Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 131330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Done with Casey’s bullshit, I skip up the stairs, grabbing the railing and using it to propel me up them faster, and before I know it, I’m in the entrance hallway and barging through to the dark alley. I hurry out to the road and let out a heavy sigh of relief as I find Aspen’s white Corvette.
She sits in the car, the engine running, and it’s clear I have all of two seconds to catch her before she takes off.
I make every second count.
Hurrying around her car and putting myself in the street, I grab the handle of the driver’s door and pull it open wide, watching as Aspen shrieks with fear, clearly assuming I’m some asshole on the street wanting to take advantage of a beautiful woman.
“Fuck, Izaac. What the hell do you think you’re doing? You scared the shit out of me.”
I clench my jaw, unsure why I suddenly feel so worked up. “What the fuck just happened back there?” I question. “One second we were good, and the next, shit got weird. Why’d you run like that? If I did something, you need to tell me. You can’t just run away and leave me in the fucking dark.”
She gapes at me as though I’m fucking clueless and should know better, and all it does is piss me off. She’s fucking right, though, I am clueless, and I probably should know better.
Clearly seeing that I’m not interested in playing stupid games, she lets out a heavy sigh and cuts the engine, fixing me with a heavy stare. “You made me feel dirty.”
My jaw practically dislodges from my face as it falls to the fucking ground. “The fuck? What are you talking about?” I demand, my mind racing through everything that just went down and coming up almost blank. “Was it the balls? I thought you were okay with that shit.”
Aspen groans, rolling her eyes. “It’s got nothing to do with the fucking balls.”
“Then feel free to clue me in at any time.”
The hardness in her eyes fades away before being left with a vulnerability that makes something ache in my chest. “You made it transactional, Izaac,” she says, her shoulders sagging with the heaviness of what she’s trying to say. “I know we agreed that it was just sex. I get that, I really do. But when you sent me on my way, you made me feel like I was some stranger off the street when, despite everything you say, you and I both know that it’s more than that.”
“It’s not more than that,” I argue, practically feeling my walls slamming into place. The drunk phone call and texts, the dirty talking. I know I was bold with her, but perhaps I’ve led her on, and that really wasn’t my intention.
“But it is,” she fires back at me. “No matter what you say, it’ll always be more than that because, whether you like it or not, we have history. We’ve known each other all our lives, and while I agree that it’s just sex, I won’t agree to being treated like some second-class whore. What just happened in there was the equivalent of being kicked out after a one-night stand before you even got a chance to steal the guy’s shirt. I mean, fuck, Izaac! I had your dick halfway down my esophagus! Don’t you think that’s at least deserving of being offered a drink after?”
I just stare at her, a slight smirk lifting the corner of my lips. “Are you saying you want to . . .” I swallow hard, “cuddle?”
Her face falls, staring at me as though she wasn’t sure she was even speaking the same language. “When the hell did you hear me say that I wanted to cuddle? Fuck, Izaac. You know you’re impossible, right?”
“I’m impossible? You’re the one who ran away because you wanted to cuddle.”
“For the last fucking time,” she says, the frustration burning in her green eyes. “I DON’T WANT TO CUDDLE!”
“Shit, Aspen. Why don’t you tell the whole fucking street our business?”
Aspen flies out of the driver’s seat, her fingers jammed into my chest. “I swear to God, I’m going to reach down your throat and pull your testicles out through your mouth and strangle you with them,” she grits through a clenched jaw. “Now leave me alone. I’m going home so I can make a little Izaac voodoo doll and drown it.”
“No.”
She gapes at me. “What do you mean no?”
“I mean that you’ve only been giving me bullshit answers because you’re either embarrassed about something or too fucking scared to say what’s really going on. So, cut the shit and tell me what’s really going on.”
Aspen clenches her jaw and fixes me with a hard stare, her hands propped on her hips as though trying to intimidate me into backing off, but she should know better than to try that shit on me.