Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 164705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
I jerked my arm back, hoping my cheeks didn’t betray my nerves. “Saved by the bell.”
He straightened, retrieving my hand as if it were natural. “Just wait.”
On cue, the orchestra began Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty. His chuckle trickled into my ears like Corinthian bells. I made the mistake of glancing up at him, just in time to catch him light up. He was too lovely. It was so unfair. He should be ugly as sin. Then I’d have him all to myself and still love him, not even an ounce less. That was Oliver’s best kept secret. His gorgeous exterior was no match for how perfect he was within.
He laced an arm around my back, tugging me closer. “Well, well, if it isn’t your song.”
“My song?” I blinked, trying desperately to anchor myself to the present. To forget the bomb my parents had dropped before Ollie had arrived.
“Yeah. You’re the sleeping beauty, silly.”
“I am very much awake … though a nap sounds just about right,” I joked, uncomfortable with how older couples cleared the way for us, their eyes lingering on our smooth movements.
From the outside, it must’ve looked like Ollie and I had practiced for years. We moved together like a river meeting an ocean, spinning and swirling, our bodies tangled tight. I pretended for one sweet moment that he was mine, and I was his. That my parents didn’t betray me. And that I knew, and had always known, the love of a home. One with a heartbeat, not an address.
“Your name is Briar Rose, just like the princess.” Ollie dipped me while our arms stretched. “Plus, you look like her.”
“She’s a fictional character, Oliver.” I raised my leg, tipping my toes to the sky.
Around us, people clapped. Five minutes ago, they hadn’t even noticed me a gust of wind away from death.
“So? You’re a dead ringer for the Disney character.” He studied me with hungry eyes. “Long, dark-blonde hair, arched brows, pink lips.” He paused and frowned, taking a better look at my face. “No fingernails.”
This time, he earned a genuine laugh. I swatted his chest. No way did he make me laugh after the news I’d heard. Like always, Oliver managed the impossible.
“I do have fingernails.” I waved my hands to prove my point.
“Barely. You munch on them like they’re fucking spice cakes, dude.”
“I lead a stressful life, okay?”
“I get it. It’s hard being so beautiful and smart when everyone around you is average. I have the same problem. We should start a club.”
Another wave of laughter rolled through my chest. “Knock it off. You’re being annoying.”
“Made you smile.” His eyes twinkled with humor. “Knew I could, too. I’m irresistible like that.”
You have no idea.
I returned my hand to his, sobering up. “How was your year?”
“Hmm. Let’s see.” He tipped me down, my breasts leveled with his eyes. Well, breasts was a big word for what they were. “School was fine. My dad is building three more hotels in Japan, which means he hasn’t been home as much.”
“How was that?”
“No one noticed.”
I knew he was kidding in the same way I knew he loved his family fiercely. In our circles, people treated their families like trading cards, something to be shuffled around when the need arose. Against all odds, the von Bismarcks actually liked each other.
I pouted, rubbing my thumb against his wrist. “I’m sorry you spent the year away from your dad.”
He shrugged in that carefree Oliver way. “Business is business. Plus, he bought me a sorry-for-ditching-you-in-your-formative-years gift, and it’s pretty epic.”
“Let me guess. A secret door?”
“First – that topped my Christmas list years ago. Second – The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a classic.” He spun me so fast, my fingers dug into his shoulders. “He got me a house. On Dark Prince Road.”
Year after year, Oliver lamented the fact that his two best friends lived on the same street while he resided in a quaint, 17,000-square foot manor on the opposite side of Potomac, Maryland. God forbid they caused mayhem without him, never mind that Zachary Sun had a permanent stick lodged up his ass and Romeo Costa couldn’t find Fun on a map with a GPS, a compass, and Dora the Explorer on speed dial. (Ollie’s words, not mine. I’d never met them, and frankly, the possibility scared me. Seriously, Ollie once let it slip that Romeo’s family had left a trail of bodies large enough to fill up a circle of Hell.)
“A house?” I echoed, trying to excavate the pang of jealousy growing roots in my chest. The idea of living near people who loved me was enough to bring tears of envy to my eyes.
“The biggest on the street. Mom says I can live in it the second I turn eighteen – on the condition that I visit every Tuesday and let Seb sleep over.”