Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 139803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 699(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 699(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
Axel arched an eyebrow at me. “Your parents don’t want to come visit you?” he asked me.
I shook my head as I looked back down at my textbook, that familiar numbness I felt when I thought about my mom moving through me. Vincent tapped his pen on my book, making me look up at him with a scowl. He only grinned at me. “You know Mom and Dad would love to see you again,” he reminded me.
I shrugged. “I have to practice this weekend,” I reminded him. And I really did. That dance competition was coming up fast.
“I think you’ll do fine,” Axel said with a shrug as he focused on his textbook.
I rolled my eyes at him. “Just fine won’t land me a contract.” I told him. Axel arched an eyebrow at me in confusion. I sighed. “I’m trying to land a dance contract, Axel. I don’t dance for just fun.”
“Woah,” Axel breathed, his attention now focused on me. “That’s fucking insane. You know how hard that it is, right?”
Julian stepped into the dining room at that moment. His hair was wet, and he was wearing a plain gray t-shirt and a pair of low-slung black sweatpants with a pair of black Nike socks on his feet. He hadn’t been up for long—I knew that much because I had been up there about twenty minutes ago, and he had still been passed out in bed.
“And she’s got the skill for it,” Julian stated as he moved around the counter to the kitchen.
My cheeks tinted red at his words and praise. He winked at me before he turned to the fridge. Vincent scowled but kept his mouth shut. I just shook my head at him. I didn’t understand Vincent sometimes, even if he was my best friend. He seemed fine with the idea of me and Julian until he was actually faced with it.
“You still need to practice that new dance?” Vincent asked me. “I just need to complete this rough draft for this stupid-ass economics paper, and I can help you.”
“Nah. I’m helping her,” Julian announced.
Axel, who had just tilted his bottle of water up to his lips suddenly spit it all out, spraying my face in the process. I closed my eyes as I made a disgusted face. “For fuck’s sake.” I scowled.
“I’m so sorry, Meghan,” Axel apologized. “But Jesus fuck, Julian, you can’t dance for shit!”
Julian handed me a towel as he scowled at Axel. “I think you’re forgetting who the fuck you’re talking about,” Julian retorted. “If I could go from a fat kid who could barely walk three steps without wheezing to this,” he said, gesturing his hand over his godlike body, “I’m pretty sure I can learn a dance.”
I stared up at him incredulously as I finished wiping Axel’s spit and water from my face. “You used to be a chubby kid?” I asked him.
He shrugged as he nodded at me. “I had an obsession with football. The coach told me he would never let me play unless I could get in shape.” He shrugged. “So, that’s what I did.”
“But still—dancing?” Axel asked. Vincent snickered. “Julian, losing weight and learning to dance on the level she does are two very completely different things. She’s a fucking goddess when she dances.”
I blushed at his words as Julian scowled at Axel. “I’m fucking helping her, and that’s that,” he retorted.
I looked up at Julian. “You know that earlier doesn’t change anything, right?” I asked him. Julian’s expression darkened. I swallowed thickly but kept my green eyes trained on his darkening blue ones. “I’m not yours, Julian. I’m not ready for that level of commitment, and I don’t need it.”
He stormed over to me. Vincent got out of his chair and moved in front of me protectively. Axel jumped up at the same time, ready to jump between the two men if he needed. “She said no, Julian,” Vincent snapped at his best friend.
“I don’t give a fuck, Vincent,” Julian snarled, his body vibrating with barely restrained anger. “I don’t give a fuck who or what the fuck I have to go through. She will be mine.”
“Woah, woah,” Axel said, jumping between the two men. “Julian, bro, step back for a minute and think about this,” Axel reasoned. “She’s obviously going through some shit. Going all alpha male on her isn’t going to make her want to be with you.”
I got up from my chair and slammed my textbook closed. I snatched it off the table and stormed around the three men, my eyes glaring up at Julian angrily. “I don’t give a fuck what the hell I’m going through. You should respect the fact that when I say no, that’s it,” I snarled.
I stormed up the stairs to the room I was staying in and slammed my door shut, locking it behind me. I heard something crash downstairs and Vincent and Julian yelling at each other after a moment, but I blocked them out.