Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
I smile, but then I cast my gaze to the kitchen tiles. “I consider myself strong, but not for the reasons you may be thinking. Sure, I got through cancer. You do what you have to do.” I sigh. “So many people aren’t as lucky as I was. When you look your life in the eye, you realize you’ll do anything—and I mean anything—to live. You let them pump poison into your veins so that all your hair falls out and you feel like complete shit. And I wasn’t kidding about the puking. You vomit all the bile up from your stomach, cramping because the heaves are so hard. You watch the fat dissolve from your body, and you stop getting your period. But you do it. You do it all for that next breath of air.”
Savannah frowns. “You don’t consider that the reason why you’re strong?”
“I’m saying that you would do the same thing. Anyone would. Unless you’re suicidal, the will to live is strong in everyone, Savannah. And I guess you don’t know that until you’ve looked your life in the eye.”
“Yeah,” she says. “I do get it. Miles wasn’t going to kill me, but he was going to rape me. Pretty much make me his. So I kind of get it. Plus…there have been other times…”
I simply nod. Falcon has told me more of the story of him and Savannah. About how she was being hunted by two of her family’s goons, how she defended herself with a few pieces of broken mirror when she realized they had come for her.
How she hid out in the safehouse with Falcon for several weeks, not knowing when that awful family would finally find her.
And she did put her life on the line in a way. She wouldn’t have literally died if she had married Miles McAllister, but she was giving up her freedom, not to mention the love of her life. She was willing to sacrifice her own identity, her sense of self.
Is that really all that different from simply dying? In many ways, dying would be the easier way out.
I shake the thought out of my head and return my focus to Savannah. “Do you think you’ll go back to work?”
“As a parole officer?” She shakes her head. “No. There were aspects of it that I enjoyed, but it was never my dream.”
“What about law school?”
“I’ve considered it,” Savannah says. “But right now, everything is on hold.”
“Yeah, I can understand that.”
“But maybe someday,” she says. “I’m still pretty young. I could have a career as a lawyer if I want. But I think I might also want children. And that’s something Falcon and I haven’t really discussed.”
“I think you’ll both make great parents,” I say.
She grins. “I think we would too. But like I said… It’s on hold for now. Until… You know.”
I nod.
“So how’s everything going with you?” she asks me. “You met with that lawyer today, right?”
“Yesterday, actually.” My cheeks warm. “You won’t believe this, but…I have a date on Friday.”
“A date!” She clamps her hand over her mouth. “That’s great, Raven.”
I bite my lip. “I don’t know if it’s great. The lawyer’s a nice guy, and pretty good-looking too.” I look down. “Why he wants to go out with me though…”
She scoffs. “Are you kidding me? Why wouldn’t he want to? You’re beautiful.”
“Um…I don’t have hair, Savannah.”
“Hair grows back, Ray.”
I’m touched by her use of my nickname. I’m not sure she’s done that before now.
“I guess I’m interested,” I say. “I mean, like I said. He’s very intelligent, good-looking, nice.”
She rubs her thumb against her index and middle fingers. “And he’s a lawyer.”
I laugh. “That’s probably more of a selling point for you than for me.”
“Nothing’s a selling point for me,” Savannah says. “I’m madly in love with your brother. I’ve never met anyone like him. It’s like…” She gazes out the kitchen window.
I raise a hand to stop her. “You don’t have to finish that thought. I’m not sure I want to hear about how great my brother is in bed.”
“Oh.” Savannah blushes. “I wasn’t going to go into any detail. I was just going to say that when you know, you know. The first time I laid eyes on your brother, I knew something was different about him. The attraction was immediate. Which of itself is not unusual, but it was just different with him. I can’t really describe how.”
“I think I understand.”
She raises her eyebrows. “Do you?”
Damn it. I spoke without thinking. I got so comfortable talking to Savannah that I forgot we barely know each other. I’ve almost let slip something juicy, and now she wants details.
But I can’t go into detail.
Because those feelings? That ridiculous attraction that you think may be different from anything else you’ve ever felt?
I have had them.