Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
“Ugh,” Raven groaned. “So arrogant.”
“Like you don’t know you’re the fuckin’ hottest thing in this club,” I tossed back.
Shit.
Maybe I was pushing it too far because Theo arched a speculative brow as he took a sip of his scotch, clearly thinking he should deliver me a warning.
Kane let go of a low chuckle.
“Well, I am pretty hard to look away from,” Raven said. “Have you seen this top?”
Top?
I would hardly call it that.
She shimmied her shoulders.
Taunting me the way she liked to do. As if I hadn’t noticed. As if I didn’t see her face every damned time I blinked.
Sometimes I thought she was purposefully trying to drive me to the edge.
“Honestly, I can’t believe River let you out of the house dressed like that,” Kane said with a disbelieving shake of his head.
“Yeah, my baby sister is a fuckin’ stunner. I’m going to have to look after you tonight to make sure the pervs stay away,” I said as casually as I could.
Calling her that was nothing but a bucket of ice water dumped directly onto my head. A wedge driven between us. A reminder of every reason I could never go there.
I mean, fuck, I’d known her since she was just a little kid. Since she was nine years old.
Back when River had shown up with her in LA after he’d gotten her away from the abuse of their piece of shit father.
Would never forget the first time I saw her. This terrified little thing who’d been wrapped in a blanket and shaking in the corner of the abandoned building where we’d lived.
A shiver of old fury rolled through me. The knowledge of what she had gone through. Both then and later.
A flash of annoyance took hold of her expression, making me sure she hated when I called her that, before she pinned on a saucy smirk that was nothing but a challenge. “Maybe that’s exactly what I’m looking for tonight…some hot guy who wants to take me home.”
I had to restrain the growl from getting loose of my chest. I knew she’d been dating some little douchewad a month or so back. Couldn’t handle the vile image of the bastard wrapped up in that lush, gorgeous body.
I’d overheard her telling Charleigh that she’d ended things. They’d gone to whispering when they realized I was eavesdropping, so I hadn’t been able to get the full story. The only thing I’d known for sure was the fuckin’ punch of relief I’d felt at the news.
If she hooked up tonight with some other loser, I was going to go off the rails.
“You know, someone who’s rough and dirty,” she continued, driving the needle in. “Maybe one of your biker friends.”
She looked around the table like she was asking one of us to set her up.
That time, I did growl. “Watch yourself, Raven, or any prick you decide to grace with your presence tonight is going to end up missin’.”
“Second that,” Theo said, lifting his glass like we were making a pact.
She laughed like it was absurd. She should have known better. She pointed around the table. “All of you, including my brother, are going to have to stop that nonsense.” She hooked her thumb toward her chest. “I’m twenty-five. TWENTY-FIVE. I’m not a little girl anymore. Time to accept it because this girl is ready to spread her wings.”
Was pretty sure the spreading of her wings would be the death of me.
The song changed and Raven gasped, and immediately her attention was on me, her black tipped nails digging into my right bicep. “It’s my jam! Out you go. We’re dancing. You know, since my bestie is otherwise occupied.”
She shooed me out to standing and slipped from the booth. There was nothing I could do but trail behind her as she strutted that fine, leather-clad ass out onto the dance floor. Heels so goddamn high I couldn’t breathe.
Then she turned to me and grinned as she started to swivel those hips.
Maybe I should have accepted it as my fate. That it was already over. Maybe I should have known Raven Tayte was really going to be the end of me.
TWO
RAVEN
“It’s decided, Otto. I’m going to find me one of those bikers tonight.” I winked at my brother’s best friend as I swiveled my hips to the dark beat that thrummed in the club. Lights strobed in time, colored flashes striking over the throbbing crowd packed on the dance floor.
My claim was hysterical considering I couldn’t look at a single other person right then.
Could anyone blame me, though?
Otto Hudson was so hot it was unfair.
So hot it was physically painful.
Staring at him was like standing in the sun and knowing you were going to get burned, but you did it anyway because it felt so good while you baked in the blistering rays.