The Hawthorne Legacy (The Inheritance Games, #2)

by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

But each time, as the darkness beckoned, I heard a voice: Jameson Winchester Hawthorne.

“She was dying, and you just stood there!

“You think I didn’t fight the same fight? I halfway convinced myself that as long as Avery was just a riddle or a puzzle, as long as I was just playing, I’d be fine. Well, joke’s on me, because somewhere along the way, I stopped playing.”

HE LOVES HEEEERRRRRRRRR

“That’s the thing, Avery. He is.”

crickets

He stared at me—at my eyes, at the lines of my face, like he was drinking it in.

“I came to see you,” Jameson told me. “Every day. The least you could have done was wake up while I was here, tragically backlit, unspeakably handsome, and waiting.”

“You’re not a puzzle or a riddle or a clue.” Jameson had laser focus. On me.

TELL HERRRR

“Have you figured out what it is?” I asked, every nerve in my body alive. “No.” Jameson smiled, that crooked, devastating Jameson Hawthorne smile. “I was waiting for you.”

“You don’t have to kiss me now. You don’t have to love me now, Heiress. But when you’re ready…”

“When you’re ready, if you’re ever ready, if it’s going to be me—just flip that disk. Heads, I kiss you.” His voice broke slightly. “Tails, you kiss me. And either way, it means something.”

i’m SO insane

Someone slammed a damp cloth down over my mouth and nose. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t scream.

can she catch a break

“I had to, Avery. They have Rebecca.”

sigh can she catch a break

And this entire place smelled like gasoline.

uh oh

An instant later, Mellie stepped into view, her eyes wide and unseeing, holding a gun.

i mean. slay

When Thea and I hung up the phone, I went to see Grayson.

boooooo

“Heads, you kiss me,” I said. “Tails, I kiss you. And this time…” My voice cracked. “It means something.”

“Tails,” I said. “I kiss you.” I wrapped my arms around his neck. I pressed my lips to his. And this time, the joke was on me—because I wasn’t playing. This wasn’t nothing.

HEHEHEHEEEEEE