Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 29210 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 146(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 97(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29210 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 146(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 97(@300wpm)
At the end of the day, I could give her whatever she needed, even if it pained me more than anything else in the fucking world.
More silence passed, and I knew she wouldn’t be able to get past this right now. This affected her far more greatly than I anticipated. But that gave me hope. Because surely if she felt nothing more for me than just being friends, this wouldn’t eat at her so much?
That was what I hoped for, at least, that by the end of all of this, when the turmoil and stress of the situation finally lifted, she could see what was right in front of her eyes.
That we were meant for each other.
11
Leila
It had been hours since Devon left, since we had the talk I’d been dreading. It hadn’t been awful, but it had been just as uncomfortable as I imagined. But it had been needed, and I was glad it was done and over with. I just wished I had someone I was close with, a girlfriend or even my own mother, who I could talk to about this.
And I did. That one person was Devon, but clearly that wasn’t going to happen because of… everything.
I exhaled and rested my elbows on the dining room table. My roommate was gone for the night, staying with her boyfriend. She was gone with him more than she was here, and right now, I wished she was here to talk to. Even if we weren’t close, not really even friends but acquaintances that had a mutual agreement living together, it would have been nice to have the company.
I stared at my cell that rested on the table. I reached for it numerous times, so close to calling my mom. I just wanted to go somewhere, anywhere. On top of this whole Devon situation, I was jobless and knew the little money I saved up would only last me a few months tops. And even if my roommate was a nice person, she couldn’t carry my weight when the money ran out. It wasn’t fair to even ask her of that.
So if I didn’t get a job soon, there was no way I could stay here, which meant my only other option was moving back in with my parents.
I groaned at that thought. Yeah, that was absolutely the last thing I wanted to do. Visiting them was one thing, because I knew I could leave.
“What am I going to do?” I whispered and rested my head in my hands, feeling sorry for myself.
Get your shit together; that’s what you do.
I straightened in the chair and knew I had to start adulting. So, first things first. Find a job so I didn’t have to move back in with my parents. After that, I’d worry about the Devon situation.
And in the meantime, I’d pray more shit didn’t hit the fan.
12
Devon
The next day
I shouldn’t have gone to his house, but after everything that had gone down with Leila and what she told me, I knew she was putting distance between us because of that one night, and I was feeling volatile.
And because I was feeling so violent at the moment, all I could keep thinking about was what this fucker had done to her, how he’d made her feel.
I cut the engine and curled my hands on the steering wheel, the leather creaking from the force. I stared at his house, a small ranch-style one with a beat-up pick-up truck in the driveway.
The garage door was open, and I could hear muffled music coming from it. Although the interior was shadowy from this position, I could make out a cooler close to the opening of the garage, the lid propped open, empty beer cans scattered around the base of it.
Although I couldn’t make him out clearly, I could see his shadowy form moving around in there. And it pissed me off even more.
This was a bad idea, me coming over here. Because I knew this wouldn’t be anything but a violent encounter. I wasn’t kidding myself into thinking if things hadn’t gone down the way they had with Leila and me, this encounter would’ve been more amicable. I still probably would’ve kicked his ass, but more so now, because I was pissed off how everything happened, and I was going to take it out on this fucker.
I climbed out of the car and shut the door, not even thinking coherently enough to try to talk myself out of this. When I was at the garage, I could see him fully, and I felt that rage increase tenfold. I’d known men like him my whole life.
They were assholes who thought they could get what they wanted because they had a modicum of power. They tried to take what wasn’t theirs, and when they were up against a roadblock, they dealt with it the only way they knew how.