Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 150968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 503(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 150968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 503(@300wpm)
“Hmm, baby blue.” Her body slowly relaxes against mine.
The storm continues to rage on, but Riley is more focused on me and my words now. She barely even notices the violent thunder booming through the skies.
I continue drawing circles over her arm with my thumb, enjoying the way her muscles start to loosen. “That’s a nice color. What do you think my favorite color is?”
“Gray,” she replies quickly, as if the answer was already on the tip of her tongue.
I know I asked the question, but in reality, I don’t have a favorite color. “Why do you think that?”
“Gray is your color,” Riley says stubbornly, her voice soft and faint. “It’s emotionless and moody, like you. It’s something in between, because you neither fit in the color of white nor black. Gray is complicated…” she trails off.
My heart stutters.
“You think I’m moody?”
I don’t get an answer.
“Riley?”
Her silence fills me with worry, so I lift my head to look down at her face. Her eyes are closed, her tear-stained face looks peaceful, and her breathing evens out. Riley fell asleep, yet she still holds onto my wrist.
I hadn’t expected her to fall asleep this fast. But I guess once the panic fades and her mind grows hazy with calmness, she’d be lulled into unconsciousness.
Riley stays curled up against me all afternoon and well into the night. She barely even twitches in her sleep. Sometime during the night, her hand crawls up under my shirt, her palm resting against the hard muscles of my abdomen. Skin to skin.
I don’t sleep a wink. I can’t…
I stay up and listen to Riley’s breathing.
She stays like this until morning. My whole body’s sore because I didn’t move an inch during the night, too worried I’d wake her up.
The storm eventually passes, and when dawn arrives, Riley’s eyes flutter open at the first ray of sunlight. I watch as confusion plays across her sleepy features.
Her head lifts up, and she meets my gaze.
She blinks. And blinks again.
Her lips part in a silent gasp, and then she’s pushing away from. Riley sits up, raking her fingers through her disheveled hair. There we go, I had been waiting for this. Her reaction in the morning, once the fog of her panic attack clears in her mind.
“What?” Riley croaks and then coughs. Her chest rattles with a shaky exhale. “You— last night…I didn’t…” she trails off, blinking a few more times. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember much of what happened last night.”
I sit up too. “You slept all night.”
“I slept all night?”
“Yes.”
“Yes?”
Shaking my head, I can’t help but grin at her confusion. “Are you going to repeat everything I say?”
“No,” she defends quickly. Riley rubs her forehead, averting her eyes. She can’t bring herself to look at me.
I guess…it’s time for me to go.
The storm has passed and the night has come to an end. I’m done here.
Climbing off the bed, I shove my feet into my shoes. “I’ll go now.”
“Okay,” she whispers softly.
My chest tightens. “Okay,” I tell her.
“Colton?” Her sleepy voice halts me.
My hand pauses on the handle of the door and I glance over my shoulder. “Yes?”
Riley sits in the middle of her bed, looking both innocent and vulnerable. She holds her blanket up to her chin. “Thank you,” she breathes.
I swallow hard. How do I respond to that?
Riley Johnson is thanking me and I never thought I’d see that day. But here we are. How the tables have turned.
I nod in acknowledgement before walking away.
I only stayed with her last night because Lila was not here. Because Riley was alone.
I only stayed to complete my responsibility toward her— my promise to Lila to take care of Riley in her absence.
I don’t care for her…
I never did.
I never will.
Because I’m incapable of such humane sentiments.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Riley — 19 years old (A month later)
Maybe I was wrong about Colton Bennett.
Maybe my overthinking caused me to judge him too fast.
Maybe…just maybe, I should have given him a chance.
His previous words had indeed been cruel to me. They will undoubtedly be difficult to forget, especially his taunts. He knocked me down when I was already at my most vulnerable. My downfall had been his entertainment, after all.
But Colton was also there when I needed someone the most, when my heart had been full of fear and misery. He didn’t mock me or belittle me. I know somehow his kindness is because of Maddox and Lila. He doesn’t want to do something that will ruin the dynamic among the four of us. So he’s been…cordial to me.
But there's a difference between being civil to each other, and him holding me all night through a storm. He calmed me during a panic attack, when he didn’t have to.
If he had been as much of the heartless asshole I thought him to be, he would have walked away instead of staying the night in my bed.