Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
By the time we drive through the iron gates of Hawthorne Prep and pull into the parking lot, flashes from last week are rolling unwantedly through my head. The last thing I need is for the photo scandal to get resurrected. With any luck, there’ll be a lot of new juicy gossip making the rounds. There were plenty of people getting drunk and hooking up.
And not necessarily with the ones they should have been.
That can only work in my favor, right?
Once Mom kills the engine, I pick up my backpack and exit the vehicle. She does the same, chattering nonstop through the parking lot as we head to the main entrance. From beneath the fringe of my lashes, I glance at the small groups of students who are hanging out and talking before the first bell rings. Unlike last Monday, I haven’t garnered any unwanted attention. I catch a few tidbits of gossip but nothing that pertains to me. My muscles incrementally loosen in relief as my shoulders lower from around my ears.
When I’m halfway across the lot, my gaze collides with gunmetal gray eyes. As our gazes lock, his lips slowly slide into a malicious smile and a shiver of dread scampers down my spine. It’s tempting to rub my hands over my arms to banish the chill that has settled over me.
Ripping my attention away is almost impossible. I’m like a rabbit caught in a hunter’s trap. How did I date this guy for six months and not see the evil lurking beneath the surface?
Was it willful ignorance on my part?
I don’t know, but I’m certainly paying the price for it now.
“I hope you have a good day, sweetie,” Mom says, breaking into those unsettling thoughts and drawing my focus back to her.
I force a smile. “Thanks, you too.”
The woman is positively brimming with joy. It’s not like I begrudge her happiness. I just know where it stems from and that there’s no way it will last.
She pulls open the glass door and we walk into the spacious corridor already crowded with students. With a wave, she heads to the office while I beeline toward my locker. Just like in the parking lot, the buzz of conversation swirls around me. My ears stay pricked, listening for my name, but there’s nothing.
Once I reach my locker, I spin the dial and yank open the metal before reaching inside to grab the books I’ll need for my first few classes. Just as I’m about to slam the door closed, the fine hair at the nape of my neck prickles and I realize someone is watching me. I don’t have to glance around to know exactly who I’ll find.
It only takes a few seconds for my eyes to collide with green-flecked ones and my heartbeat stalls in my chest. No matter how much I want to remain unaffected by his presence, I’m not.
One look and my skin comes alive, humming with electricity. There’s a magnetic pull that flares to life within me, and I have to mentally stop myself from taking a step in his direction. After everything that occurred, I don’t understand why these feelings are still there, attempting to claw their way to the surface.
Austin leans against the locker across from mine in the middle of the congested hallway. His arms are folded over his broad chest as he silently stares. As casual as his demeanor appears, I feel the tension vibrating off him in thick waves from the distance that separates us. In that moment of intense connection, the world around us falls away and ceases to exist.
It’s just the two of us in the hallway.
When he pushes away from the wall and takes a step in my direction, I snap out of the trance that has fallen over me and slam the thin metal door shut before scurrying to class, where I’ll be safe from the likes of Austin Hawthorne.
A distant part of my brain wonders if that’s even possible.
Maybe I’ve been given a slight reprieve, but deep down, there’s no chance it will last.
It’s almost a surprise when I make it to first hour in one piece. After I fled down the hallway, I half expected Austin’s fingers to lock around my arm and for him to drag me off somewhere private. The sad truth is that once he lays his hands on me, I’ll be lost in a turbulent sea of need. My brain is no match for my heart and body.
His conversation with Aubrey plays in my head on repeat.
“Why are you even with Delilah? You can’t actually like her.”
“Of course we’re not together. It’s just fucking.
I need to remember what it felt like to stand outside the study and hear those words trip so easily off his tongue. The pain that sliced through me was enough to bring me to my knees.