Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 167671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 838(@200wpm)___ 671(@250wpm)___ 559(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 838(@200wpm)___ 671(@250wpm)___ 559(@300wpm)
And even though this is a RIVERA club, I feel relatively safe here because there’s no way Silas knows any of the people who work here at his mom and dad’s establishments. There’s no way those fuckers would come looking for me here. They’re too busy playing the rich and popular guys to even notice a girl like me.
Besides, what I took from them was peanuts of the wealth they have. I’m sure they’ll have forgotten about that tiny amount of money I stole before the week is over.
Heath
From the booth in the back of the RIVERA club downtown in Crescent Vale City, I watch the server with the flowy dark-brown hair and the downturned smile bring the drinks and food to customers while weaving her way through the crowd. She’s expertly dodging people like she’s done this a million times before, but after every delivery, she takes a moment to catch her breath against some piece of furniture while her knees wobble.
It’s almost like she’s overexerting herself, pushing herself to the limit until she can no longer function. And for what? A few measly dollars?
I wish I understood.
How does a girl who works here have the money to go to such a prestigious university, let alone the time? If she’s studying during the day and working at night, when does she sleep?
I’m intrigued.
Too much to let Max have all the fun.
She moves effortlessly between the people dancing on the floor as she serves the customers like her life quite literally depends on it, wearing a fake red-tinged smile and sweet eyes like she’s skilled at faking it.
I wonder what else she’s skilled at … and I won’t wait for Max to squeeze his way into her life before I find out more.
I roll the hearing aid between my fingers and look away as she approaches the table behind me. I hide my face in my hoodie and turn toward the wall, but when she passes me, I grasp her wrist.
She stops in her tracks and looks at me with that fake smile on her face, and seeing the realization of who I am slowly dawn is nothing short of perfection as her smile withers away into oblivion.
“Out of all the places you could work … a RIVERA club is the one you chose?” I muse, staring at her from underneath my hoodie.
“What the—”
She tries to jerk free of my grip, but my hand easily encompasses her entire wrist. “No. You answer to me now.”
I briefly flash a knife under the table until she’s spotted it and immediately stops resisting.
She places the tray she was holding down on my table. “What are you doing here?”
I raise a brow. “I can ask you the same thing. What kind of girl chooses to work at the place of the man she robbed?” Her face turns snow white as a smirk creeps onto my face. “Sit. Down.” I eye the seat in front of me until she understands she’s not going anywhere.
She swallows and nods, after which I release her, and she gently shuffles into the seat in front of me.
I get it now, why Silas called her a twig. She’s so thin I could probably fit my whole hand around her thigh too. Sickly thin. Like she could end up in the hospital if I so much as sneezed in her direction.
“What do you want from me?” she asks, folding her arms.
I grab one of the drinks she was supposed to serve off the tray. Taking a sip, I recoil at the taste.
Apple juice? Who orders apple juice at an adult club?
“I want to know why you stole from us.”
She snorts. “Good luck figuring that out.”
My eyes narrow. “So you admit it?”
“I don’t admit to shit.” She scoffs. “You came here to spy on me, didn’t you?” She sucks in a breath. “How did you know where to find me?”
She’s quick. I like that. “It was easy to figure out once Silas told me your name. A lot of Spine Ridge University students come here. They talk.” I pause to glare at her intently. “I make them.”
Her eyes glance toward the knife I’m still clutching underneath the table. There’s not a hint of fear in her deep brown eyes, only rage, and it puts a smile on my face because now I’m only more intrigued.
“Now … care to tell me why you stole from us?”
She merely stares at me like she can’t believe I had the audacity to follow her here and ask her to tell me the truth.
She sits back in her seat with folded arms and says, “No.”
Her eyes sparkle with defiance, and it rouses my cock.
“Like I said, I didn’t do anything.”
This girl …
Even with the threat of us looming over her, she refuses to give in.
I like her.
“You have something that belongs to us,” I say. “I have something that belongs to you.”