Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86768 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86768 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
“Get off me, asshole.”
“What did you say? Not impressive? It’ll feel pretty impressive when it’s inside you, fucking Mad Elena.”
He sets the phone down behind me and grips my ass, kneading my cheeks hard.
“They’re right to call you that, you know? You’re a fucking weirdo.”
“Fuck you! Get off me or you’ll regret it!”
“I’ll regret it? How’s that? What are you going to do besides get on your knees and give me what I want while I get it all on video for posterity?” He shifts one hand to my shoulder and picks up his phone with the other.
“I don’t think so, asshole,” I tell him and bring my knee up fast and hard between his legs. There’s an instant of silence, a heavy, weighty moment. I watch his face as pain registers and feel his fingers dig into my shoulder.
“You. Fucking. Bitch,” he hisses the words as his face turns beet red. He curls up a little, not letting go of me as he processes the pain.
I try to shove past him, but he only tightens his grip and uses his bulk to keep me pinned.
“Get off me!” I scream as he straightens, a dark, angry look on his face. He is so much bigger than me. So much stronger. And the way he wants to hurt me right now, it’s not just to humiliate me. It’s worse. Much worse.
“Or what?” he asks through clenched teeth.
“Or you deal with me, asshole,” says a voice I know. A voice that makes time stand still and sends shivers along my spine. A voice I haven’t heard for two years but one I’ll never forget. One that’s darker and more violent and powerful than pathetic Jason Cole could ever be.
5
Santos
I can’t fucking believe what I’m walking into.
I received the call an hour ago telling me Madelena De Léon is not in her bed where she’s supposed to be—tucked in safe and sound and mine. It wasn’t hard to track her to prom. Fucking prom. I almost forgot how old she is. Seventeen now. I haven’t seen her in two years. Pictures when I’ve looked for them, but not once in person.
The woman standing before of me now—because she is a woman, no longer a girl—looks very different from the one I signed a blood oath with. Except the eyes. They’re the same. Angry. Not what I’d expect to find considering the predicament she’s in.
“What the fuck?” the idiot quarterback says, looking over his shoulder at us.
I’m here with two men. No more are necessary. I didn’t want to scare the kids of Avarice High at their little dance. “What the fuck?” I echo, closing a hand around his arm and jerking him backward off her.
Madelena stumbles forward but catches herself.
“I’ll deal with you in a minute,” I tell her. “Don’t move.”
She turns wide, shocked eyes from the idiot boy to me and for a moment, it’s me who’s stunned.
I look her over.
No. Definitely not a girl anymore. Not in that dress. Not with those curves.
I clear my throat, focus on the task at hand. Her dress is still mostly intact, except for a little tear at the shoulder. Her hair’s messed up, too, and her makeup is smeared, but apart from that, I got here in time.
The idiot boy tries to get free of me. He requires all my attention, which annoys me because I want to look at how she’s grown. I turn to him. His shirt is half off, and his pants are held up by a single button.
I shove him backward against a lab table, following him.
He stumbles, tripping over his own feet. He’s a big guy, but he gets his muscle from the gym. I’m pretty sure the entitled little prick doesn’t know how to fight.
“Look, I don’t know who you are. I didn’t know she…” he glances at Madelena. “Didn’t know she had a boyfriend.”
I chuckle, shove him again. “Oh, I’m not her boyfriend.”
“Oh. Well. Fuck.” He smiles, and two stupid dimples form on his stupid face. Christ. “Look man, whatever, I didn’t know. She was coming on to me.”
“Yeah, I heard that a minute ago. How old are you anyway?” He looks older than the average junior in high school.
“Nineteen. Almost twenty,” he says like he’s fucking proud of it.
I raise my eyebrows. “Held back a time or two?”
He falters, glances at Madelena, at the two men blocking the door. When he turns his attention back to me, I push him against the wall and hold him there.
Idiot.
“What’s the matter? Don’t they teach you English here? Because the words get off me are pretty fucking self-explanatory even to me, and I’m not college educated. Barely scraped by in high school, if I’m being honest.”
Madelena snorts.
I turn to her, and her gaze shifts from the idiot boy to me. And now I see it: the fear behind the anger, the girl inside the woman.