Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 158635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 793(@200wpm)___ 635(@250wpm)___ 529(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 158635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 793(@200wpm)___ 635(@250wpm)___ 529(@300wpm)
I know where this is going, what he’s planning, and I want to stop him, but my reaction is delayed.
His lips are reaching for mine, and I try to push at his chest, but before I can do that, Lan is shoved off me.
Not by one set of hands, but two.
Jeremy punches Landon in the face, and when he falls to the ground, a very angry, very beautiful blonde stares down at him with a murderous expression.
Then she kicks him in the nuts. With her giant boot.
31
CECILY
I’ve never been more stunned than as I am at this moment.
The scene happens in slow motion, yet it’s so fast that I can’t keep up.
It’s like staring at the world through blurry lenses while riding a roller coaster.
Landon grunt, groans, then rolls onto his back, sporting a bloodied lip and a red jaw. However, he has the happiest, most genuine grin I’ve ever seen.
“Hi, mouse. Miss me?”
Mia continues glaring at him, and it looks anything but menacing, in view of her poufy dress, the ribbons intertwined in her hair like snakes, and her generally regal presence.
However, her kick was definitely painful considering the echoing sound. She flips him off and signs something to Jeremy. I don’t understand what she’s saying, but there’s a lot of energy behind it.
Mia strikes me as the type of person who simply can’t be defined by her disability, fashion sense, or spiky personality. It’s like she flows and flows, unable to put a halt to the flood of what’s inside her.
While she talks to the man who’s grabbing me from behind, a violent chill covers my skin as I glance back.
I’ve seen Jeremy exactly two times since he cruelly and indefinitely removed me from his life. Once when I drove by the cottage and saw him going inside.
The other time was when I allowed Ava to drag me to the fight club and watched him nearly be beaten to death by Killian.
It was one of those off-championship fights that happens every night, and it looked like he had a death wish.
I left before the fight was over.
Now, I regret looking at him, because nothing could’ve prepared me for being this close to him.
In a way, he hasn’t changed. He still has sharp, masculine features that drip with savage intensity and the build of a warlord who gets off on conquering lands and people.
His broad shoulders eat up the horizon, filling my vision with the dazzling strength of his presence.
The black T-shirt tightens around his biceps, and the tattoos ripple with each flex of his muscles. As if, like him, they’re on the edge.
My gaze flicks to where he’s touching me. My elbow.
That’s what he always grabs when he wants to put distance between us, when he treats me like nothing more than the object of his dirty fucks.
In fact, he’s only held my hand about twice.
The place where his flesh meets mine burns, flares, and gains a life of its own. And that has less to do with how his fingers dig into my skin and more to do with the fact that he’s touching me.
Those ash, cold-blooded eyes that should be mass-produced as weapons are concentrated on Mia’s signing. Not once has he looked at me or acknowledged me, but the weight of their attention can be felt through the absence of it.
Mia has finished signing and is now waiting for Jeremy’s reply with a hand on her hip.
“He’s all yours,” he tells her, obviously having understood her.
“Oh?” Landon jumps up to a standing position and straps his mask around his neck, appearing as cool as ever, short of the bruising and blood. “I’m going have to decline whatever deal you two have.”
He grabs my other hand. “Cecy and I have a date.”
No, we don’t.
But before I can say that, merciless fingers dig further into the flesh surrounding my elbow and I wince.
“The only date you’ll have is for a funeral.” Jeremy tugs hard, wrenching me from Landon, or more like, my childhood friend lets go at the last second.
“Necrophilia. Yum.” He grins with a suggestive lick of his lips. Mia lifts her leg to kick his crotch again, but he blocks her with a hand on her head, effectively immobilizing her in place. “Jesus fucking Christ, calm down, and stop acting like a rabid dog.”
That only makes her want to grab at him more as she struggles, punches, and kicks—mostly the air.
Lan effortlessly escapes her attempts at violence and stares at Jeremy with his provocative smile. “Let go of Cecily.”
“No.”
I pull my elbow free. “You have no right to touch me.”
He finally slides his gaze to me in the form of a glare. I glare right back.
Why does he get to act this way when he’s the one who ended us?
“What she said.” Lan tsks and shakes his head while Mia continues to struggle and exert herself for nothing. “How does it feel to be the second choice to me? In fact, you wouldn't have even been on her list if you hadn't stalked her.”