❝ You make this messed-up world look so much more beautiful. ❞ Gathering me in his arms, he pulled me close -- his lips seeking mine hungrily.
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The only thing Summer Hale has ever wanted was to live peacefully away from her secrets...
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Do you walk in the valley of kings? Do you walk in the shadow of men Who sold their lives to a dream? — Glitter and Gold by Barns Courtney
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My fists hit the punching bag one after the other, each strike stronger than the last. My thoughts were a whirlwind of chaos at everything that I had come to learn since the party.
Isaac and Liam were sitting on the bench to my left, leaning forward with their eyes trained on me. Isaac was sporting a black eye that was already healing, seeing the yellow patches that surrounded the purple. Liam had asked him two days ago about what happened, and Isaac told him that he fought with one of his brothers.
But truthfully, I did that to him.
I couldn't stop myself after what I found out that night.
"You're fucking kidding, right?" Liam bellowed.
"Dude, what the heck is wrong with her?" asked Isaac.
I dropped my shoulders and grabbed the punching bag with both my hands, my chest rising and falling rapidly. I skipped all my classes today after being called back home by my father. I was told he had something important to announce; I didn't expect it to be about my free will. Not that he had forcefully taken it away from me. He was weighing the benefits we would receive from the business proposal, and everything about it was done at the worst timing possible. I was already standing by the edge of my patience for three days straight, and today, I was finally pushed over.
After insisting that it was a stupid idea, I headed to my regular boxing gym to let off some steam. I called Isaac and Liam when I arrived, and they showed up thirty minutes later.
"I remembered you said something about Mr. Lowell wanting to be business partners with your father, but your father doesn't want to do it," Liam mused.
Isaac nodded. "And you said it was about time they would try to offer your father something irresistible. An engagement to Scarlet would put her family on a higher pedestal. I'm not sure what your family will benefit from it, though."
