Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 69242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
I shrugged and leaned in, like it was a secret. “She believes in happy ever after.” His brows shot up to his hairline, and Ty took a step back, smiling. Same as me.
“Good luck with that Mr. Ashby. And good night.”
“You too,” I told him, keeping up the act that she was just a drunk friend of a friend because I knew Ty. He’d been trained by the best, my brother Jasper; he would keep his eyes on me until he was sure I was safe in my car. Passenger, too.
Sure enough, Ty didn’t step inside until I had Savannah buckled into the passenger seat with me beside her, foot on the gas as the car rolled out of the parking lot.
My shoulders relaxed the more distance I put between me and the casino, knowing that the time had come and gone for security to realize their charge was missing. Those guys would be dead by morning for an error of this magnitude.
“Shit. Or not.” A sharp right at the last street before the long private drive that led to Ashby Manor revealed that I might be the one dead before morning.
The woman in the passenger seat had dark hair but it was black, not brown. Her skin was pale, but alabaster pale rather than prison pale. And shit, she had a hell of a lot more body than Savannah Rhymer.
Because she wasn’t Savannah Rhymer.
Fuck my life.
CHAPTER TWO
Maisie
“Are you sure you don’t want something to drink other than water, Bonnie?”
Bonnie Byrne had somehow become my best friend during our time at Nevada University at Mayhem. She was the day to my night, the angel to my devil, and the designated driver to my drunken birthday girl.
Bonnie rolled her big eyes at me, lips curled up into affection and silent disapproval. “I’m fine with water, Maze. It’s the desert. Gotta rehydrate.”
I downed the last of my vodka cranberry and set the empty glass on the table a little too hard. The ice cubes tinged against each other, clinking in a way that made my head hurt.
“Of course you’re fine,” I told her and flung an arm over her shoulder to squeeze her tight. “But that hot bartender right there has been eyeing up your curves all night, and I’ll bet he’d love to make you any virgin cocktail you want.” I let the words roll off my tongue to tease her, loving the way her pale, freckled skin turned fiery red when she was embarrassed.
“Maze,” Bonnie gasped and elbowed me in the ribs. “Shut up.”
But I was on a roll now, feeling no pain thanks to the liquor. “He keeps looking over here. I bet he wants to take you back to his place and show you what a real man is like.”
I laughed to myself. I knew I had crossed the line, but Bonnie would forgive me. She always did.
“Maisie! I can’t believe you just said that, out loud,” she added so low I could barely hear her. “The whole place heard you!” She looked around, horrified that someone might inadvertently learn about her virgin status when the truth was the guys in this room would fight to the death for the honor of deflowering her.
“I don’t care how hot the bartender is, he’s not Wyatt.” Wyatt was her loser boyfriend and Bonnie’s only blind spot in the world. I was hoping once we graduated, she’d look for a better man.
“Don’t worry, everyone is too lost in their own crap to pay attention to us. Except for a few guys I caught checking us out earlier.” The cutie pie bartender set down a double cranberry vodka for me and a Bahama Mama for Bonnie, virgin of course. “I’m so happy I convinced you to come out tonight. Without Wyatt.”
“Yeah, well, after the fight we had this morning, I’m not sure I want to face him.”
Wyatt and Bonnie fought like cats and dogs, but they always made up in the end. That’s how it was with toxic relationships. You just couldn’t stay away from the person who hurt you, no matter how much they did it.
I didn’t understand toxic relationships. I had never been in one. Hell, I’d never been in any kind of serious relationship. Sure, I’d had a few boyfriends here and there, but nothing serious. And nothing that lasted longer than a couple of months.
I preferred to keep my heart safely guarded behind a wall of defense, thank you very much. No sense in getting hurt when there were so many other things in life to enjoy. Like alcohol, for instance.
“Here’s to us,” I said, holding up my glass. “The best friends a girl could ask for.”
Bonnie clinked her glass against mine and took a long sip of her drink, lost in thought.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked.