knock her out.
Since I haven’t been able to get to the gym, I settle for a modified version of my workout routine here in the room. Push-ups, crunches, pushing myself until sweat rolls down my back and drips from my chin. Even my heavy breathing isn’t enough to make Aspen stir from her cocoon of blankets.
No matter how much sweat drips to the floor, there’s no calming the storm inside me. The questions, the rage. The concern overrides everything else.
She doesn’t need to know I visited with more than the doctor earlier before she took a pill and went to sleep. It’s not a betrayal, keeping things from her. Deciding what she needs to know.
Besides, she’s already aware of plenty. How everyone is still celebrating Mather’s death. Taking sadistic pleasure in knowing how he must have suffered. They’re sharks who smell blood in the water, and they’re circling. They know better than to fuck with Aspen. I checked in with Ren, who’s my eyes and ears as he goes about his normal routine while I hang back to take care of her. All it takes is a sharp look from him to remind them of the consequences should they attack her when she emerges from isolation.
What I’ve struggled with all morning and feel like I should warn her about is Nash. I hadn’t seen him since bringing Aspen to my room but knew he must have been celebrating with everyone else. We happened to cross paths as I was leaving the medical wing.
“There he is. Just the guy I’ve been wanting to touch base with.” He goes so far as to clap me on the shoulder like we just won the championship game or something like that.
“What’s going on?”
He bursts out laughing. “You’re kidding, right? This place has been like Christmas. Don’t tell me you’re not glad that rat bastard got what he deserved. Your family suffered worse than anybody.”
“Sometimes the wheel turns slowly, but it does eventually turn.”
“So the Rossi family is vindicated.” He cups his hands around his mouth and mimics the roar of a crowd before jamming them into his pockets. “Now, maybe the Valentine family can have that same peace. What’s left of them, that is.”
Instantly, my hackles rise, but if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s concealing my inner thoughts. “I didn’t know you were so close with them.”
“I’m not, but let’s face it. If it could happen to them, it could happen to anybody. If it’s not one threat, it’s another, right?”
“We should all keep that in the back of our minds. There’s always a new threat waiting to rear its head on the heels of the last one.” This is taking too long—besides, even without the knowledge of Aspen waiting for me, I wouldn’t want to go any further with this conversation. My father’s warning rings out in the back of my mind. Tread lightly.
“You see Aspen around here? I heard she basically locked herself in her room and won’t come out.”
What the fuck does he know…or think he knows? “She hasn’t been around much since we got back from break, so it’s not a surprise.” I lift a shoulder and try to remember how it felt when I genuinely didn’t care if she lived or died. “She’s doing us all a favor by hiding.”
“That’s a good point.” Before I can get away, he lifts his chin toward the doors leading to the medical wing. “Why were you visiting the doctor? You feeling okay?”
“Just a little under the weather. I hope it’s nothing contagious.” I cough into my fist, and he takes a backward step. “See you around.”
Now, with my shoulders and arms burning too much to support me through one more push-up, I roll onto my back and stare at the ceiling, my chest heaving. It isn’t the ceiling I see in front of me, though.
It’s Aspen, lying on that filthy floor, caked with blood and cum and barely alive. I did what had to be done for her sake.
Though I might have sentenced her to death if the connection is ever made between her and what happened to the Valentine family.
By the time I get up and head for the shower, she’s still sleeping soundly. It isn’t until I emerge from the bathroom that she begins to stir.
For a moment, all I can do is stand in the doorway and watch, overcome with feelings so deep they almost knock me off my feet. Who knew something as simple as watching someone wake up could be so compelling? She stretches and yawns, sighing softly, still stuck between sleep and awareness.