Total pages in book: 213
Estimated words: 201920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1010(@200wpm)___ 808(@250wpm)___ 673(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 201920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1010(@200wpm)___ 808(@250wpm)___ 673(@300wpm)
I grit my teeth and flex my jaw, looking over my shoulder and back at Allie.
“Yeah,” I answer him with one word as my heated blood pumps harder. “I fucked up,” I tell him, wiping a hand down my face. The anger is nothing compared to the feeling of knowing something I did is going to hurt her.
I fucking loved what I did to her in that moment.
And I know she loved it too.
“Don’t read the comments. It’s just going to set you off.” I glance up at him before scrolling and reading through the messages. “I know how you are,” Daniel adds. “Just ignore them,” he tells me and reaches for the phone, but I push him back. Just one shove, just enough to tell him to back off.
What a slut.
She’s getting fucked by the dumpsters like the trash she is.
That bitch is dirty.
I wonder if there’s a line for that whore out there now.
Every comment makes my anger feel closer to spiraling out of control.
“Seriously, people talk shit. It’s what they do. It’s not like they can even tell it’s her.” Daniel keeps rambling, trying to calm me down but all I can see is red.
“They’re not going to know it’s her. She’s fine.”
“I don’t want to show her this,” I admit to Daniel, my throat tight and my muscles even tighter.
“I mean … you might want to give her a heads-up. Just in case?” he suggests and I know he’s right, but fuck that.
“A heads-up about what?” Allison’s voice is happy but reserved as she walks up to the two of us right outside the classroom door.
My back stiffens.
She shifts the strap of her backpack as a few people walk past us, heading out of their classes and toward the stairs. “Everything okay?” she asks, looking up at me.
Fuck. “You know you’re late now, right?” she questions but the wary look on her beautiful face tells me she knows being late doesn’t mean shit right now.
When I don’t answer, Daniel chimes in. “What’s going on?” he asks her.
She shrugs. “Not much. What’s going on with you?”
“Same,” he says and then it’s awkward. “Not much.” Real fucking awkward as she looks between the two of us.
“Some shit happened,” I tell her, forcing out the words. I try to keep my words even, although my chest feels tight and I don’t know if I’m breathing. I only just got her ass to settle down. And now this?
“I’m sorry,” I tell her and Allie’s smooth forehead pinches with a deep crease. Again she shifts the strap, holding on to it with both her hands.
“What is it?” she asks me in a hollow voice.
Daniel and I exchange a look before I hand Allie his phone.
It takes her a moment to register what she’s looking at, a long moment but then her eyes go wide, and she covers her mouth with her hand.
“Oh my God!” she breathes through her hand and then uncovers it to reveal a bit of a smile. “I look so fat,” she says comically as if it’s a holiday portrait of her.
“You can always go back and I’ll take a different one,” Daniel jokes and I want to smack the fucker upside his head.
“These people are assholes,” Allie says as she scrolls through the comments like it’s no big deal.
I’m surprised she isn’t shaken in the least. Not pissed off at all like I am. She’s a strong girl, I know that, but still. The comments are brutal. She hasn’t even read them all. Her smile dims but she isn’t pissed, she isn’t angry, she isn’t hurt. If she is, she’s good at hiding it.
Daniel’s smiling like a fool. “Well if it makes you feel any better, the picture doesn’t make me think about you any differently than I did before.” His comment makes Allie laugh but not me.
“Fuck off,” I tell him.
Daniel puts both hands up. “Just trying to lighten the mood,” he says although his eyes darken slightly. He’s good at joking, but it’s only a facade. I know one when I see one.
“It’s fine,” Allie says easily, handing Daniel his phone back. “Seriously, I don’t care. You can’t even tell it’s me, can you?”
“Nope. That’s what I told the Hulk over here,” Daniel says, and I glare at him.
“The Hulk?” Allie smiles. “Is that what they call you?” she asks me.
“It’s a stupid fucking nickname.”
“It’s because he gets pissed so often,” Daniel says to Allie, sliding his phone into his back pocket and then looking up at me, but someone else catches his eye.
“Anyway, I’m going to head out,” he says to both of us although he’s watching some chick. I get a quick look at her walking down the stairs and when I look back at him, his gaze is fixated on her. I don’t think I’ve seen her before.