Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 167204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 557(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 557(@300wpm)
I feel more at home in his laundry room than the rest of the apartment, so I make use of the stain remover, then toss the towels in the washing machine.
Once I get the wash started, I turn around and look at the clothes hung up on the rod in the built-in compartment. I told myself I wouldn’t snoop, so I don’t open the built-in cabinets, but I admire how nice they are. His laundry room is nicer than any place I’ve ever lived.
The whole place is immaculately kept. Further evidence of a maid because if his girlfriend is doing all this, I would expect her to live here, too, and I haven’t seen any evidence of a woman in my non-snooping session.
My heart drops guiltily into my stomach when I walk into his bedroom and see him standing there with just a white towel wrapped around his hips. My mouth goes dry at the sight of him, his dark hair still dripping wet as he pushes it out of his face.
It feels too intimate to see him like this.
He seems unbothered by it, though. He glances at me on his way to his walk-in closet as if girls watch him walk around his bedroom nearly naked all the time.
It’s totally unfamiliar to me, so I turn to leave the room and give him a little privacy.
“You can stay,” he says, amusement clear in his tone. “I’m not shy.”
Yeah, definitely no one’s boyfriend.
I still feel awkward about it, but I turn back around. “I put the towels in the—um, they’re being washed. I didn’t want them to stain, so…”
“Thank you.”
I nod, then start to chew on my bottom lip. “Now that you’re all clean, I should probably do the glue and bandage you up so I can get out of your hair.”
He steps out of the closet with clean clothes and meets my gaze. “Like I said, you’re not going home tonight.”
“And like I said, that’s not really your call. If you’re right and Kyle figured out where I live, I don’t live alone. That could mean my roommate is in danger, and I can’t text her or call her without my phone to warn her to be cautious. What if he goes there looking for me and she opens the door?”
“She doesn’t know anything, so she’s not a threat. He didn’t go into tonight looking to just kill someone, right? He went after you for a pretty specific reason. Unless you think he’ll amend the plan and take your roomie as a virgin sacrifice instead?”
“No, she definitely… does not meet the requirements.”
He cracks a smile. “Then I’m sure she’ll be fine.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You don’t care about her, but I do.”
He glances back at me. “I can send someone to your building to make sure none of the Rho Kappas show up. Give me the address and I’ll text it to my friend.”
I shake my head. “I’d rather handle things the official way. Without a record of what happened tonight, I’ll have no protection if something happens again. The law is not set up to protect women. I need to go down to the police station and file a report about what they tried to do tonight. That way, if they come for me again, I’ll have something that forces the police to take me seriously and protect me from them.”
“I hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but every one of the trust fund brats in that basement tonight has a daddy who could make sure that report got lost. Don’t rely on corruptible institutions to keep you safe from people who possess more power than you do. My friends and I will handle this.”
“I don’t know you or your friends. Why would I trust you to keep me safe?”
My heart sinks when his cool gaze meets mine. He didn’t like that at all, but his tone is even when he says, “Because I’m not giving you a choice.”
I swallow. “You can’t just keep me here against my will.”
“Wanna bet?”
I blink at him. He sounds serious.
And no, I do not want to bet.
“Is this a secret society thing?” I ask, my heart in my throat as the words make their way out of my mouth. “I’ve heard rumors about them. I know people talk about the Blue Bloods and the…”
“If they’re talking about it, that means they don’t know anything,” he states. “If there are secret societies, they wouldn’t stay secret for very long with members running their fucking mouths to anyone who would listen, now would they?”
“You just seem to know a lot about this. You say you weren’t involved, but you know more about why I was in Kyle’s basement tonight than I do. Is he—are they in a secret society?”
He scoffs, apparently offended by the question. “No, that fucking dipshit isn’t in a secret society. None of them are. They didn’t make the cut.”