Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 95950 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95950 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
I release a shaky breath, relieved they didn’t come to blows.
Since Summer is still talking with Austin, now would be a perfect time to grab my books from my locker and scurry to class. I take one step before her cool gaze skewers me in place. Dread pools in my belly as she eats up the distance between us and gets in my face.
“I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but it needs to stop,” she growls. “Haven’t you caused enough damage already? Are you actually trying to get him expelled from school?”
My eyes widen.
Is that what she really thinks?
Thick emotion gathers in my throat.
“Summer,” Austin says, voice softening, “it’s not—”
With a scowl, she wheels toward him. “Yeah, it is. What are you even doing with her? After the shit she pulled with Jasper, how can you stand the sight of this girl?”
I shake my head. “That’s not…”
My voice dies as her expression turns ferocious.
From the moment the twins arrived at Hawthorne Prep, it was obvious they shared a close relationship, and that Summer was protective of him. I’ve witnessed her go after other people on his behalf.
What I never expected was her wrath to be turned on me.
Before she can say anything else, Kingsley drops down and wraps his arms around her thighs before hoisting her off the floor and over his shoulder. With a shriek, she dangles upside down. Her fists pound against his back as he carts her through the hall. My eyes widen when he gives her ass a good smack. I can’t imagine anyone other than Kingsley manhandling her and living to tell the tale.
Now that the crowd has thinned, I stalk to my locker before spinning the dial and pulling out my books. Everything that just happened replays through my brain and a fresh wave of mortification crashes over me.
Slamming the door shut, I spin around, ready to take off when I smash into a hard chest. Austin’s fingers wrap around my biceps to hold me in place as I glare.
“Was it really necessary to embarrass me in front of everyone?”
Instead of releasing me, I’m hauled closer. “What’s wrong? Don’t like it when the tables are turned? Sucks to be humiliated in front of the school, doesn’t it? Consider yourself lucky that it was a small group and not a couple hundred people.”
The heavy weight of his recriminations has my shoulders collapsing. If I honestly thought apologizing again would do any good, I’d drop to my knees and beg his forgiveness.
But we both know it won’t.
A gasp escapes from my lips when he drags me to a small alcove tucked between two classrooms before pressing my back against the wall. He’s close enough for me to feel the thickness of his erection digging into my lower abdomen.
“What’s the matter, Delilah? Nothing to say?”
I tilt my neck until our gazes can fasten and find stormy green depths staring back at me. Was it only a few weeks ago when he’d watch me with lust filling his eyes?
Now, there’s nothing but distrust and hate.
Maybe the lust is still there, but it’s buried beneath all the other emotions jockeying for position.
“No.”
“Good. It’s just like I told Jasper—you belong to me, and I’ll do whatever I want with you.”
His words slice through my beating heart with the precision of a scalpel. It’s almost unbelievable how much pain they’re capable of inflicting.
“Everyone—especially your ex—needs to understand who owns you.”
“It will never be you,” I whisper.
A cruel smile flashes across his handsome face as he presses into me. Just when I think he’ll brush his lips across mine, he angles his head until his mouth can hover at my ear. “Know what I think? That you want to be owned. But only by me. Are you really going to tell me that you don’t enjoy my hands on you?” There’s a pause. “Come on, sweet girl, tell me the truth. Because you were falling to pieces less than twenty-four hours ago. Every time I slid my finger from your body, your pussy clenched, trying to draw me back inside all that wet warmth.”
Even though I don’t want his seductive words to set me on fire, that’s exactly what they do. I clench my thighs in a feeble attempt to stifle my growing arousal.
It doesn’t do a damn bit of good.
As much as I hate admitting the truth, Austin’s right. I want to belong to him. The way he touches my body makes me forget all the reasons why it’s a disastrous idea.
When his warm breath drifts across my ear and neck, shivers explode across my flesh.
“Are you going to admit it?”
What would be the point?
Deep down, we both know the truth.
I try one last time to reason with him before it’s too late and the situation careens any further out of control. “You need to let this go before you get kicked out of school.”