Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 67324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
I do, my mind spinning blissfully. He brings his lips so close to mine. The whole world feels like it stops. Locking eyes with him, I prepare, knowing exactly what he’s going to do.
Slowly, he lets the smoke trickle from his lips and as it does, I breathe it in. The moment is so incredibly intense, I feel like we’re alone and not a single other person is here. Like the universe has just shut everything else down. My eyes stay locked on his and I keep inhaling the smoke that he’s breathing into my mouth.
My god.
I want him.
I want him so damned badly my whole body aches.
I know I shouldn’t. I know that wanting him is dangerous for my soul, because his heart doesn’t lie with me—it lies with another girl in this room. Yet I find myself unable to stop as I lean forward just a little more. Mostly to see what he’ll do, and partly because I want his lips on mine more than I want this smoke he’s currently blowing softly into my mouth.
He doesn’t move back. His eyes stay held on mine, and I want to beg him to close the distance between us and kiss me. I need his lips on mine so fucking badly. I inch forward just a little more, and his eyes go from smoldering and sexy to lusty and needy. He feels it too; I can see it in his gaze. He wants me as much as I want him right now.
“Fuckin’ hell. Kiss her already, man, before I fuckin’ do,” Kendric murmurs, his voice low.
I swallow and Mykel’s eyes drop to my lips.
He moves a little closer, closer still—Then my phone rings. It rings so loudly I jerk, and in that second, the moment is lost. Mykel pulls back and my heart plummets into my stomach. I take a few minutes to recover from that, and then I glance over at my phone, which is on the floor beside me somewhere. I shift around until I find it, and then I stare at the screen.
“It’s Dax,” I mutter, closing my eyes and exhaling.
“Take it,” Alarick orders.
I don’t want to take it.
Goddammit, I don’t even want to look at it.
But I do as I’m told, because that’s what I’m here for.
I bring a finger to my lips, telling everyone to be quiet, and then I answer the phone and put it on loud speaker.
“Hey,” I say softly, trying to make my voice sound like the voice he’s come to know, that of the fragile, gentle girl he thinks he’s falling for.
“Waverly,” he says, and I can hear the pain in his voice.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard another person’s voice sound so pained. So broken. For a moment, I have to remind myself who I’m dealing with so I don’t immediately fall for for his act and try to help him.
“What’s going on?” I ask him, glancing at Alarick who is now listening intently, his eyes narrowed.
“We’ve got a problem here. A big . . . a big fuckin’ problem. I need your help. I have nobody else to talk to and . . . can you come over?”
“What’s happened?”
“It’s better if you just come here and see for yourself.”
“Are you . . . hurt?” I ask.
“Yeah,” he murmurs. “But it’s worse than that. Please, just come here. I need you to come to me.”
Oh god.
This feels bad.
It feels so fucking bad.
I glance over to Alarick, who nods very softly. I glance at Mykel, and the look on his face screams that he is going to protest the moment I hang up the phone.
“I’ll be there soon.”
I disconnect the call and try to leave before anyone can stop me. It doesn’t halt Mykel, though. He stands and demands, “You’re not fuckin’ goin’ over there.”
“I have to head back,” I say, grabbing my things off the bench and turning to where everyone is now gathered. “I have to.”
“You’re high as fuck, for a start,” Mykel growls. “You can’t drive. Secondly, he sounded like he’d just fuckin’ murdered someone, and you’re about to walk in on that. It didn’t sound right and you shouldn’t be over there.”
He’s right; it didn’t sound safe.
But I also know I’ve made a commitment to this club, and I very much plan on following through with it.
“I have to go,” I say.
“I’ll drive you,” Merleigh says. “I’m not high. I’ll get you as close as I can. You’ll probably have to walk the rest of the way so I’m not seen.”
“Thanks,” I say.
“She shouldn’t be goin’, Pres,” Mykel snaps at Alarick.
“We’ll send some back up to stay nearby in case anything goes down. This could be huge, and it could be somethin’ we can use. She’s gotta go.”
“You’re not carin’ at all about her safety.” Mykel snarls, baring his teeth in an angry way that has even me taking a step back.