Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 104501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 523(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 523(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
“You sure?”
He cared about me. I tried to remind myself of that. “I’m good.”
“My friends!”
Diego made his entrance, his arms stretched out once again. Everyone on the veranda looked up, saw it was Diego, and went back to their conversations. A few offered greetings as he made his way to our table, but once he dropped into his seat, it was like the last time we had been here. There was no awkwardness after that.
Diego filled the air with stories, and if he was quiet for a moment, Caden would start a new one. Diego would quickly join in, taking over. I laughed the entire time.
A couple hours passed before trouble started. I felt it coming more than anything else.
I didn’t hear the girls approach. The veranda had filled while we were out there. But Diego’s gaze trailed past my shoulders, and his smile vanished. His eyes lost their warmth, and a beat later, I heard that same drunken voice, but this time she wasn’t slurring.
The air cooled dramatically, and it wasn’t the temperature.
“Caden! What are you doing here?” she asked.
Caden didn’t turn hostile, but his smile vanished. “I’m here with friends.”
She waited, standing there.
He didn’t say anything more.
Then her eyes fell on me and lit up. A fake warmth oozed from her. “Oh my gosh, you’re Kevin Matthews’ stepsister, aren’t you? I thought I recognized you.” She dragged an empty chair from two tables over to ours, plopping down. She scooted up right next to me, pressing her arm against Caden. “I live in your dorm.”
She paused again, looking around the table. When she saw Diego, her head cocked to the side, like she didn’t recognize him. “You’re the bartender, aren’t you?”
Caden started laughing.
Diego cleared his throat. “Yes. I’m the help.”
“Oh.” Her head bobbed up and down, the smile still plastered on her face.
She looked back to Caden with a calculating gleam in her eyes, then switched it to me.
Something was going to happen. Something shitty.
“Is it true what everyone is saying? You didn’t really come to school thinking you’d be with your stepbrother? I thought that was hilarious when I heard it. I mean, that’s kinda sick too, isn’t it? He’s not your blood, but still. His parent is fucking your parent. That’s gotta be up there on the ick factor.”
Yes. She went there.
She waited for a response from me, but it came from Caden.
“Fuck you.”
He said it low, quiet, but the words sent a chill down my back.
Her eyes widened. “Excuse me?”
“You came over to our table to insult my friend?” He didn’t move. Not a bit, and that made his words even colder. “Get the fuck away from this table.”
Her mouth opened.
He cut her off. “I don’t care who your friends are. If you don’t walk away from this table in five seconds, I will make my opinion known about you. I can’t guarantee you’ll still have friends after that.”
Diego’s eyebrows lifted. He muttered under his breath, “Damn.”
Caden ignored him. “I don’t like being an asshole, but when it comes to certain friends, I’ll be the worst asshole I can be.”
He’d laid it out for her, but she didn’t move.
Diego got up and put his hands on her shoulders. “You should go. Caden doesn’t make threats lightly. When he does, he follows through. Don’t test him.”
He herded her away from our table.
I was stunned. No one had ever done something like that for me. I wanted to thank Caden, say something to show him my appreciation, but I could only gape at him.
He laughed softly. “Do not cry.”
Two tears formed at the corners of my eyes. I wiped them away and blinked rapidly. “Who’s crying here? Not me. That’s for sissies.”
“You’re not a sissy.”
“Well, we both know you’re not. Holy crap, Caden. No one’s ever stuck up for me like that before.” I felt choked up again. “Thank you.”
He shrugged. “It’s no problem, but maybe we should get going? I don’t want to deal with a crazy chick.”
My lip twitched. “No doubt. They’re like serial killers. They bounce back.”
“Yeah. Just like serial killers.”
Our eyes caught and held as we smiled at each other, feeling all sorts of feelings—emotions that maybe we shouldn’t have been feeling. Or at least I was.
Caden’s eyes darkened. His look was like a sensual caress, moving over me, sending tingles and sensations in its wake, and getting me all sorts of excited. Images of us in his bed flashed in my mind. How I sat down, straddling him. How his hands grasped the back of my legs. How he held me tight, then pulled me on top of him. How he carried me to his bed, our lips touching, kissing, exploring. My hand resting on his stomach, the way his paused on my jeans, his thumb at the ready, just waiting for my permission.