Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
My head felt light, and I needed to grab something to steady myself. That couldn’t be right. I’d heard that wrong. Fiancée? Crosby hadn’t been engaged. He had talked about us living together.
“Whoa,” the other guy said as he rushed toward me and grabbed my arms. “Easy,” he said gently.
I nodded and realized I needed to breathe. I sucked in some oxygen and then let it out.
“I take it, you didn’t know about … that? Or her?” he said to me, looking into my eyes.
Bane hadn’t been lying. This guy looked sincere. He didn’t seem like someone who hated me and was trying to hurt me.
“She’s fine. Just dramatic,” Bane said.
The guy shot him a disappointed look, then turned back to me. “I’m Than, and I am real sorry you found out this way. I didn’t know, or I wouldn’t have said anything.”
I opened my mouth, then closed it. I had no words.
Crosby had been engaged. In a relationship with someone since he had been thirteen years old. Oh my God. This was why his parents were going to be upset. Not only was I the reason that he had been killed, but I was also the other woman.
“I’m going to be sick,” I said, covering my mouth.
“Shit,” Than said, taking my hand and pulling me through the room to a door he pushed open.
I saw the toilet and rushed past him, grabbing the seat just as I heaved into the bowl. A hand pulled my hair back as my body jerked again, and more came up. I closed my eyes.
Crosby had been cheating with me.
“Are you good?” The concern in Than’s voice made my eyes fill with tears.
No. I was never going to be good. Every day I was alive seemed to just build on the nightmare my life had become.
I heard the water being turned on in the faucet, and then Than handed me a damp cloth. “Here.”
I reached for it. “Thank you,” I said in a hoarse whisper.
He let my hair go, and I straightened back up, then flushed the toilet. After I wiped my face off and managed to get myself under control, I turned around to see Than still standing behind me. He had given me some space, but he hadn’t left.
“Crosby was my best friend,” he told me. “I’m sorry I reacted the way I did. I know that wasn’t what you needed right now.”
I didn’t blame him. Who could? He had been Crosby’s best friend and had no idea I existed. I’d been Crosby’s secret life. The one he never intended to share with the people important to him.
“It’s okay,” I finally said. “I’m a twist no one saw coming, it seems.”
“Are you done in there?” Bane called out. “I’d like to get this shit to your room so I can get on with my day.”
Than winced. “I’m sorry about him,” he said quietly. “He’s never nice, but since Crosby’s …” He paused. “Well, since … he’s been on edge. Worse than usual.”
He’d been on edge since his brother had been killed and he hated me for it. Than would, too, once he knew it was all my fault Crosby had been killed. I was going to have to get prepared for all of his friends and family to hate me.
“I’d better go,” I said as I stepped past him and into the other room.
Bane was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows. He turned to me, and his gaze dropped to the cloth still clutched in my hands. “I’ll show you the laundry room on our way up.”
Then, he headed back toward the bags of my clothing and grabbed them.
I didn’t look back at Than as I hurried to keep up.
Eleven
Bane
Than was sitting on the sectional with his elbows resting on his thighs and his head hanging forward when I walked back into the great room. He looked up at me the moment he heard my boot hit the hardwood. I’d not wanted to tell him about her with her present. I had known the moment he heard her name, it would click. He was the one who had heard Crosby’s last word. It had been bothering him. He’d said it looked like Crosby was begging him to understand just before he took his last breath.
“It all makes sense now,” he said. “That last month before, he was so different. At times, he would look so fucking happy, and then there were times when he looked agitated, like he couldn’t get away fast enough. It was her. He tried to tell me.”
“He loved Saylor,” I said, stalking past him.
“Did he though?”
Than’s words made me stop.
“Yeah, he did.” My words sounded more like a snarl.
“Sure, I mean, he loved her. The way we all love her. She’s our friend. Our family. But, Bane”—he turned around and looked up at me—“I don’t think he was in love with her. He was dying and didn’t even look her way. He didn’t say her name. It’s something I didn’t think about at the time, but I have since. He knew Halo was pregnant, didn’t he?”