Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 79147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“What I had in him? He’s basically a paid whore. He had sex for money and then he tried to trick me into screwing the two of you, what? So you could laugh about it behind my back?”
Jesus, what the fuck is up with this guy?
“Cody…let’s just go.” Hayden touches my arm.
Travis is standing beside me with his arms crossed in case I need him. My muscles are tight, my palms itching, this protective urge surging inside me to defend Hayden. To stand by him because that’s what you do when you give a shit about someone. You stand by them. You don’t walk away. The way people have walked away from me.
“You know what? Fuck this shit. You two can have each other. You can pimp him out to your friends or whatever the hell you’re doing with him. From what I see, he likes selling it.” Lance’s eyes cut sharply to Hayden. There’s no thought, no decision. My fist flies through the air, making contact with Lance’s face. He stumbles backward, falling to the floor.
“Oh my god,” Hayden says from behind me, but I’m not done. Before I realize what I’m doing, I’m going toward Lance again. Who the hell does he think he is?
Strong arms wrap around me, and I know instantly they’re Travis’s. “That’s enough, lover boy,” he says in my ear, but I fight him, try to pull away. I haven’t fought since I lived on the streets—only back then, I was defending myself—but in this moment, I want to tear Lance apart for saying that shit to Hayden.
Lance tries to stand, but Sebastian says, “Stay away from both of them,” and Lance looks up at him.
“I don’t want him anyway,” Lance replies.
“You’re not good enough for him anyway. Fuck you if you think you know who he is and think you deserve him. He’s kind and compassionate and spent half his fucking Thanksgiving serving people in need. You’re not half the man he is.”
Before I can say anything else, Travis lifts me and starts to carry my angry ass out of there. The crowd parts for us; some people cheer, but I don’t see Hayden in the mass of bodies. My pulse speeds up because I know him, know he wouldn’t have wanted all that to go down. Know he’ll be blaming himself for it somehow.
“Put me down, man,” I tell Travis and shove away from him. He lets me go easily.
“Get your ass outside, boxer.”
He pushes me, and I go. The second we spill onto the street, I lean my forehead against the brick wall, trying to catch my breath. My hand is killing me. Hayden might be pissed at me, but I don’t regret it. Lance needed to be taken down a notch or two.
Travis leans against the wall beside me, “You’re really feeling this kid, aren’t you?” he asks.
Yeah, yeah, I am. “I would have done the same thing for you. No one deserves to have shit like that said about them.” Especially not Hayden.
“But this isn’t about me. It’s about you…and him…did they put something in the water at Metropolis?”
I roll my eyes at him. “I’m not in love with him.”
“But you could be.”
I shrug because yeah, maybe I could be.
A herd of people stumble out of the bar. Hayden and Sebastian are there. Hayden’s eyes dart around then land on me. He stands there, staring at me but I can’t read his expression.
He says something to Sebastian and he nods. For some strange-ass reason, I hold my breath as Hayden walks over. Travis moves to the side and I wait for it, wait to hear how he feels about me acting like some character from a movie and trying to defend his honor.
He just takes my hand and says, “Come on, Cody. Let me take you home.”
We don’t say a word to each other as we walk back to Metropolis. He holds the door open for me and pushes the button in the elevator.
“Check you out, being a gentleman,” I finally say.
“I am a gentleman,” he replies, and he really is. I hope he knows that.
When we get to our unit, it’s Hayden who unlocks the door and Hayden who opens it. “I didn’t break my hand, you know. I can do these things.”
“I know,” he replies simply and then we walk inside. Hayden goes straight for the kitchen, grabs a baggie and fills it with ice. He opens the drawer, plucks out a hand towel and wraps it.
I sort of stand there like an idiot as he walks over, pulls my hand toward him by the wrist, and then places the homemade ice pack on it. “No one has ever stuck up for me like that before.”
“Everyone should have someone who always has their back.” Like Doc is for me. Or the way I know Travis would be too. “Derek or Gary would have done the same,” I tell him.