Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71246 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71246 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
“Sure,” I reply before I can really think deeper on it. Lex seems relieved by my choice and walks into the kitchen. A moment later, I hear the faucet turn on. He’s probably cleaning the blood off his hands.
Images of the way he took those two guys out flicker through my mind. The pure will and determination in his movements. He didn’t hesitate one single bit. He didn’t think about the consequences, he just attacked. I shouldn’t be okay with him inflicting violence on my behalf, but Lex has wormed his way into my heart.
Grabbing my books out of my bag, I walk into the kitchen and hover in the doorway, watching Lex as he moves around the kitchen.
He must sense my eyes on him because he whips around after putting the pasta in the water. Our gazes collide, a flame of unexplainable need flickering in my belly.
“Sit. Do your work, and I’ll finish dinner,” he tells me, and I do just that, my body obeying without thought.
I don’t even bother opening my books though because I already know focusing on any type of schoolwork is pointless with him in the room. My brain has officially been through the blender.
“You know, you could’ve gone to jail tonight fighting those guys.”
Lex shrugs. “Then I would’ve gone to jail.”
“Just like that?” I’m shocked that he would give up his freedom for me so easily.
“Just like that. There isn’t a damn thing I won’t do for you, Jude.” He looks over at me when he speaks this time, and I swear my cheeks heat to the temperature of the sun.
“What is it about me that interests you?”
Lex stirs the spaghetti sauce that is now bubbling in a skillet. “I haven’t figured it out yet. All I know is that I want to get to know you more. I want to see inside you, see what makes you tick. I want to know what you like and what you hate. Basically, I want to know everything there is to know about you.”
Suddenly I’m overwhelmed with feelings and emotions. How is he going to feel when he realizes I’m not actually that interesting? That I’m just a broken girl, living a hopeless dream?
“Tell me about your family.”
Of course, that would be the first thing he asks. I blink away the tears threatening to fill my eyes as I think about how I’m going to answer this question without giving away that I have nothing and no one. Unable to hold the tears back a second longer, they fall from my eyes, leaving cold trails against my cheeks.
Lex’s face fills with confusion as he turns to me, dropping the spoon and crossing the space between us. His hands grip onto mine, the warmth of his touch easing into the cold crevasses of my body.
“I… I have no one…”
Lex frowns at my words, and I swear it’s like I’m reliving the moment all over again. I can still hear my father telling me never to come back, that I could die, and he wouldn’t care.
“You have me,” he whispers, and his words are like an electrical shock to my emotions. “You have me, and I’m not going anywhere.” The reassuring tone he gives me, makes me want to believe him, but I know better. It’s a false sense of hope that I won’t give into ever again.
I decide to divert the attention off of me by asking, “What about you? Your family?”
Lex gives me a toothy grin. “There are three of us Miller boys. Remington is my youngest brother, then there is Sebastian, who is the Dean, and then me. There’s also Pops, my dad.”
I nod, unsure of how to respond. I look down at his hands, which engulf mine as he holds them.
“My brothers are married and have kids. I’m just the cool uncle now.” I glance up and catch him smiling again, but it doesn’t reach his eyes, which leads me to believe there’s an emotion beneath it. “I was in the Marines, then I got out, and now I work at Iron Fist Gym with that guy that you saw the other day on campus. His name is Luke, and his wife goes to school at North Woods.”
Luke. That guy that was with Lex when I saw him for the first time again. His name reminds me of that night, the incident.
“Why were you guys beating up that man?” I shouldn’t ask, and I don’t really care, and yet, part of me kind of does. It’s like I’m trying to make him out as the bad guy in my mind so that I don’t feel so drawn to him, but it has the opposite effect.
“It was a misunderstanding really,” Lex says, pulling away. He returns to the stove to stir the noodles. An awkward silence falls over us, and I could kick myself.