Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 91361 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91361 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“Aria, listen.” He wanted to cup her face, wanted to kiss her, wanted to lick that teardrop away because he felt like it was burning her skin, a reminder of his betrayal.
He wanted to do so many things but he couldn’t because right now, he felt like he didn’t deserve to even look at her.
“I’m going to make things right, I promise you.” He badly wanted to tell her how much he loved her, but Kellion did his best to hold the words back. If he said them now, she might think that he was only saying it out of guilt or pity, and he didn’t want that, didn’t want to risk hurting her even more.
When he said the words, it would be in a place and time that would ensure she’d have no reason to doubt him.
But for now—-
“Please, Aria. I’m begging you, just let me make things right and I swear...I won’t hurt you again.”
Slowly, Aria nodded.
That night, they didn’t make love, didn’t face each other when they slept.
ARIA
“Thank you...for meeting with me.” I took a deep breath. “Thank you also...for making sure we...can meet without...Kellion knowing.” Helios Andreadis had sent his VP out on an errand with MJ, ensuring that we could meet in the club’s conference room in private.
“Of course.” The President’s tone was strangely gentle, and somehow that hurt even more.
I took a deep breath. “I won’t...beat around.” My fists clenched on my lap. “Could you tell...me about...Jack?”
Helios’ face became grim. “Shouldn’t this be something you should ask Kellion about?”
“I would...if I could be...sure he wouldn’t...lie to avoid...hurting me.” I forced myself to look into his eyes. Just so he knew how much I loved Kellion, and that even if it hurt to hear the truth, I had to know it, too. Because in the end, what I wanted was for Kellion to be happy.
“Please tell me...everything.”
Slowly, Helios did.
I wasn’t sure when I started to cry. Perhaps it was from the very start, when I learned that Kellion and dear old Jack were childhood friends, years and years of knowing each other that I couldn’t say about Kellion and me. Or maybe it was when I learned about how Kellion had risked his life practicing a bike stunt just so the guests in Jack’s debut would forget she had been dumped.
I listened to him, and all I could think about was how so, so twisted I was. Every story spoke of Kellion’s love for a girl that wasn’t me, but somehow, each story made me love him even more.
He was a really good guy, my biker.
It wasn’t his fault that he tried his best to love me but failed. That he had done everything he could to forget Jack but couldn’t. It wasn’t his fault that he really thought I could make him happy and he turned out to be wrong.
“H-Helios?” I tried wiping the tears away as I spoke, but they just kept falling and my heart kept breaking. Not chipping into pieces. But breaking, shattering, in a way that I had a feeling only Kellion could fix.
I remembered the times I had told him I loved him, and I almost became hysterical. Oh God, God, God. All those times, I had thought he wasn’t able to say it back because it wasn’t his thing.
Oh God.
It was his thing, all right.
Kellion had always known how to love, had always been capable of saying the words.
He just couldn’t say them to me because I wasn’t the girl he loved.
“What is it?”
“C-can I a-ask a f-favor?”
He listened to me speak, and when I was done, he had only one question. “Why do you want to do this?”
“B-because I want...him...to be happy.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Dear Ashton,
I miss you, kiddo. I really do.
I wish I could go back to the days when I only loved you.
Love, Your Big Sis
HELIOS ANDREADIS’ NAME was like a magical key in Greece. It cut through all sorts of red tape, ensured I was given VIP treatment, and most importantly of all, it granted me a chance to meet the girl Kellion loved even though in their world, I was nobody.
Jacqueline Koufos’ bedroom was elegant and luxurious, and it was so big it could fit probably five or six dorm rooms combined. As for its owner, she was even prettier than her photos on the Internet gave her credit for. And slim, so much so she made me feel hideously curvy. I knew I was being silly, knew that Kellion wasn’t the type to love someone just because of how she looked. But even though I knew all that, I could still feel myself shrinking the closer I got to the other girl.
She was seated upright on an orthopedic bed, which was inclined halfway up so she would have something to lean back on. What kind of healthy young girl would have an orthopedic bed in their own home? I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t help thinking it was a ploy to get Kellion to pity her.