Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22359 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 112(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 75(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22359 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 112(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 75(@300wpm)
“You don’t go out like that, understand?” I growl, keeping my eyes on the road. “You don’t drink with idiots.”
Just the thought of her going out with Mara again, wearing another variation on tonight’s outfit has my blood boiling. All those men’s eyes on her beautiful body…And she has no business drinking either. All that leads to is bad decisions and sketchy situations.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
Her response is jarring. I glare at her. “I just saved your ass and you’re gonna give me attitude—?”
“You left,” she snaps. It’s not loud. Not hysterical. It’s worse. It’s sharp and precise, and I see actual pain in her eyes—pain that reflects straight back into my chest. The truck’s engine hums beneath us, steady and controlled—the exact opposite of my heartbeat.
She’s right, though. I did leave. Maybe I did give up my brotherly rights to protect her, but that doesn’t change how I feel.
I grip the wheel harder. I don’t get jealous. I don’t lose control. I don’t burn for things I can’t have. Except for her…
I want to tell her why I really bailed on her. She has a right to know. She’s not a little girl anymore. She’s nineteen. If she gets mad, she gets mad. So be it. I can’t control her emotions. But would it really do any good at this point? We can’t be together. We both know that.
“I had to,” I finally say.
“That’s not an answer, Caleb.”
I glance at her eyes, taking in more of her pain. “You think I just woke up one day and decided I didn’t want to be around you?” I ask, my voice low. She doesn’t answer. Because she doesn’t know. She never knew.
I pull up to a stop sign, and the red glow of the brake lights washes over her skin, highlighting that dress that still clings to her skin like it was made to torture me.
“I couldn’t live under the same roof with you anymore and pretend I didn’t notice.”
Words that are closer to the truth than I’ve ever allowed myself to get.
“Notice what?” she whispers.
This is the edge. The line I should not cross.
“That you weren’t a kid anymore.”
Silence fills the cab, wrought with tension. She shifts in her seat, crossing her legs, and it feels like pure denial. The desperate, almost uncontrollable urge to pull her closer and see what that dress is hiding nearly unravels me. Just sitting beside her is breaking me.
“You don’t get to disappear and then show up like you own me,” she says.
Her breath is stronger now. I can hear it over the sound of the engine. Something hot and dangerous moves through me at the sound of that word coming from her lips. Own.
“You have every right to be mad at me, Eliza,” I say slowly, focusing on deep breaths. “I’ll never let anything like that happen again.”
The image of Tony with his hand on Eliza invades my mind, flooding me with rage and jealousy. The bastard deserved a lot more than I gave him, and he would have gotten it had I not wanted to get Eliza the hell out of there.
She looks at me skeptically, causing the pain in my chest to deepen. This is bad. She’s my step-sister. There’s a reason I moved out in the first place, and now I’m being pulled back.
“Yeah, right,” she mutters, looking away out the window.
I open my mouth to speak—to say something I shouldn’t—but grit my teeth and stop myself. I am almost grateful when I see the house up ahead and pull into the driveway. I’m quickly losing control. I’m not sure I can trust myself around her for much longer…
And what’s worse, I’m not sure that I want to…
3
ELIZA
I watch Caleb as he parks the truck, looking completely calm and composed, like he didn’t just beat the crap out of a guy. My heart is still pounding in my chest, just like it has been from the moment I stared up into his eyes outside the club.
He cuts the engine, and suddenly the world feels tense. The night thick. Even the slightest sound of the trees is deafening against the silence in the cab. I shift slightly in my seat, trying not to make it obvious that I’m still trembling from tonight’s events. I’m not sure what’s got me more on edge—being attacked, or being saved.
Anger cuts through me. I want to curse him out for abandoning me last year. For embarrassing me when he pointed out all the stupid decisions I made that led to my assault. But I don’t. I relax into the moment, feeling safer than I’ve felt in over a year.
He still isn’t looking at me. His strong hands grip the steering wheel as he stares ahead at the house, its windows dark. Thank God my parents are asleep. The last thing I need is to have a conversation with them about what just happened.