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Could the cursed woman of Ponderosa Springs be my saving grace?
“Lucky girl.” She hums with a smile that doesn’t quite touch her eyes as she returns her gaze to Daniel. “You work with Silas?”
Desire. Desire to hear her say my name again. Gasp it. Moan it. Scream it.
Gently, I tuck a piece of hair just behind her ear before stroking a knuckle down her cheek. Hands that have done vicious things should not be allowed to touch things so delicate. “When you know, you know,”
We stand here as two people given narratives we didn’t want, trying to make some truth out of the words someone else wrote.
There is something about this woman. Something I can’t comprehend but want to grab with both hands and squeeze until her body burns with the red marks my hands leave.
“But no.”
“You don’t want to be attached to someone like me. This is me returning another favor. If you believe anything this town tells you, believe that I’m cursed.”
I want him dead. No longer existing on this rotten planet. Out of my life. Out of my fucking head. I’m not afraid of him. I’m tired of the games.
It was Lilac. I missed two years of her life, and every moment away killed me.
They’ll use their power to retaliate against the system that turned them into monsters the second they are tempted. It’s the rich devouring the rich. Everyone knows the truth, though.
The Hollow Boys have always had sharper teeth.
“I can’t be bought, and this makes us even,” I say. “Dinner’s on me tonight, boys.”
Non timebo mala on the left. Vallis tua umbra on the right.
We were destined to hate one another, and while I’d like to think I’m above legacy feuds, it’s hard not to continue it when Easton Sinclair is a fucking cunt and has been since I’ve known him.
One would risk the girl for power. The other would give it all up for her.
Rook is my best friend, but if it meant killing me or saving Sage? I’d be dead.
Stephen wants me broken. You see, he wants me to need him. He will destroy everything, starve
and torture me until the only light I see is the one he gives. There can be nothing else but him for me.
I know he’s done something to her because he knows Lilac is the only thing I care about.
When you’re alone, no one can hurt you. But that’s the thing. When you’re alone, no one can help you either.
“Silas.” I release a breath. “I need—” I need help. I need help.
“Whatever you need, it’s already yours.”
I’m nothing to him. I’ve treated him poorly, and yet, he answers. I want nothing to do with him, don’t
want to get close enough to possibly hurt him, yet I keep finding it harder to stay away.
Silas Hawthorne is the keeper of secrets. The unstoppable force and immovable object. Silent water, with unknown depths filled with mysteries he will take to his grave.
“Breathe for me, Hex. Breathe,”
“We are going to find her.”
“She’s the last good thing I have left. I can’t lose her.” “I promise you,”
“When you open your eyes, we are going to keep searching, and you’re not going to think about what happened with Stephen. You are safe.”
Yet, for Silas, I’m like glass. The way he sees clear through me, able to see what I need without me saying it. As if when he looks me, he can hear every thought that passes through my brain.
“I was supposed to meet Reece for the first time. We agreed to meet out here since we’re both fans of the beach. I was so excited that I got here thirty minutes early. But the person who showed up wasn’t Reece.”
“Who was it?”
“Stephen.”
He gave my little sister my trauma as a gift.
The thought of being vulnerable makes me sick, but there’s something safe about him.
“I came to ask if you still need someone to play fake girlfriend.”
“No.”
“I need a wife.”
“If I do this—if we do this—I need you to make me a promise.”
“No matter what happens, you get Lilac out of here.”
“You can use me to get close to Stephen. Marrying me will piss
him off. It’ll lure him out. I’ll hang off your arm and play the part for Hawthorne Tech. But if something happens to me in the process, you have to make sure my sister is taken care of. It’s the only way I’ll say yes.”
“Does your sister know?” he asks again, squinting his eyes a bit. “That you’re killing yourself for the sake of her happiness? That the only reason you’re still in Ponderosa Springs is because you can’t leave her?”
“No,” I say firmly. “She’s blissfully unaware. And it’s going to stay that way. Tonight, a piece of her innocence was stolen. Over my dead fucking body will it happen again.”
Silas is the quiet type of handsome.
There will be a price for this arranged marriage, and my heart will be paying it.
The worst part is he won’t be the one to break it. It’ll be me. I’m the only villain in this story. I’m doing this for Lilac, but I won’t be selfish with Silas Hawthorne in the process. His heart does not deserve what I am capable of doing to it.
I look at his hands, large palms that he’d probably bruise my ass with. We’d destroy each other in the bedroom. Neither one of us would be willing to give up control, leaving us both littered with bruising kisses and deep scratches.
“No deal,” he grunts, the sound sending a tingle down my spine. “No one will believe that I’m unfaithful to my wife. They all know what happens when someone touches what belongs to me.”
