Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 106948 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106948 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Hannah,
Oh my God, you little freak! The man bought you a personalized, diamond-encrusted butt plug! Girl…I can’t even. PLEASE go show it to Kayla so she can shit herself with envy. No pun intended.
Joy
PS: Bitch, we are so talking when you get home!
PSS: Does Leo have a brother?
I stared at the box, aghast, and sure enough, when I opened it, what I think of as a starter-size gold butt plug gleamed merrily away on a bed of red velvet. It really was pretty, and it was indeed personalized. There was a lovely H on the end of the plug done in diamonds. I stared at it, imagined being Joy and seeing it, stared some more, then began to laugh until I had tears streaming down my face.
Because it was a summer class, the lecture was winding down at six instead of seven and I was losing my mind with the need to see Leo.
I craved him, pure and simple. I craved his touch, his taste, his laughter, and most especially, the way he looked when he smiled at me. The memory of him holding me close as we cuddled, the scent of his skin when I buried my nose into the crook of his neck, all of it tormented me with little waves of desire that were growing annoyingly intense.
Ahead of me, my fading hippy professor droned on about economics in Bulgaria and I tried to pay attention, but my mind kept wandering to Leo.
What was he doing? Where was he? Was he thinking of me as much as I was thinking about him?
“Hannah,” a familiar guy’s voice whispered from behind me.
“What?” I replied softly without looking back.
“I was wondering what you’re doing this weekend, if you wanted to hang out or something.”
For a moment I just stared at my professor, thrown for a loop by that question. I took a quick glimpse over my shoulder to be sure that, yes indeed, popular and cute Tommy Pierce had just kind of, sort of asked me on a date. Had I fallen asleep in class and was dreaming this? Right now I should be freaking out inside, Tommy was hot as hell in an All-American-Boy kind of way, and he was nice to boot, but I felt…nothing. A scary blankness where there should be emotion.
“Hannah?”
I realized I’d been silent for a good deal of time as I tried to figure out why my emotions felt so dimmed. “Yeah sorry, um…I’m kind of seeing someone.”
“Oh.” He sounded truly disappointed, then cleared his throat. “No worries. If you’re ever free, look me up. My cell phone number is on our group sheet.”
“I will.”
I spent the remainder of class in a vague daze, barely remembering my walk from the lecture hall to my apartment building. When I reached the front door, I ran into one of my neighbors, an artsy dude who lived one floor above my apartment. We occasionally had to call them to turn their TV down, but they were nice guys and hot in a very emo way. I think they might have played in a band or something.
Roger, a tall and light-skinned black man with long navy-blue dreads, held the door open for me as he smiled. “Hey, Hannah. How are you?”
“Good, I just got done with class. How are you?”
We entered the ancient elevator together, the wood paneling peeling near the fluorescent lights of the ceiling. “Doin’ good. My band has a big show tonight down at the Cycle, you should bring your roommates and come. I’ll get you backstage passes.”
He winked and I had to laugh, because the Cycle’s backstage consisted of the kitchen prep area. “Tempting, but I’m afraid I’ll have to pass. I already have plans tonight.”
“That’s too bad,” he murmured in a way that should have been sexy, but barely made me tingle.
We came to my floor and I gave him an awkward wave. “Bye, Roger.”
“I’ll see you soon, Hannah.”
By the time I made it down the long hallway that smelled faintly like bleach and curry, I was more confused than ever. Did I look different today? Were any of my bruises showing?
Then again, I was pimped out in another amazing outfit that Leo had put together for me, along with a note requesting that I wear it today, which I loved. Normally I wouldn’t have been drawn to the bright teal-blue shorts, but they went perfectly with the sleeveless taupe silk blouse and accompanying Native American jewelry. You can’t grow up in Arizona without learning a thing or two about turquoise, and I knew the cuffs I was wearing, which hid my bruised wrists, and the cute floral turquoise earrings were worth a lot.
Being so dressed up made me feel…well, pretty. Special. While some women may think it made me a gold digger, I really enjoyed it when Leo spoiled me, when he put thought into what he got me so they weren’t just expensive trinkets he was throwing my way to keep me occupied.