Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
I got off the bed and tossed my dirty clothes into a corner in the bathroom, deciding to deal with the mess later. Right now, I needed a cold shower and a clear head. Thinking about Biba wasn’t saving her, and that was at the top of my priority list.
When I finally had her in my arms again, I would show her how much I missed her, how much I loved her. I hadn’t properly touched her in so long, and I literally ached at the thought of being able to. I ducked my head under the stream of cold water once I switched the shower on, letting the chill wash away the heat that clouded my mind. All that was left was Biba, and how Sol and I were going to save her.
CHAPTER 6
ZEPHYR
A week had passed since classes started, kicking off the new term that was full of possibilities and threats. I knew that school was going to be hard and complicated, but I never imagined having to watch my back so much in the hallways. I had a feeling my school experience was different than most people’s.
For one, even teachers were intimidated by me. It was easier for me to skip class and make up tests. The last thing they wanted was to piss off a King and put a target on their back. The only person who actively worked against me was Schmidt, and that was only because he had his hands on the Kings’ money. He had leverage.
Now, he was putting that leverage overseas, making sure we couldn’t get our hands on it. I was surprised that he hadn’t done something like that earlier, but tensions were high for everyone right now. Everyone was making desperate moves to protect themselves.
“You can eye her all you want. If you touch her, I’ll break your fingers,” Arvo warned one of his toadies who stood at the wall with me, Arvo, his freshman girl, the Holland twins, and a few other toadies.
The toadie’s head immediately snapped the other way as he took a step back.
Erin and Poppy stood on either side of me, leaning against my sides and invading my space like usual. No matter how uninterested I seemed in their presence, they still didn’t take a hint and go away. It wasn’t like I could tell them directly or tell Arvo because they would push me to admit what was wrong. Arvo would easily guess that Biba was still on my mind, and he would be right.
“Plenty of people have already touched her,” I told Arvo, earning a glare from his girl that I ignored. He might’ve acted possessive over her, but he would toss her to the side for a hotter girl in an instant. Hopefully, she wasn’t too attached to him because Kings were known to be heartbreakers.
“Not since I touched her,” Arvo smirked at me before playfully nipping at the girl’s neck to make her gasp.
“Because they don’t want to get their teeth kicked in,” I replied with a faint smirk. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the same case for Biba, who had quite a few guys still drooling over her. At first, I only had to worry about Theo following her around like a little puppy dog. Now, she was entertaining Sol. I didn’t like competition, even if she wasn’t mine.
“Smart people,” Arvo chuckled. “Better claim your girls too. Other guys will come sniffing around. They know we only pick the best.”
I had no interest in claiming the Holland twins. If they ran off to be with some other guy, I would celebrate instead of being upset about them ditching me. They were a handful that I didn’t feel like dealing with right now.
“Aren’t we lucky,” I said. I hadn’t felt very lucky lately. No peace. No satisfaction. No Biba. Where was the luck in that?
Arvo leaned his back against the wall as he slung his arm over the freshman girl’s shoulders. A satisfied grin crossed his face as his eyes surveyed the courtyard.
“This is all ours, man,” he told me. “We are lucky.”
I forged a grin and nodded. He had been reveling in the power he had as my second-in-command. He used it whenever he saw fit, which meant he used it a lot. He got whatever girls he wanted. He scared anyone who looked at him funny. He recruited whoever he deemed fit to be one of our toadies.
Meanwhile, I was hung up on the girl who held my heart in her hand and crushed it to dust. How pathetic. I couldn’t stand being like this, especially while Arvo enjoyed the spoils of being a King. I should’ve been doing the same thing.
“Not as great as it used to be,” I muttered as I glanced around. When our fathers were the Kings, they ran a tight ship, feared and respected by all. Arvo and I had too many enemies, too many people who didn’t care about our authority. Our fathers would be disappointed.