Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 57707 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 231(@250wpm)___ 192(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57707 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 231(@250wpm)___ 192(@300wpm)
I hold the knife up, raising my voice. “This is over. I’m not fighting. It’s done.”
“You have to,” Raffie calls down. “You agreed.”
“I don’t have to do a goddamn thing,” I snarl. “I’m leaving.”
I duck my head and walk toward the exit where the three kids are standing. I know there’s little chance I’ll get my winnings now. Hell, I might have just severed all ties with the Trentinis or, worse, started a battle I can’t win. But no world exists where I beat on a bunch of kids.
I need to get Maya and her friend out of here, then get home and hope I haven’t just ruined my whole life.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
TRISTAN
“I’m sorry,” Maya’s friend moans in the back of the car, crying as she holds tightly onto Maya.
I try not to let panicked concern slither into my mind as I think about what I’ve just done. I’ve embarrassed Raffie in front of his pals. I’ve put a stain on the event. That’s how he’ll see it. The fuck! It makes me sick that I even have to worry about what a lowlife like him will think, but this is about the dogs, not me. He’s dropped plenty of hints-slash-threats about Tails. And yet sometimes, I can’t help but see Raffie as the kid he was, not the man he is today.
“It’s not your fault,” Maya replies, seeming slightly more lucid now, maybe because she didn’t drink before that prick slipped her, or pricked her, or put powder on her skin, or whatever fucked-up method he chose.
“I said I’d keep you safe …”
“We are safe,” Maya says. “It’s not your fault he was a creep. Just get some sleep, okay?”
They hug again, and then Riley leaves and walks toward her house. I wait until she’s inside and then drive away, heading toward Maya’s house. My body feels taut with being so close to her, alone suddenly, but there’s so much else clashing through me.
“Thank you,” she murmurs, laying her forehead against the window.
“As long as you’re okay.”
“I’ve got work tomorrow.” She laughs strangely, apparently still sedated and out of it despite being slightly more aware.
Not aware enough for me to kiss her, hold her, take her to bed, and forget about everything. We could lose ourselves in each other. I’d pull her into my arms, into my lap, let her feel the stiff rod pushing through my pants, letting her feel how badly I want her on a physical level, at least, but nothing else. I can’t want more than that.
“I think your boss will understand if you don’t come in,” I say, smirking at her in the mirror.
She smiles lazily. “Oh yeah, he’s a real understanding guy. A real hunk.”
“A hunk,” I repeat, chuckling.
Maybe this is how we forget, not by giving into this deep hunger but by laughing it all away.
“He is. Wait, I shouldn’t be telling you this.” She blinks. “Oops.”
“It’s fine. Maya, what were you doing there tonight?”
I’ve tried to hold off from asking her this. After I took her and Riley from the upstairs section, Raffie glared at me with apparent hate in his eyes. It was pure rage, pure determination to get his own back somehow.
Then, I was on high alert as I quickly pulled on a jacket and pants and led the girls out to the car. I don’t know what happened to the kids. I still can’t believe Raffie thought I’d do that. Or maybe I’m the fool for even being surprised.
Yet now, there’s a chance.
“It was supposed to be a party,” she murmurs. “Just some fun. I don’t know. Riley’s wild. She has wild friends.”
“She shouldn’t have Trentini friends,” I growl.
“You were the one fighting,” she says, sitting up, seeming even more alert now. I’m glad, even if this new level of alertness comes from her being mad. “What were you doing there?” She leans forward even more, looking at me through her light layer of makeup, just enough to bring out her natural beauty. “You beat the heck out of that guy.”
Yeah, which is why he thanked me for choking him out.
“It’s a long story,” I grunt.
“So you can quiz me, but I can’t quiz you, huh? Is that it?”
I grind my teeth. There’s something about this sudden sass that makes me want to stop the car and drag her from the backseat, squeeze her against me so she can feel this passion, this burning. It’s not just the fight. It’s something else.
“Thanks for the ride,” she says as I pull up outside her house.
“Are you going to be okay?”
“I’m fine,” she says, her hand on the door. “I’m pretty sure I’ll wake up tomorrow, and none of this will feel real.”
“Maybe that will be for the best.”
“No, because then I’d forget you standing under those lights and how you stood up for me. Nobody’s ever stood up for me like that before.”