Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 113837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 569(@200wpm)___ 455(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 569(@200wpm)___ 455(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
“But Hendrix said if I hide them in my shirt, it’s not stealing,” he whispered. “‘Cause it’s only stealing if you get caught.” Hendrix somehow screwed up everything I tried to set right with Arlo. “Yeah. Well. Hendrix is a dickhead, Arlo.” I dropped the candy onto the counter, and the clerk rang us up. “A dickhead.”
Arlo stared up at me, frowning. “You’re best friends with a dickhead?”
Drew laughed. I glared over my shoulder at her Bennett-dick-riding ass before shoving my money across the counter. Then I grabbed the plastic bag and shot the bird at her on my way out to the car. And what did she do in return? Blew me a kiss. Like the fucking princess that she was.
Arlo stopped by my car’s back door. “Why are you being mean to the nice lady, Bubba? She won me things.”
“She won you things because you’re a cute kid. But what she really is, deep down inside, is what we call a soul-sucking bitch, Arlo.” His eyes widened. Shit—that was not what I meant to say, but by now, the image of her spread eagle with Bennett’s sloppy ass pounding away at her had been ingrained in my mind.
Arlo poked me in the chest. “That’s another not a nice word.”
“Exactly.” I opened his door. “And she’s not a nice person.”
“But…” His brow creased. Then he looked up at me like he was thinking harder about this than anything in his life. “She’s pretty.”
“And the pretty ones are always the worst. Because they’re entitled.”
“Entitled?”
I picked him up, placing him in his booster seat and buckling him in. “Yep. Entitled, meaning they will shit all over you in a heartbeat.”
Hook up with you and leave you with blue balls. Flirt with you. Get you arrested. Then ask you for advice on condoms they intend to use with Barrington’s dumbass quarterback.
“Ew. Girls poop!” His nose wrinkled before his tongue stuck out on a gag.
The butt-hurt tidal wave inside of me ebbed, and I shook my head. The kid was six. If he wanted to think pretty girls were nice, what did it hurt? “Don’t worry about it, buddy. You’ll get it one day.”
And he would because he was Dayton, which unfortunately meant, one day he’d see exactly what that meant.
17
Drew
“I’m so nervous,” Nora whispered, staring through the windshield at Olivia’s house. The landscape lighting directed at it made it look pretentious as hell.
Nora had told me earlier she was worried about what Barrington kids would think of her. Which shocked me. It was stupid to care what any of these people thought, but then, I’d never been the poor girl, so maybe I was ignorant to her concern.
“It’ll be fine. Olivia and Jackson are nice.” I cut the engine to Dad’s Maserati and got out. Technically, I was instructed to only use his car to go to school and for emergencies, but he’d gone on some golfing trip that even his unruly daughter wouldn’t keep him from. So, I was going to a party, and there was no way I was walking the two blocks to Olivia’s in these heels—I figured driving it a street over wouldn’t hurt.
We made our way across Olivia’s cobblestone drive. The tap of Nora’s heels came to an abrupt halt before we reached the door. “Do I look okay?”
Everything she had on, from the dress that hugged her curves just so, to the bright-red heels, I had loaned her—and told her to keep. I had legitimately never seen someone so happy to strap on a pair of Prada heels.
“Of course.” With a smile, I swept a curl over her shoulder, then rang the doorbell.
A mixture of god-awful pop music and ruckus laughter greeted us when Olivia opened the door, then dragged me in for a hug. Her gaze swept over Nora as I introduced them, and Nora waved shyly. Olivia barely acknowledged her before taking my elbow and dragging me toward the kitchen.
A mixture of drinks covered the island, and when we stopped at the end of it, a group of girls glared at us.
“Ignore those bitches,” Olivia said. “Their Jackson’s desperate admirers. It’s gross.”
“Speaking of admirers…” I opened my clutch and handed over the box of condoms I’d bought from the 7-11earlier—inadvertently pissing Bellamy off. I couldn’t help but smile. Maybe I was a dick, but I enjoyed his jealousy. Wanted it even. Again with that boy inducing the crazy. At this point, I’d kind of just accepted that he made me mental.
“Drew!” She snatched the box, her face going bright red before she opened a random kitchen drawer and shoved them inside. “Oh my God. Jackson will rat me out to Mom and Dad in like, two seconds.”
“What will I rat you out for?” Jackson’s arm came around my shoulders, and Olivia glared at him.
“Everything.”
Ignoring her, Jackson turned to Nora and introduced himself.