Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 115590 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 578(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115590 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 578(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
10
Monroe
My week was going just great. Jerry and I had gotten into a fight on Saturday, which earned me a split lip. My shit box car wouldn’t start. Again. Which meant Jade had to drop me at Max’s house. And then there was Zepp...
I will kill him, Roe. The words rang around my head for what felt like the hundredth time as I sat in Max’s huge kitchen. I’d screwed up. I never said I was dating Max, but I had let Zepp assume.
Well, assumption was the mother of all screw ups, because now Zepp wanted Max dead.
I could have just told him the truth, but the last thing I needed was Zepp thinking he could take Jerry because the simple fact was, he probably couldn’t. High school kids were one thing. A dirty meth dealer was another entirely. Truthfully, I didn’t want Jerry to hurt Zepp, and that was why I’d kept my mouth shut, inadvertently creating a different problem. At the root of it, I knew Zepp only gave a crap because Max was from Barrington.
“So, I just need to divide it again?” Max asked, snapping my attention across the marble breakfast bar. His brows pulled together as he stared at the textbook in front of him.
“Yeah.” I moved around the counter and turned the page.
“Why does anyone need to know about algebra?”
“Who knows? But you need to for that A.” The little pep in my voice made me cringe. Max was paying me. I felt like I owed it to him to try to be nice, like a normal person.
“I just want to play football.”
I envied the fact that his life was so easy, that he had room to have passion for something so trivial. After we had finished going over quadratic equations, I shoved my books into my ragged backpack. “Just keep practicing. You’ll get it.”
“Doubtful,” he said on a snort. Max led me into the hotel-standard foyer, then opened the door. Light from inside cut across the manicured lawn. “Hey.” He grabbed my wrist before I reached the first step, but quickly dropped it when I gave him a sharp look. “I know I already asked, but you really should come to my party this weekend.”
I could not imagine anything worse than a Barrington party. “Uh, thanks. But I’m busy.”
“I get it. Hunt wouldn’t like it.” A small smirk pulled at his lips. “Huh?”
“I’m not dating Zepp.” I felt like I had to defend myself.
“Good. He’s scum.”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
“Come on; it’ll be fun.” He swept a tendril of hair from my face, making me uncomfortable. “Bring a friend if you want.”
I was annoyed at the mention of Zepp, and I wanted off Max’s porch. “Maybe.” I backed toward the step. “I’ll let you know.”
With a smug smile, he closed the door. I stared at my phone on my way down the stairs, typing out a text to Jade to let her know I was ready to be picked up. It was only when I reached the end of the long drive that I looked up, and my steps faltered. The lights on either side of the Harford’s gates reflected off the shiny, black paint of a motorcycle. A figure separated from the shadows. He took a puff from his cigarette, the bright end glowing before he dropped it. Embers skittered over the pavement.
I froze. A list of questions flipped through my mind: How did he know I was here? How did he know where Max lived? Why was he here?
“I told you I was gonna kill him.” A wild flicker of rage burned in his eyes when he started across the lawn.
I ran after him, placing myself in his path, then slamming both palms against his chest. Like that did any good.
“Get outta the way, Monroe.”
“Zepp. Stop!”
For a split second, he stilled. But then his gaze shot over my shoulder to Max’s house. He jabbed an angry finger in the air, mumbling, “you motherfucker.” I turned. Max was at the window, his judgmental stare fixed on us.
That was enough.
Zepp took determined strides toward the front, like a total psycho. I guessed this was what everyone was so scared of, the side of him that had earned him his reputation.
I ran past him, taking the first two steps and blocking his path. “It’s not him.”
“Move,” he grunted.
I grabbed his face and forced him to look at me.
His eyes were a churning pit of chaos, demons dancing around a fire within their black depths. “I swear to God, Monroe…”
“I’m not dating Max!”
He glanced back to the window, his face boiling red. “You think it’s funny, you little bitch? I will take your guts and hang them over the freeway.” He rounded me and pounded his fist over the wooden door.
“You really think Max Harford could hit me?”