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Chapters (26)
  1. Cover
  2. CHAPTER 1
  3. CHAPTER 2
  4. CHAPTER 3
  5. CHAPTER 4
  6. CHAPTER 5
  7. CHAPTER 6
  8. CHAPTER 7
  9. CHAPTER 8
  10. CHAPTER 9
  11. CHAPTER 10
  12. CHAPTER 11
  13. CHAPTER 12
  14. CHAPTER 13
  15. CHAPTER 14
  16. CHAPTER 15
  17. CHAPTER 16
  18. CHAPTER 17
  19. CHAPTER 18
  20. CHAPTER 19
  21. CHAPTER 20
  22. CHAPTER 21
  23. EPILOGUE
  24. HIS FOR KEEPS EXCERPT
  25. ALSO BY THEODORA TAYLOR
  26. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“I love you, I love you, I love you!” I chant as he spills inside of me.

This is who we are. This is how we love. That’s all that matters.

Back in Iowa, he’s taken to cleaning me up when we’re done making love for the day.

But tonight, we collapse into a spoon like we’re back in my apartment in Wilmington.

And it still doesn’t feel like we’ve said I love you enough.

“I love you, angel. I love you,” he murmurs in my ear as he drifts off to sleep.

If my “I love you” sounded like a chant, his sounds like a prayer.

Telling each other our childhood horror stories was hard.

But loving each other? That’s the most courageous thing either of us has ever done.

And that knowledge brings tears to my eyes after he falls asleep. My heart breaks. For him.

I passed his test with flying colors today…so how betrayed will he feel when he wakes up tomorrow and finds me gone?

CHAPTER 20

STEPHANIE

I flinch at the sound of the hotel room door crashing open.

Waylon’s here. He found us.

I thought we'd make it. For a few minutes, while we were laughing together during that episode of Insecure, I’d felt like a real girl, and I honestly thought we'd make it.

Everything had gone according to my plan.

I wasn't sure Wedding Dress Girl would understand the note I passed her. I'd had to keep it as vague as possible and make it look like a shopping list just in case it was discovered.

Bourbon

5Karrots

Apple

outfit

Roses

11-28

Feeling up her boobs was a risky move—especially with the way Waylon watched her even when she didn’t know it. I had to pretend to be passed out pretty much the whole time I was with them in the living room, but I observed him watch her under my slitted eyes. He tracked her every move. I was surprised he even let her go to the bathroom alone.

Nobody’s worse than Hades. But Waylon’s almost as bad. And those two psychos watch out for each other like brother hawks.

If anyone found my note, it would be him. But I had to risk it. Wedding Dress Girl lifting one of those 5K wads off him was integral to my plan. I needed money to run, to make it to my destination.

That was why I heavily encoded the note I gave her. If he found it, I was hoping he’d mistake it for some kind of a grocery list—one written by somebody who didn’t know how to spell carrots. He wouldn’t know I won a couple of spelling bees in my past life.

That’s not something Hades talks about with other people—even his brother-cousin. Me having an identity—that’s not allowed.