Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 67553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
“Who’s that?” the man at my side asked.
I hadn’t realized that I’d turned partially away from them, and toward him, until his voice dragged me out of my pain.
“That’s my ex-best friend,” I answered quietly.
I didn’t know why I answered honestly.
I mean, truthfully, I probably should’ve just kept my mouth shut.
I really didn’t know this man other than what I’d learned just this morning.
But the pain in my chest was too much to keep inside.
Unfortunately for him, he asked the right question, and I’d needed to give the answer.
“What’d she do to become an ex?” he asked quietly.
As if he actually cared.
It was the interest in knowing my answer that was evident in his voice that had me answering honestly.
“I caught my fiancé cheating with her,” I explained.
His eyes narrowed, and before I could guess what he was about to do, he did it.
He pulled me into his arms and said, “I’m not a very nice man, Brecken.”
My heartbeat started to pound. “O-okay.”
“But I really don’t like two-faced friends.” He leaned close. “Pretend like you want me.”
I nearly laughed.
I wouldn’t have to pretend a thing.
I’d be a complete fool to not want him.
In fact, I was so intrigued by what he said that I didn’t wonder why he’d said it until he was in my space. And I mean, really in my space.
He was so close that I could feel his body heat. His breath was going from his mouth into mine.
I could smell his cologne.
And fuck, did it smell good.
Expensive.
Unobtrusive.
Deliriously sexy.
“Um, what?” I asked, my brain no longer functioning at all.
I wasn’t even sure where I was.
Had he told me to do a jump, I’d have reacted and asked him how high.
“Why does that guy look so familiar?” he asked me, voice deep and soft all at once.
Again with him asking me questions that I couldn’t make my brain comprehend.
“Um.” I hesitated. “Probably because you’re a band follower.”
I watched those beautifully thick lashes sweep down in a slow blink, brushing his high cheekbones.
When his eyes opened again, I realized that his eyes weren’t really dark. They were, but they weren’t.
At first glance, I thought they were brown. Dark brown.
But with him this close, I realized they weren’t brown at all. But a really dark blue. Navy blue. Like the color of his jeans.
They were gorgeous.
And he had a gold ring around both eyes that made that dark blue pop.
“I have no clue what a band follower is supposed to mean or why that would make me recognize him more likely,” he said.
“Band. The West Dallas Marching Band,” I explained. “They were live on social media when they tried to pull a prank on the principal. The principal, my ex, got caught fucking my best friend, the band director.”
“Got it,” he said. “I actually remember hearing about it now. They were on the news?”
“They were on trial, too,” I confirmed. “It just wrapped up last month. They were able to get their jobs back thanks to some loophole. Which now has me sandwiched between the both of them.”
“Harsh,” he murmured quietly. “Would you like me to kill them for you?”
I snickered. “Sure. Make it happen. I’ll owe you.”
He didn’t laugh, though.
When I refocused on him instead of the striation of his irises, I realized that he looked rather serious.
Which made me a bit nervous…
He blinked, though, and the look was gone. Replaced by something else.
Something I couldn’t read but I knew to be dangerous. “I have to go now.”
I swallowed. “I should probably get out of the doorway and let my kids into the classroom.”
Sure enough, there were about ten of them loitering in the hall, not willing to interrupt us.
I knew it was because the man standing in front of me, half blocking the door, looked pretty scary.
But when I looked beyond the kids, who couldn’t care less that they were stuck outside—all of them on their phones—I saw Rupert standing in his doorway, glaring hard at Shasha’s back.
“Uh, okay,” I said as I tried to take a step back.
He caught my hip, squeezed it, and turned.
He didn’t make eye contact with Rupert, but it didn’t matter. Rupert still shrank back from him anyway.
God, he was such an asshole.
I’d been joking earlier about wanting him dead. But somewhere deep inside of me? That part wanted to harm him worse than he harmed me. I wanted to lop his dick off and feed it to him. I wanted to cut his ear off with a rusty spoon. I wanted to…
The bell rang, pulling me out of my thoughts. “Okay, class. Let’s get inside.”
Everyone filed in, and I didn’t spare Rupert another glance.
Maybe if I had, I would’ve seen the calculation in his eyes that he got when he found a puzzle that he needed to work out.
By the time I got home from work, I was ready for bed.