Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 95008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Curt opened his mouth to answer, then snapped it shut again when someone knocked on our front door.
“Who the fuck is that?” I asked rhetorically as I turned and walked toward the door. “I’m not in the fuckin’ mood to—”
“I come in peace,” Charlie said as I opened the door, her face swollen and nose stuffed up from crying.
“Get in here,” I said, opening the door wider so she could move past me.
She looked in between me and Curtis. “No blood,” she said conversationally. “That’s good, at least.”
I looked over at my brother as he scoffed and realized my anger at him had cooled somewhat. I was still pissed at him, but the urge to beat him to a pulp was mostly gone.
“She won’t talk to me,” Charlie said, crossing her arms over her chest as she sniffled. “She’s so pissed I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d moved out by the time I got home.”
“She’s not gonna move out,” I replied. “You guys have fought before.”
“Not like this,” Charlie said, shaking her head as she bit the inside of her cheek. “Even when she’s mad, she usually argues. She doesn’t pretend that I don’t exist.”
“I’ll talk to her,” I said as Charlie dropped down onto the couch.
“I don’t think she’ll talk to you either,” she replied. “She’s completely shut down.”
“She’ll talk to me.”
“You don’t fucking understand,” Charlie snapped. “You don’t know how she gets. She got into an argument with her parents one time and didn’t talk to them for a month. Her parents.”
“Stay here,” I ordered. I was going to talk to Kara whether she wanted me to or not. I’d been fighting with my brother, and now Charlie was crying on my couch because Kara wouldn’t pull her head out of her ass. That stopped now.
As I stomped toward her apartment, something out of the corner of my eye made me pause. Officer Asshole’s cruiser was parked near the entrance of the parking lot. What the fuck was that guy’s deal?
Ignoring him, I kept moving. I’d deal with that shit later.
I knocked and reached for the doorknob, cursing when it turned easily and I could let myself in. Charlie had been too upset to lock the door behind her when she left.
“Kara,” I called, moving through the apartment.
“What are you doing here?” she asked as I reached her bedroom. Her door was open, but the lights were out and she was curled up under the covers facing the wall.
“Your door wasn’t locked,” I said.
“Oops,” she replied emotionlessly.
“You know better.”
“Are you here to bitch about leaving the door unlocked?”
“I’m here to ask why you never said a fuckin’ word about gettin’ fucked with,” I replied through my teeth. “You made it seem like Curt left your ass swingin’, but he didn’t even know that you were havin’ problems.”
“I wasn’t having problems,” she replied, still not turning to face me. “And you asked me what Curt said. You forced me to tell you when I asked you to let it go. So don’t act like I came crying to you about it. I didn’t.”
I was so frustrated by what she was saying and the tone of her voice that I wanted to rip her out of bed. What the hell had she gone through, and why the fuck was she still trying to hide it? It didn’t make any sense. Had we gotten nowhere over the past couple of days? Because it felt like we’d been slowly moving forward, but now it was back to the same purgatory I’d been in for the last nine months and I was so sick of it I could punch something.
I moved into the room and rounded the bed so I could see her face. She was backlit when I reached her and it took a moment for my eyes to adjust, but once I did, I just stared. Her voice may have been emotionless but her expression wasn’t. Her eyes were filled with a mixture of desperation and sadness.
“Baby, what the hell?”
“I just want to go to bed,” she replied, closing her eyes. “Go home.”
“I’m not goin’ home,” I replied, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “Not ’til you tell me what I’m missin’ here.”
Chapter 13
Kara
Leave. Just leave. Go. Go. Go. I whispered inside my head as Draco put his hand on my hip. I needed him to just leave me alone. I didn’t want to discuss anything. I didn’t want to rehash old wounds. I didn’t want to explain to him that I would’ve cut off my own arm before I went to anyone for help.
“What are you hidin’?” he asked softly. “It’s me. You can tell me anythin’.”
“I’m tired,” I answered robotically. “Lock the door on your way out.”
Brick by brick, I built a wall between us.
“Goddamn it, Kara,” he said in frustration, getting to his feet. He walked over and smacked the light switch, filling the room with light. “You don’t get to do this shit to me. Not after all I’ve gone through for you.”