Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
I can’t recall a single time those boats actually went for a sail, but that’s fairly typical when your town is a carnival and they’re just props to begin with.
They look pretty, though. This whole part of Revenant is nice. There’s a little cluster of shops—a fortune teller, an arcade, a taco place, and a tattoo parlor—and the storefronts all have custom signs with fancy hand lettering. So it comes off cute during the day.
At night, this place is filled with buskers all lit up with glowing neon face makeup and other performers who do things like fire juggling and street dancing.
It’s a good time and since it’s July fifth, I bet last night was a party.
I make my way over to a picnic table and sit down, leaning my elbows on the old wooden top so I can prop my chin in my hands. I just stare at the water and wonder where it all goes. Where it all comes from, for that matter. How there can be so much water that it just… flows like that.
A shadow appears to my right and when I look up, there is a man sliding his way around the other side of the table. He sits down across from me and waits, saying nothing.
He looks like any other man from these parts with his fair skin and blond hair. But I’d know those blue eyes anywhere.
Erol.
He speaks first. “Aren’t you gonna say anything?” And then he has the audacity to smile.
This smile is like a gut punch. Because it’s so familiar. I saw this smile in my dreams twelve years ago. Then, last night, I saw it in my nightmares.
I do not say anything.
“No?” He shrugs. “Well, that’s fine, I guess.” His accent is the same too. His voice, his lips, his mouth. “I’ve got plenty to say for the both of us, so I guess I’ll just get to it.”
Still, I say nothing.
“I’ve got Cross.”
I suck in a breath when he says this and I am suddenly filled with so much hate and anger, I break out in a sweat.
“He’s fine. In fact, he’s better than fine. I didn’t take him, ya know. I didn’t. I just… made him an offer. One he couldn’t refuse, I guess.”
It’s almost diabolical the way he says these words. All casual and with a smirk on his face.
But as the seconds tick off and I don’t reply, this smug look falls and then he’s frowning. “I didn’t leave you, ya know.”
“You lying piece of shit.” My words come out angry and low. I nearly growl them out.
“I’m not lying.”
“You left me. I was eight months pregnant and you got scared—”
“That’s not what happened.” He’s loud now and he bangs his fist on the table, making me jump.
I lean back, eyes wide, thinking I should probably get up and run.
But then he sucks in a breath and lets it out slow. “That’s not what happened, Rosie.” His words are softer now. Like he lost control there for a moment, but he’s reined it back in. “You can think whatever you want, but this is the first time they let me out to explain.”
“Explain what, exactly?” I have not wrangled my control back, so these words come out angry and loud.
Suddenly he’s reaching for me and I’m so startled by this that he’s got a hold of both my hands before I can start pulling away. He doesn’t let go when I resist, just holds them tighter like he’s afraid I’ll run. “Listen to me. I only have a couple of minutes before they turn the cameras back on.”
“What? What the hell are you talking about?”
He nods his head up to the street lamps that are positioned every so often along the walkways. “They’ve got cameras all over this town and if I get made, then I’m done.”
“Made for what?”
“I’m…” He stops and takes a breath. “It’s gonna sound stupid, but I swear to God, this is the truth, Rosie. So I’m just gonna say it and you can do whatever you want with it. I didn’t disappear. Not with you, anyway. You see… I was a runaway when I met you.”
I’m so confused. “What?”
“I was on the run. I had escaped.” He sighs again. “I mean, ‘escape’ is a little bit dramatic, but only a little. Because I was born into a family that… well.” He nods his head at Revenant. “You get it, right? I mean, you’re part of the Trinity too. It’s just the public face, of course. So you don’t understand what it really is.”
I stand up, use every bit of strength in my little hundred-and twenty-pound body, and rip my hands from his grip. Then step out from the inside of the picnic table bench and glare down at him. “What are you talking about?”