Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 130380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
“I can’t fucking believe this,” Riley said with an incredulous smile. “When are you going to tell him?”
“I’m not.”
They both balked at that. “What the fuck do you mean, you’re not,” Riley said, and Giana shook her head with the same notion.
I stood and brushed my hands over my dress. “Look, he doesn’t remember who I am, which just shows how insignificant I was to him. And even if he did remember, he was a complete asshole to me and ruined my entire high school experience.”
“It sounds like his friends did that,” Giana pointed out.
“Yeah. And he stood idly by and let them. He didn’t stand up for me. And when he saw what I looked like in real life, he decided I wasn’t worthy of his time anymore.” Just remembering it had me seething, and I was thankful for that anger, because it had been so absent lately that I wondered if it had evaporated altogether.
That anger was a blessing. It saved me from being stupid.
“He’s a prick and I’m over it,” I said with finality I only half felt.
At that, Riley and Giana folded their arms in sync. “Sure, sure, that’s why you two were all eye-fucking just a second ago,” Riley said.
“Don’t you think he’s changed since then? Grown up a little?” Giana added. “Maybe he deserves a chance to explain.”
I chewed the inside of my cheek as that foggy memory of the preseason game surfaced again. I knew we were talking about something when I climbed into bed, when he was about to leave the room…
God, what was it?
For the life of me, I couldn’t remember.
“Look, things with Leo are just too complicated and hold too much pain for me to rehash. Okay? It’s a lot easier for me to remind myself of all the reasons I hate him than it is to think of how he might have changed.”
Giana’s face crumpled at my admission.
“For now, we have a good thing going. We’re friendly and cohabitating. That’s all I want. And,” I added, swiping my jacket off the back of Leo’s chair. “To go out and have a good time with my girls tonight.”
They didn’t look pleased with my insistence to drop the subject, but fortunately, they did.
And after quickly applying lipstick and last-minute touches, we were out the door and on our way to the bar.
Leo
I felt like an unexploded bomb ready to detonate at the slightest movement.
Something lethal stirred in my veins as I drank at the bar with my teammates, a little too attuned to the door as I waited for Mary to walk through it.
I couldn’t place my agitation, couldn’t figure out how I’d managed to be completely fine around Mary until tonight. I’d survived that night in my room with her naked in my bed, kept my hands to myself and didn’t push her when she said she didn’t remember a thing. I had been content to live in this somewhat stable peace between us, knowing that was all I’d get from her.
But seeing her in that dress tonight, watching the way she took me in, how her skin tinged pink… it had wired me up tight enough to combust.
I had to have her.
At the very least, I had to shoot my shot, to tell her that I wanted her and not back down. I wouldn’t let her hide, either. If she didn’t want anything to do with me, she’d have to say it to my face — and the way she looked at me, I knew even if she could get the words out, they’d be a lie.
I was usually up for playing the cat and mouse game. I found it fun, enticing, and loved to lick my chops before finally devouring my prize in the end.
But with Mary, I didn’t have the control to play the game any longer, to act unaffected by her.
I was completely fucking feral.
The chamber around my ribs eased up a bit at the sight of her swinging through the door with Riley and Giana, the three of them running straight to the bar for drinks. I took a long pull of mine as I watched them, taking in Mary in that goddamn dress again.
I’d seen her wear it before, but it was when she lived with Julep and wanted nothing to do with me. Back then, I’d taken one quick look and thought damn. But now, I knew what that body looked like in baggy sweatpants and a loose-fitting t-shirt. I knew what she looked like with messy hair and no makeup on.
And for some reason, that made my blood pump even harder to see her all dolled up, to know both versions of her.
I vibrated with a possession I had no right to feel.
“So, are you actually going to make your move tonight, or are you going to make us suffer through another month of the awkward tension between you two?”