Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Cody tried to break free and go back for the jerk who was moaning on the floor, covering his face with his hands as he cried, “That asshole broke my nose.”
“Yeah, and I’m going to break a whole lot more.” Cody struggled against Ryder. “Let me go, Ryder. He hit her. This dickbag hit her.”
“Cool it!” Ryder shouted, yanking back harder before he leaned in and said something in his ear that I couldn’t make out.
Cody finally shook himself off just as Ezra came running up. “What the hell happened here?”
“This drunk fuck hit Hailey in the face with his elbow.” The accusation was abraded gravel.
“I didn’t touch her.” The guy writhed on the ground, and Ezra glanced back at Cody and gave a tick of his head. “Get out of here. I’ll take care of him.”
Cody hesitated, clearly contemplating diving back for the jerk.
“Now, Cody.” Ezra’s voice was a low warning, and I knew if Ezra hadn’t been there, Cody would likely be heading to jail right about then.
Paisley came through the crowd. Shock colored her expression when she saw the scene, and she rushed over and slid her arm around my waist. “Oh my gosh, what happened? Are you okay?”
“I’m okay.” I was barely able to say it, and I was suddenly thankful she had an arm around me to keep me steady when Cody shifted and took two steps in my direction.
His bottom lip had a small cut, and a droplet of blood was already drying into a scab. Every line of his face was riddled with ferocity, with an apology, with the truth that he didn’t regret it all except for the worry that he might have hurt me in some way.
Ezra dragged the drunk guy onto his feet and pushed him through the crowd, and the band struck back up and people hit the dance floor like this was a routine event, which I supposed in a bar like this it probably was.
People getting unruly and rowdy.
Alcohol suppressing inhibitions.
In my experience, it was always when true personalities came out, usually amplified, good or bad.
But nothing about this felt routine to me.
It felt like a shift.
A crack right down the middle.
“Get out of here, Cody.” Ryder repeated what Ezra had instructed, though it was urgent with a warning.
I stood surrounded by my new friends, flanked by Dakota and Savannah, and Paisley’s arm was still solidly hooked on my waist as the crowd moved around us like we weren’t standing still in the middle of them.
Cody’s attention slanted to me.
That apology grew deeper.
Severe.
Stark.
Before he shook his head like he’d come to some conclusion, like he’d suddenly seen himself as the problem, and he turned away from us and started to carve himself through the disorder that roiled on the floor.
“I’ll get you home,” Paisley told me, just as Ryder roughed a frustrated hand over his face and said, “I’m going to go check on him.”
I swallowed around the thickness in my throat. “No, let me.”
A frown cut into Paisley’s brow. “Are you sure? He’s a lot when he’s upset. You might want to let him cool down.”
“I’ll be fine,” I promised.
In reluctance, she wavered, before she dipped her chin. “Text me later?”
“I will.”
“Okay.”
I weaved through the crowd, heading in the same direction Cody had gone.
Through the toiling bodies that writhed on the dance floor and the groups who’d grown thick around the tables.
I kept weaving through, following the wake of heat.
I pushed out the main door and into the summer night.
The deafening volume coming from the bar was cut in half the second the door clanged shut behind me.
A few people dotted the packed parking lot, their voices distant but distinct with the quiet that echoed in the air.
My attention drifted to the right, to the bluster of energy that pulsed, heavy and hot.
Cody stood facing away, a giant in the night, eyes on the ground and his shoulders heaving in spastic quakes.
I took a couple tentative steps toward him. My voice was barely a whisper when I spoke. “Are you okay?”
The shake of his head was harsh, and I could almost see the aggression still lining his muscles. All the easygoing casualness he normally wore had gone completely missing and in its place was a frisson of volatility.
“It’s not me I’m worried about, Hailey.”
“I’m completely fine, Cody. You didn’t need to do that.”
He peered back at me.
Golden eyes flashed beneath the dingy light that hung from the side of the building. “You don’t think I’m going to stand aside and let someone I care about get hurt, do you? I never should have let you go to begin with.”
My chest panged.
I never should have let you go.
But he would. He’d already made it clear. And standing there right then made me sure him walking away would break me.