Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 129998 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129998 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
I take myself out to the pool house and quickly change into a comfortable pair of sweats and a white tank, but as I’m rummaging through my clothes drawer, my hand curls around the red Widows bandana that I’d stolen from Nic.
Everything crushes inside of me.
Fuck, I miss them.
I can’t keep breaking down every time I find something that reminds me of them, otherwise, I’ll never survive this. I need to be stronger.
For some reason, the bandana gets tied over my hair and I make a quick knot in the back. Who knows? Maybe this is my way of being close to them without actually seeing them.
Trying to keep my mind off all my problems, I dive deep into my homework, and as much as I’d prefer to be doing anything but this, I don’t emerge from the pool house until every last bit of it is complete.
I head back into the Carrington mansion with a plan to work all night, as long as it takes until my brain stops circling around the boys. And to think this all started because my father sold me to a billionaire.
What was his fucking problem? Who sells their child like that? No wonder he ended up dead. I can only imagine the other shady things he would have done over the years.
The reminder of my father’s wrongdoings has me moving through the mansion with a mission. I can’t be owned by someone. Hell, I doubt I’ll ever get married just for the sake of not having myself tied to someone else so permanently. What’s the point of marriage anyway? It’s just some piece of paper stating that you’re officially together with a no return policy.
Fuck that. I like my freedom. Don’t get me wrong, I have no aversion to commitment. Hell, I plan on being as committed as I can to Colton as long as he does the same for me, but this bitch won’t be signing on a dotted line. At the same time, the idea of being his wife … that hits differently.
I find myself standing in the doorway of Colton’s office. It's after seven at night and he sits at his desk with a single lamp, the only light in the room. It’s almost as though he’s been so busy working away that he didn’t even notice when the sun went down and certainly had no time to get up and flip the light switch.
Leaning against the door frame, I silently watch him do what he does best. “Are you going to come in or are you just going to stand there and stare at me all night?”
“I don’t mind staring,” I tell him, my lips lifting into an amused smirk.
Colton finally glances up and I watch as he leans back in his desk chair and puts his hands behind his back. His muscles bulge in his shirt and everything south of the border clenches. How it is possible for one man to have so much sex appeal? It shouldn’t be legal.
“What do you need, Jade?”
I raise a brow as I continue studying him. God, there’s so much I need from him right now and from the cocky smirk spreading across his face, he’s well aware of it. “Do you have a few minutes? There’s something I wanted to talk to you about, but I can wait until you’re finished if you’re busy.”
His brows drop in suspicion. “It’s fine,” he says with a small nod, indicating for me to come in.
I stride through his office and instead of dropping myself down into one of the expensive chairs opposite his desk, I walk right around to his side and slide my ass back onto his desk.
His hand instantly curls around my leg as he looks up at me. “How was school?” I scrunch my face, really thinking about how I should answer that when he lets out a heavy sigh. “Fuck, what did they do?”
I bite down on my lips, still a little lost for words. “I mean, they might have said a few things suggesting that I was with you just to get ahead in life and they may or may not have told everyone that I was pregnant. Oh, and there was also something about me having an affair with Dean Simmons after I screwed the pervy PE teacher and had him fired for it.”
Colton’s head falls back against his seat and he closes his eyes, letting out a frustrated groan. “I’m sorry, babe. I told them to back off but the twins are … a little difficult. They do things their way and when you try to intervene, it only gets worse.”
I slide my hand down my leg until my fingers find his. “It’s okay, I don’t need you to fight my battles. I handled it and now they’re fully aware that it’ll take a little more than a few immature rumors to take me down.”