Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 96404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
“Who the hell is she?” Reina hisses as soon as Aspen disappears.
“I should be asking you why the fuck you were out to insult her.”
While Reina and I aren’t that close, we have Asher in common, and that makes us see each other more than either of us prefer.
“She seems annoying.”
“You don’t even know her, Reina.”
“He’s right.” Asher strokes her arm. “You were aggressive to a woman you just met.”
“Unnecessarily so,” I shoot back.
“She had a reason,” Asher tells me without breaking eye contact with his wife. “Didn’t you, prom queen?”
Only he would be patient enough to read behind her apparent bitchiness and actually discern why she’s acting the way she is.
Reina sighs. “She annoys me because she seems to have eyes for you, and I don’t like seeing you with anyone but Naomi.”
My jaw clenches. “But it’s okay to see Naomi fucking married?”
“I didn’t know that until she came back, and only through her photos in social columns. We don’t exactly keep in touch, except for a random text she sent from a number I couldn’t reach afterward.”
I narrow my eyes. “She sent you a text?”
“It was about two years ago. I think she was drunk. She said she didn’t think she’d miss her bitchy captain and then she begged me not to tell you because you guys are complicated.”
I should feel something other than bitter rage, but that’s the only emotion crowding in my veins and ripping into my bones.
Reina softens her tone. “And to answer your question, yes, it feels weird to see her with anyone else, too. I know it’s irrational, but I can’t digest the idea of you two being with different people.”
Asher strokes her hand as if in approval. Ever since they got back together, he always makes sure he’s touching her in some way. “That’s your opinion, but it’s not theirs, prom queen.”
“I know that. But I can’t help it.”
Fuck this.
Just when I’m attempting to get my mind off her, she comes back in uninvited.
Reina’s eyes widen as she stares behind me. I think Aspen has returned, but Reina’s lips move in a barely audible murmur, “Naomi.”
My body bursts back to life and it takes everything in me not to turn around and face her.
I don’t have to, though.
Naomi comes into view on the arm of her fucking husband and they appear to be headed our way. Her silver and black dress molds against her slim curves and hugs her perky breasts. A small amount of cleavage is visible, but there’s no trace of the hickeys I left the last time I saw her.
I made sure they were all over her tits so she must’ve used something to conceal them.
Naomi smiles at Reina and Asher, but subtly ignores me when she addresses them, “Hey, you two. It’s been a long time.”
“That’s an understatement!” Reina pulls her in for a hug, and that breaks Akira’s hold on her arm. Temporarily.
He greets Asher in his seemingly welcoming but actually stoic nature, then focuses on me. His dark eyes gleam as a slight smirk tips his lips. “We meet again, Weaver.”
“Seems Brooklyn is a lot smaller than one would think.”
“Indeed.” His smirk deepens. “Maybe even tiny for some people.”
“Could be.”
Once Naomi straightens, he pulls her back to his side and a red mist covers my eyes. The need to break his fucking arm pulses through me.
It’s even worse than my violent tendencies. I learned to control those, but now I’m on the verge of reaching out and poking his fucking eyes out.
“My Naomi didn’t tell me you were the senator’s grandson. That’s impressive.”
My Naomi.
Again.
The fire flaming inside me turns hotter and brighter. I take a deep breath to maintain my façade and stop my lips from snarling.
“He’s the senator, not me,” I say in a calm voice I don’t recognize. “Naomi and I weren’t that close, so she doesn’t know everything about me.”
Her eyes meet mine for the first time since she joined our circle. It’s brief and barely noticeable, but it’s enough to spill her deepest, darkest secrets.
The ones she’s probably been hiding since she left my apartment last night.
Lust.
Pure, raw lust.
Even when she’s on her husband’s arm, her fuck-me eyes are directed toward me, not him.
Her cry for the beast is only meant for me, not Akira or any other fucking man.
Only me.
She breaks eye contact, focusing on Reina instead. But it’s useless. Her cheeks have already turned a deep shade of pink and her throat bobs with a thick swallow.
Naomi just gave me a signal for more.
Not that I needed it.
Because sooner or later, she’ll pay for what she’s done.
I don’t give a fuck if she’s married or not.
That doesn’t change the fact that she’s fucking mine.
28
Naomi
Can the earth open up and swallow me?
Better yet, can it spit me out in a parallel reality where I don’t have to let my brain shackle my heart and soul?