Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 176345 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 882(@200wpm)___ 705(@250wpm)___ 588(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 176345 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 882(@200wpm)___ 705(@250wpm)___ 588(@300wpm)
“Wow,” I murmur.
“You all right?” Crystal asks.
“Yeah, yeah, just getting a little tipsy,” I muse.
“I’m gonna go to the bathroom. You wanna come?” Brooke yells over the music.
I shake my head. “I’m good. You go ahead.”
“I have to pee,” Crystal says, adjusting her dress. “I’m coming with you.”
They walk off while I continue dancing on the floor by myself, ignoring all the stares from the hungry men in the back desperate for attention. I know I draw them in like bees to flowers, but I can’t help the way I look. They wouldn't dare to come close if they only knew the killer monster that hid underneath.
I twirl around and look at the exclusive backstage area, but my brother isn’t back yet. When I spot a stranger near the VIP booths staring at me with that obligated mask on, I pause. The blond streaks of hair peeking out behind the red mask and the icy stare have my knees quaking.
I suck in a breath, feeling dizzy, like I’m about to throw up.
It’s just a coincidence. A ton of people are blond and have blue eyes. Get yourself together.
I turn around and push through the crowd, heading for the other side of the club, but I come to an abrupt halt in the middle of the dance floor.
Near the entrance to the club, a red-masked stranger leans against the thick column, swaying with what looks like a red tie in his hands. A tie that looks just like the one I had wrapped around my wrists at the Phantom Society.
And it feels like my lungs are collapsing, and all the oxygen evaporates.
I spin on my heels but come face-to-face with a guy in a black suit and a red mask, his fingers running through his wavy dark hair. There’s a peculiar kind of glimmer in his eyes that’s hard to ignore. One green, one white.
I attempt to bolt in the opposite direction, but before I can even try, he’s already grabbed ahold of me and pulls me in, fingers splayed across my belly. He closes the distance between us until our bodies are pressed together, and my hips fit neatly into his.
“Hello, little kitty.” Kai’s low voice near my ear instantly puts me on edge. “Miss me?”
“No,” I lie, trying to wring out of his clutch, but it’s nearly impossible.
Suddenly, warm, wet lips settle underneath my ear, dragging a line down my neck, and I shudder in place.
He smirks against my skin. “Yet you’re quivering from my touch.”
His length swells in the small of my back, poking me and sending shocks up my spine.
“Let me go,” I growl.
Instead, he spins me around and pulls me into his embrace. “Dance with me.” I can’t even say no as he dances around with me like I’m a puppet and he’s the master puppeteer. I step on his foot, but he ignores the pain entirely, clenching his jaw as he leans in. “Do you remember our first dance together? Just you and me, with these same kind of masks.”
Kai grins, his hand moving down to my ass ever so slowly, making me painfully aware of how alert my senses have become since he stepped onto the dance floor. “How easily you yielded to me?”
“Stop,” I groan with frustration, trying to get away, but he won’t release me. So I lie instead. “Jason’s here, and if he sees you dance with me, he’s gonna punch you into the hospital.”
He snorts. “Doubt it. Last I checked, he was still in his dorm room at the Skull & Serpent Society jacking off to some porn.”
I gasp.
How the fuck—
“You’ve been spying on him?”
“I have a friend of a friend who keeps track of his movements …” Kai spins me around and sways me against him once more. “Just in case he gets it in his head that he can still come to the Beta Pi sorority to fuck you…” His lips hover near my ear, and I can feel him bare his teeth. “I’ll cut off every single one of his fingers if he tried.”
I gasp. He’s just as sadistic as my brother, if not worse. “Fuck you. If you hurt him, I’ll stab you right back.”
We swing around, pretending nothing’s going on even though I’m dancing with a killer.
“You think your violence will deter me?” he murmurs, cracking a smile against my skin. “It only makes my cock hard, Lana.”
My body heats uncontrollably, and I don’t like it one bit.
“My brother’s right there. If he sees you, you’re dead,” I say.
“Let him watch. I’m sure Nathan would love an excuse to kill him if he tries to intervene,” he says.
Kill my brother? That’s a step too far.
Defensive rage floods my veins. “Fuck no, I’d kill you both before you even tried.”
“How many jabs would you get in with that little knife of yours before I put a bullet in his brain?” he asks, and my hand instinctively reaches down to his pocket, where I definitely feel something hard, metallic, an outline of a gun.