Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 137433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 550(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 550(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
Before I do something I regret, like beating the crap out of him, I turn around and stride outside to find my best friend.
Time to deal with my own personal natural disaster—Hurricane Bailey.
I remember the stupid fire outside and walk straight over there. It is next to a hilly curve that stretches over the land Donnie’s parents own.
There is a group of people dancing to “Boom” by X Ambassadors. Among them, I spot Bailey. It’s her hair that gives her away.
The dazzling yellow that sprawls like a sunflower over a varsity jacket.
An All Saints High varsity jacket.
One that isn’t my number—sixty-nine—an homage to Knight back when he played.
Austin’s.
She’s now sitting in his lap, giggling at something he says. There’s no way on planet earth a girl of Bailey’s IQ could laugh with, not at, guys like Austin.
This is the same idiot who asked in class how old Leonardo DiCaprio was when he painted the Sistine Chapel.
She’s definitely getting back at me for our little exchange during beer pong. And it’s working.
Shit, Austin must be having a field day, having the girl I love perched on his thigh like that.
I slice through the crowd, straight to where they sit by the fire.
I grab the back of that stupid jacket and hurl Dove up to her feet, letting her back fall against my chest so she doesn’t trip. She yelps in surprise.
“Didn’t I say show’s fucking over? I’m taking you home.”
She swivels and pushes at my chest. “Get off of me, you two-faced douche!”
“Take his jacket off.” I’m so nauseous seeing her in this thing, I’m surprised I haven’t vomited yet. She knows what varsity jackets mean at ASH. I told her.
“I’m cold.”
“I’ll give you my jacket.”
“You don’t even have a shirt, Lev.”
“I’ll let you wear my fucking skin. Now take the jacket off before this trainwreck derails into a cliff.”
Pouting, she hisses, “If you want me to lose it so bad, beg for it, Levy Boy.”
Everyone awws and ohhhs. My ears go deaf for a few seconds, like I’m underwater.
She lost the plot, and I’m about to write her into a painful thriller where Austin would be lucky to survive.
Asshole looks so smug right now.
“Yeah, Levy,” he coos. “Get your knees dirty for a change.”
Rolling my lips, I turn to Bails again. “Grab your shit. We’re leaving.”
“No, really.” She throws her hands in the air, laughing throatily. Sexily.
She is not Normal Bailey right now, but that Bailey is still stuck inside of her somewhere.
“If you want to order me around like I’m your little lap dog, then it’s only fair you should be mine too, right? Crawl to me, Lev Cole. Come on. It’s only, like, what? Three steps?” She steps back a little, putting distance between us. “Beg me to come with you.”
In this moment, I swear I could do something really dumb and really violent to the person who first introduced her to drugs.
“And if I don’t?” I ask in boredom. There’s not one eyeball in SoCal that isn’t staring at us right now.
“If you don’t”—she licks her lips, her eyes leveling with mine—“I’m going to screw Austin tonight.”
Austin howls and laughs in the background, and I know she’s not lying.
She will one hundred percent bang him, and there would be nothing I could do to stop her. Even if I hurl her ass to my car—which I technically can do—she’ll find a way out and do it just to spite me.
She’s not being herself, not thinking clearly. The demon inside her wants his pound of flesh, and I’m about to tear a chunk off my goddamn heart and feed it to its satisfaction.
Or am I?
I’ve never begged anyone and not about to start doing so. I’m setting a dangerous precedent.
But then Bailey sees my inner struggle, the pure hatred in my eyes, and sighs. “Got a rubber, Austin? Actually, I’m not picky. Anyone else with a condom will do too.”
She is deep in the arms of a withdrawal spiral. I can tell from how she is sweating, how her eyes are empty, sad.
No one is actually that dumb as to take her up on her offer. Saying yes here in front of me is a sure way to an early grave.
But I know the temptation would be too much for Austin when I’m out of sight.
And I can’t have that. I can’t let Dove be with someone else. She’s mine.
Slowly, I lower myself to my knees.
Her breath hitches. I bend my head so I don’t have to see anyone’s face.
Then I begin to crawl in her direction.
I know this is screwed up and that word will get out to Thalia.
I know people are recording this with their phones.
I know I’ve done more damage to my reputation in the two months she’s been here than I have my entire existence.