Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 65683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 328(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 219(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 328(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 219(@300wpm)
Footsteps sounded, so I jumped back into the bed, then quickly set the full cup on the nightstand and pretended to be asleep. The floor creaked, and the door opened. I smiled and scooted closer to the nightstand, eyes still closed. There were at least seven small steps toward the bed—don’t ask me why I was forced to memorize that minor detail—and she always took small, aggressively powerful steps toward me.
“Wakey, wakey,” she whispered and then hopped on the bed. I could almost feel her raise her hand. In three, two, one—I snapped onto my back and pulled her onto my stomach, then reached for the water and spilled it directly on her chest, then dropped it and immediately panicked and shoved her off me. “Shit, that was pee!”
“WHAT!” She scrambled off the bed. “Why do you have pee on your nightstand!”
“I’m concussed!” The way I was able to keep it together. “Look, I’m sorry, you said to stay in bed, to be careful. You’ve been coming in here slapping my ass so hard that I’m bruising, so I grabbed a cup from the floor and peed in it. Well, I guess, I technically peed on you.” I pressed my lips together as she stared down at her white T-shirt, then immediately regretted the fact that it was so dark in my room. I should have thought that through way better.
“Unbelievable!” She did a little dance, then tugged off her shirt and chucked it at me. The next thing I knew, she was in my arms, punching me in the chest with her legs wrapped around me like a monkey.
She always did have a temper.
I threw her onto the bed. “I’m injured!”
“I’ll injure you more!”
“Aghhhh.” I flipped her onto her back and pinned her wrists to the mattress. “Look, I was just playing a prank because my ass is sore.”
“Oh, like that’s new for you, and wait—” She frowned in the darkness. “You lied about the pee?”
“It was water, Cinderella, and not even dirty. I just wanted to see your face after having a sliver of the torture you’ve been dishing out to me for the past eight hours.”
She shoved against me, but I held her there. “You’re a monster. You just wanted me to take off my shirt!”
I rolled my eyes. “Please, I’ve seen bras before.”
That silenced her up real fast until her eyes flickered down toward her torso, then upward toward mine.
“What?” I followed the direction of her gaze and froze. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to keep her pinned, send her running from the room, or use actual words.
She was topless.
And all I could manage to get out was, “That’s not a bra.”
CHAPTER 17
TRU
“Get. Off.” I gritted my teeth. He was too warm, too close, and I knew that look because I’d seen it a million times before. I hated that I always said before—before the heartbreak. But what sucked about before was there will always be a hellish after. I’d never experienced anything different.
Vaughan very slowly released my hands and flipped onto his back. “I remember them being bigger up close.”
I grabbed a pillow and slammed it onto his face. “Concussion, my ass. I don’t want your death on my hands… at least I didn’t, but I’m not coming back in here to do you any more favors!”
“Favors?” he roared, jumping to his feet and nearly falling over in the process. “A favor would be gently shaking someone awake, not using his brain damage to physically abuse him and scare the shit out of him while he’s dreaming!”
“You have dreams?” I slammed the pillow onto his face again, then tossed it. “Weird, since you’ve always ever been a nightmare to me.”
His nostrils flared, and then we were chest to chest. I didn’t even care that he could see my nipples. All I cared about was getting his ass off this college campus so I could have some emotional peace. “You lie so well. Then again, you always have.”
“We all have our strong suits. All you need to do is think about skanks, and you’ll see where yours lies. You know what sucks really bad, though?”
Why were my eyes getting blurry?
“You?” He crossed his arms.
“Forget it.” I started to walk off, but he grabbed me by the wrist and spun me back. “I said forget it!”
“No, you started it. Now finish it. Maybe now I’ll get some closure.”
I jerked away from his grasp. “Closure? How selfish when you were the one who left it that way, and you know it. Do you think I didn’t hear you all those years ago? What would you have done in my position?” His eyes narrow, and he opens his mouth. “No, you don’t get to speak. I’ll meet you at the usual time for tutoring. Other than that, don’t speak to me, don’t flirt and say you can’t help it. Just graduate and get out of my life.” I turned on my heel.