Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 160578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 642(@250wpm)___ 535(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 642(@250wpm)___ 535(@300wpm)
It's her scent that irks me most. It takes me right back to every moment I’ve shared with her. I don’t want to be reminded of all the ways she’s proven how valuable or strong she is.
She kept her hair pulled back from her face, only sharpening her high cheekbones. Obsidian smoke magnifies the hint of lavender and translucent gray of her eyes, a fucking softness about her that punctures my soul every time.
“Why are you here?” All of which she’ll never know.
“You know why I’m here.” Her fingers wrap around my glass as she plucks it from me. Curving her lips around it, the liquid disappears down her throat.
It’s the second time she’s distracted me tonight.
“Do it.” Her words bring me back down. As if she could read the thoughts racing through my head.
When I don’t answer, she turns, placing both hands on the table and the glass back into my hand. She pats it like one would a pet, and a growl rumbles from somewhere deep and primal. She can’t worm her way to my triggers, since I’ve had none.
Until recently.
The soft cushion of her lips caresses mine, but I keep my jaw locked. “Make sure you don’t miss this one.” Her thigh brushes my arm when it pokes out of the long slit that travels all the way too fucking high. With her other hand, she brings mine to her inner thigh. Flames travel down my spine, and my fingers bury into her skin in response. Searching. Seeking to rip her open and tear her to shreds. “Or maybe do. He might trip and fall onto a new wife the same way I did you, husband.”
My hand falls when she releases it. I’d thought about killing her more times than I’d ever thought about killing anyone. Put her out once and for all and be done with it, but that would cost too much.
I can’t kill the girl I hate because of the one I don’t.
“Where’s your ribbon, Madness?” My throat rasps as if I’ve smoked a thousand cigarettes. I need to.
My arm catches the back of Vaden’s chair in my attempt to put distance between us. Distance I need before I do something out of character, like losing my fucking cool.
Her search around the room stops at my words before it bounces around the group at our table. It’s only War, Halen, Vaden, and River, but that’s three too many in her head. Her eyes cut back down to me. If the Devil was real, then right now, Luna Nox was his mistress.
Too bad she’s my fucking wife.
Her fingers find the slit of her dress once more as she shifts it to the side, exposing the holster strapped around her thigh and the pale-yellow ribbon holding up the throwing stars. When I’d first given her them, I did so intending to embarrass her enough that she’d be forced to use a gun. Clearly, it didn’t work, and Archer Thorn took it upon himself to train her to use them.
A wave of heat crashes over me in what’s beginning to feel too familiar.
“Right here.” Her smile spreads wide, a ray of fucking moonlight. “Where it belongs.”
She snaps her legs closed at the speed of a Venus flytrap, clapping me out of her trance as the ambiance of boring chatter and music comes back.
“Okay, that’s it.” River appears from behind, an arm hooking around Luna to pull her away from the table.
“And what was that?” War asks with a half-wide smile. The kind he always wears whenever he’s going to say something dumb.
I lift the glass to my lips to swallow the rest of my drink, ignoring the taste of candy that Luna’s lip gloss left behind, when I realize she fucking drank it all.
“That was nothing but an annoying wife, one I didn’t ask for.”
Laughter and clapping can be heard from the other side of the room as Jessica makes her way to the stage.
She taps at the mic before her ruby-red lips curve in a smile. “Evening, Riverside! I’m Jessica Dela’mentes, and I’ll be entertaining you all tonight. Some of you may recognize me by my father—” She gestures to Nate. “Nathanial Riverside Malum.”
I find War instantly. Jaw tight and anger spreading up his neck like a rash. His eyes swing to Nate, and mine land on Dad.
The question hovers in the background of his stare. Where in the world is our long-lost brother? Since Halen brought him home like one would a stray dog. I work faster than the Devil, he’s already been…put away somewhere busy.
“Which gives me the immense pleasure of being your headmistress going into the first semester. For those who do not know me, and I know there are a lot of you, and only few who do—” Her emerald gaze falls on me.