Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 58408 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58408 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
He reacts like I’ve slapped him—he recoils, fists clenched around the neck of the bottle. “Bullshit.”
“Look at it, then.” I shove the paperwork at him, and he bats it aside. Pages flutter to the floor and scatter.
Anger bubbles in my chest.
I get it, he doesn’t want to think his precious Harper was lying to him, but she was, and now it’s coming back on me.
“Don’t.” His voice is a threat, low and sharp, but I’m not scared, not really. Maybe I should be.
“What? Tell you the truth? You can deny it all you want, but the proof is right here.”
He looks at me, searching for something. I don’t know what he’s hoping to find, but as he steps towards me, tossing the bottle to the ground and caging me in against the kitchen counter, I forget where I am. I hold my breath, staring at his drunk face, still so handsome it hurts.
“Why would she do that?” His words are jagged. “Why would she work for them?”
I wish I knew.
“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out. I know you’re angry, she didn’t just lie to you, she lied to all of us.”
A laugh, bitter. “Wouldn’t be the first time a girl did that.”
I glare at him. “Oh, because men have never lied.”
“Fuck you.”
I bare my teeth at him. “Fuck you too. You can be angry at me all you want, but she’s the one who lied, and she’s the one who got me into this mess. So go on, take it out on me, refuse to admit what’s right in front of you. I’m done with people like you.”
I shove at his chest, but it does nothing.
He moves, so fast I don’t see it coming. One hand tangles in my hair, the other grabs my jaw rough enough to hurt. His mouth crushes mine, all teeth and whiskey and pent-up frustration. It’s angry, desperate, and I open to him because I don’t know what else to do. My hands fist in his shirt, dragging him closer, and for one perfect, terrifying second, I forget everything.
He’s wet, he’s hard, and I can’t seem to make myself pull away.
He tastes like salt and bourbon and something all his. His tongue dances against mine, and I want to bite him, draw blood, make him feel something that isn’t pain. He must sense it because he softens, just a fraction, his lips gliding over mine in such a way I forget how to breathe. I gasp, and he laughs into my mouth, a low vibration that drives me insane. There’s nothing gentle in the way he presses me to the counter, nothing sweet about the way his fingers dig into my hip. But I know this is what he wants—me, angry, alive, fighting him every inch.
And fuck me, I want it too.
But I’m too proud, too raw, too wrecked to let him use me to cover up his own heartbreak and betrayal. He is in love with Harper. She might not be here, but she belonged to him, and he just found out she lied. I break the kiss, shoving him back with both hands, chests heaving and eyes blazing.
“You don’t get to use me to forget about her,” I snap, voice shaking, “and you sure as hell don’t get to use me to forget about yourself.”
He doesn’t stop me when I duck under his arm and disappear down the hall, slamming my bedroom door behind me. The sound echoes in my bones. I collapse onto the old air mattress, heart pounding, tongue still tingling with the taste of him.
Let the storm rage. Let the house leak. Let everything fall apart.
I’m too tired to put it back together tonight.
“WAKEY WAKEY.”
Mera’s sing-song voice fills the room, and it takes me a moment to focus. I open my eyes, and immediately the sun blasts into them, making me groan and throw a hand over my face. I roll to my side, mumbling something even I don’t understand, but am quickly brought back to reality when Mera takes the blanket and jerks it off me.
“God damn,” I moan, sitting up, hair a mess, glaring at her.
She’s not alone; she’s with Nia and Sable, and they’re both grinning at me, coffee in hand, a brown paper bag filled with something delicious.
“We’re here to work, and the club is, too. They’re out fixing fences and your roof because girl, your kitchen is wet,” Sable shoots me a grin.
The club?
They brought the club.
Memories of last night flash across my mind, of the kiss, the discovery, and every other emotion I felt. I press my lips together, pushing it aside.
“Fine, I’m up,” I grumble, reaching for the coffee as Mera hands it to me, wickedly delighted by her own ability to torture me before my first caffeine dose. I fumble with the cup, nearly sloshing it on my face.