Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 52338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 262(@200wpm)___ 209(@250wpm)___ 174(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 262(@200wpm)___ 209(@250wpm)___ 174(@300wpm)
His chest heaves as his face turns redder with each passing second. Is he...jealous?
"You know it's not safe," he grounds out. "Being a brat doesn't change the dangers out here."
"And again, why do you care? You're not even assigned to my case anymore. Don't you have another job to get ready for?" Anger flashes in his eyes, but he doesn't respond. I hope my words hurt him just as much as his earlier ones hurt me. I want him to feel how much it stings to have someone discard you so easily as if you never mattered. I want him to drive himself crazy with thoughts of me and who I could possibly be with. I want it to drive him crazy to know other guys are waiting for a chance with me—a chance he had and completely blew it.
"My job has always been to keep you safe—"
"It used to be. You said you were leaving so leave. I'm staying here." I tighten my arms across my chest and continue staring at him. His jaw tightens as he stares me down before he shrugs.
"Fine. Then I'm staying with you," he says and walks back toward the house.
"What? No!" I scurry behind in and grab his arm. "I don't need a babysitter, Trent."
"Well, if you're not leaving, neither am I." He disappears back inside the frat house, and I groan out into the night air before following him back inside.
I make a point of ignoring him as I continue partying with Veronica, taking in more drinks and deliberately dancing with other guys. No matter where I am on the dance floor, I can feel Trent's eyes on me like a laser. Each time our eyes meet across the room, I notice the annoyance harboring in his irises as if he's counting down the minutes until he can toss me over his shoulder and force me to leave.
After a while, I look around and no longer see him standing in the corner of the room. I spin around but only see a sea of faces that aren't familiar. I push my way through the dancing bodies before I stumble into the kitchen. Trent is still nowhere to be found. My hands fumble around in my pocket to pull out my phone as I lean against the kitchen island. Where did he go so fast? If he made it a point to stay this long, why leave without saying anything?
"Hey, Siri, call Trent," I say into my phone, way too drunk to try to find his contact. Before the call could connect, a hand covers my mouth and pulls me backward toward the back hallway. My muffled scream is muted by the music, and no one notices what's happening. I try to flail my arms, but alcohol makes my limbs heavy, and fighting only makes me nauseous. It's almost as if I'm having an out-of-body experience, simply a bystander with no control over what happens.
And as this person holds me in a tight grip as they discreetly pull me up the stairs, I can't help but both wish Trent were here and curse him because he's not.
19
TRENT
Ipull Morgan into a room and lock the door behind me. She stumbles a little when I let go of her, squinting against the bright light when I turn it on. I watch as she blinks a few times, anger coloring her features before her dainty fists pummel my chest.
"Have you lost your mind?!" she screams, still swinging at me. I grab her hands to stop her but don't say anything, giving her a moment to calm her fire. Her chest heaves as she glares at me, the moment ending when Brody's muffled words grabbed her attention. "What the hell? Brody? What's he doing here? What have you done?"
"Do you want to see what happens when you let someone else touch you?" I growl.
Every single time I thought I could just walk away from her, she always did something that showed me I couldn't. I thought I could just stand there and watch her have fun, only acting like a bodyguard to keep her safe. Considering that she's rich and popular, it wouldn't have been seen as unusual for her to have a bodyguard while at a party. But I couldn't stand to watch undeserving douchebags who didn't care about her touch all over her. I couldn't bear to see the hunger in their eyes as they looked at her as if she were prey they hoped to get lucky with. And the longer I watched them, the more two particular thoughts became crystal clear in my mind.
First, I'm jealous of the idea of another man touching her.
But most of all, Morgan Thomson is mine.
Morgan blinks at me and shakes her head. "You're completely off your rocker, Trent. I'm out of here," she says, turning and heading for the door.