Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 112951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
“Hey.” A low warning.
Gage laughed. “I’m just kidding. I had nothing to do with that beatdown.”
The whole table started laughing.
Cameron had to take it. He only shook his head, pointing his finger at my brother.
“Gage Clarke. You like to play darts?”
The two began to talk.
Casey sat down next to my brother. Sarah beside her, and Kristina started to sit last.
The Cameron guy stopped her, holding his hand out over the table. “No, no, no. You girls can sit over here by us.”
Kristina looked to me, her eyebrows raised in question.
Sarah raised her hand. “I’m saving you the time. She’s got a serious boyfriend.”
He laughed, sounding sincere. “Only gentlemanly intentions here. I promise.” He dropped his voice an octave, indicating me, “How about you?”
A hush fell over the table.
Cameron’s eyebrows pulled together as he glanced around.
I felt Shay watching me. I’d felt him since stepping outside, and I looked over, seeing his hooded gaze intent on me. I gestured to him. “I have a seat—”
Shay finished for me, “She’s taken.”
I crossed to him, and he scooted back for me. His hand came to my hip, and he helped guide me down. He’d been straddling the bench, turned toward the rest of the table, and I was smack in front of him. I leaned back against his chest.
“Well. Then.” Cameron grew quiet, his gaze thoughtful. “I heard rumors, but didn’t know that was confirmed.”
I sipped my drink as Shay’s arms encircled me, falling to my lap. He spoke from behind my ear, “I don’t know what you’re smoking. I know Sabrina told you about us.”
The Cameron guy didn’t respond, his eyes falling on me.
I grew uneasy, not knowing why.
Shay was tense, and then Linde said something and Cameron’s gaze was pulled from us. It felt like a weight had lifted, and I could breathe easier.
I looked back to Shay over my shoulder, making sure no one else could hear me as I asked, “Why’d that guy give me the creeps?”
He shook his head, bending down and placing his lips to my ear. “I’ll explain later.”
We hung out there the entire night, laughing and drinking with friends. Everyone started to leave around five in the morning, and we both collapsed in bed. By that time, the guy was pushed so far down in my mind, that I barely registered anything Shay was saying.
I just wanted his mouth and his body.
And giving up trying to tell me whatever he was supposed to, Shay kissed me back and moved over me in bed.
No one and nothing else mattered.
I was right where I wanted to be.
The holiday break was agonizingly slow and way too fast at the same time.
Gage drove my car the next day for home, and we left after a late breakfast with Kristina, Casey, Sarah, Shay, and Linde. I asked where Laura was, but Sarah just pressed her lips together and slumped down in a chair on the other side of Casey.
Kristina winced. “That’s a sore subject right now.”
I never did find out what happened, but I got an earful about Cameron Brewski. It was mentioned the night before that he was the opposing team’s quarterback, and I learned that he had also been Shay’s rival for a long time. They’d gone to the same high school, went to different colleges, and dated the same girl.
“Same girl?”
Linde added that last bit, watching Shay with a teasing glint in his eyes.
Shay swore under his breath. “You’re such an asshole.”
Linde laughed. “I have no problem spilling the beans.”
“I’m aware.” Shay rolled his eyes, tapping his fingers over the table before making a decision. He turned to me. “Sabrina.”
“Huh?”
“Sabrina?” Casey frowned. “That front desk girl?”
Shay said to me, “I dated her.”
“What?” My mouth dropped. I specifically asked her, too. “She said you were friends. That was it. Why is this the first time I’m hearing you dated?”
His grin morphed into a smirk. “Because we usually don’t talk when we’re alone.”
“Ah!” Gage dropped his toast back onto his plate. He stood, threw his hands in the air, and backed away from the table. “I do not want to hear about my sister’s sex life.” He picked the piece of bread up again and motioned to a different booth. “I know some of those people and I’m going to finish my breakfast there.”
Shay raked a hand through his hair before letting it fall to grasp the back of my chair. “I thought I told you that.”
“You didn’t say shit to me.”
And thinking about it, he rarely did. He knew my stuff: my problems, my trauma, my family, my friends. I started to scowl. What did I know about him? Besides the obvious, that he was damn good in bed and—I felt flutters in my stomach—there was a whole lot of good I knew about him.
The smirk lessened, going back to a grin. “To be honest, there isn’t much to say. I dated her last year for a few months. We broke up and she came back to school this year dating Brewski.”