Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 84072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“You can do one more,” I challenge.
Wren laughs. “If I do one more right now, you’ll have to hold my hair back while I puke all over your bathroom.”
“We’ll wait a few minutes then.” I scoot up on the bed, so I sit next to her, both of our backs leaning against the headboard.
The vodka has left a warmth in my stomach and a fuzzy feeling in my chest. I close my eyes to enjoy my buzz for a minute while thinking about how to start the conversation we’re about to have.
Before I can muster up the strength to talk, Wren beats me to it with her own question. “Tell me something about you nobody knows.”
I open my eyes and turn to look at her. “You want to know my secrets?”
“I’ll be satisfied with just one.” She smiles at me.
I have to think about it for a moment. I’m torn between telling her some bullshit story or something real. Considering what I’m about to ask her, I know I need to be honest with her.
“When I was ten, I got obsessed with Rubix’s Cubes. I wanted one so bad. I bugged my parents until they bought me one. When I finally had it, it was so much harder than I thought. I got angry and smashed it into pieces.”
“Omg, that sounds so much like you!”
“Well, my mom wasn’t having it. She bought me a second Rubix’s Cube and told me to not give up on it. She said giving up is never the answer. If I want to do something, I should just do it. So I kept working on it until I could solve it behind my back.”
“Wait, you can solve a Rubix’s Cube behind your back?” Wren asks excitingly.
“I can,” I answer proudly. “Only takes me a few seconds to do it.”
Wren laughs so hard, she makes the whole bed shake. “That’s so random. I don’t even know why I’m laughing. I just can’t imagine you doing such a nerdy thing.”
“Nerdy, huh?” I turn toward her and start to tickle the side of her torso. She breaks out into a loud giggle, trying her best to scoot away from me.
“Sorry! I take it back!” she yells between laughing loudly. A sound I could get used to.
I stop tickling her and pull my hands back before I used them to strip her bare and fuck her raw. I have other things to do tonight.
“Let’s take another shot,” I say once Wren’s laughing dies down.
“OMG, why are you so adamant on getting me hammered? What do you want, Briggs? Don’t lie to me, please. I know you are up to something.”
I look at her pale blue eyes, noticing how they are already glassy, her face flush as she looks at me expectantly.
“Fine, maybe I had an alternative motive.” Her face falls at my words, but I won’t let that deter me. “I want you to tell me who touched you. What’s his name?”
Wren’s face goes pale. “No one touched me.”
“Now you are the one lying,” I accuse.
Wren closes her eyes and lets her head hang low. “I don’t want to talk about this.”
“I know you don’t want to, but you will tell me anyway,” I order in a stern voice.
“What does it matter? It won’t change the past,” she whispers.
“It will change the future. What if he is doing this to someone else?” That gets her attention.
She looks up at me, tears forming in her eyes. “What are you going to do to him?”
“That depends on what he did to you exactly.”
“I don’t want you to get in trouble for me.” Wren shakes her head, strands of her silky brown hair falling into her face. I lift my hand to wipe the strands away and tuck them behind her ear.
“I won’t. If you haven't noticed, I’m pretty untouchable in this town. The fucker deserves what’s coming to him.”
“Yes, but I’m still worried about you. He is not a good person, and I’m pretty sure he owns a gun.” Wren wrings her hands in front of her nervously.
“I won’t go alone if that makes you feel better. I’ll take Carter as a backup.”
“You are not going to let this go, are you?” Wren asks quietly.
“Never, so you might as well go ahead and tell me now so we can get it over with.”
“All right, pour me another shot, and I’ll tell you.”
Relief and anticipation washes over me at her words. I quickly pour her another shot and hand it to her. She shoots it back like a pro before slamming the empty glass onto the nightstand.
She takes a deep breath and slumps back against the headboard. “He was one of my mom’s boyfriends. I was twelve, and he was always creepy to me. He would want to hug me all the time and made me sit on his lap. My mom thought it was all innocent and never said anything. I tried to stay out of his way, but sometimes he would come into my room at night when Mom was sleeping.”