Total pages in book: 215
Estimated words: 199344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 997(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 997(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
“Oh my god,” Shannan laughs as people crowd around, the same way they’d done in the cafeteria on Tuesday. “You really are a frigid bitch, aren’t you? What’s the matter? Scared the big, nasty cock is gonna bite you?”
Zoey’s cheeks flush, clearly not comfortable, and my hands ball at my sides, feeling sick to my stomach. I want to put an end to this, to finish this once and for all, but I won’t fight Zoey’s battles.
She’s not mine to protect anymore.
Shannan inches forward. “Cat got your tongue?” she purrs. “I think it’s time for you to leave. You’re not welcome here.”
“Careful,” Zoey says, narrowing her gaze at Shannan. “Your insecurities are showing.”
A smile pulls at the corner of my lips. She’s never been so right in her life, but clearly Shannan doesn’t appreciate being outed like that. “You’re trash, Zoey,” she throws back at her before saying it again, louder. “Trash. Trash. Trash.”
The other cheerleaders join in, and the chanting quickly starts to drown out the music until the whole fucking room is chanting at her, Tarni included.
“Trash. Trash. Trash.”
Zoey looks around in a blind panic, searching for a way out. Her eyes meet mine just as Shannan hits her with the final blow, tossing what’s left of her pink drink all over Zoey’s outfit. She gasps as the cool liquid assaults her skin, and as if on cue, every last cheerleader around the circle does the same, and the contents of my stomach start to rise in my throat.
I run for the bathroom, my stomach clenching and twisting with agony, feeling like the biggest fucking disappointment for not stepping in.
Fuck, I hate how much I love her, but goddamn, she deserves so much better than this.
Bursting through the door of the bathroom, I slam it behind me before emptying the contents of my stomach into the toilet, heaving as I struggle to come to terms with just how low I’ve sunk.
I’m a piece of shit.
I should have stepped in, no matter what it cost me mentally, even if it meant making matters worse. How can I go on knowing I didn’t have her back when she needed me?
Linc must fucking hate the bastard I’ve become. She must hate me.
With nothing left in my stomach, I flush the toilet and move toward the sink to rinse out my mouth and splash water over my face. I hang my head over the basin limply and watch the water drip, too ashamed to look into the mirror. I wish I never fucking came here tonight. But that wouldn’t have changed the fact that Zoey was here, drunk, with that asshole, and if I hadn’t been here to stop him . . . I don’t even want to think about what could have happened.
Wanting to get out of here, I move across the bathroom and open the door, only to step out and crash right into Zoey, soaked from head to toe in sticky pink shit. She glares up at me, and before I get a chance to step around her, she shoves her hands into my chest, forcing me back into the bathroom.
Zoey pulls the door closed behind her, and as she looks back at me, I see the tears in her eyes. She moves past me to the sink and grabs the hand towel before holding it under the water and wringing it out.
She starts cleaning the sticky liquid off and meets my stare through the mirror. “Are you happy now? Is this what you wanted?” she asks, indicating down her body. “Is it not enough for you to kill me every fucking time you look at me, but you have to make sure I’m thoroughly humiliated? You have to make sure my life is a living hell just for being someone you used to know?”
Her words are like a knife right through the back.
Unable to handle the hurt in her stare, I look away. “I had nothing to do with that.”
“Right,” she laughs, pulling her soaking hair over her shoulder and trying to wash out the pink mess. “Because Shannan just wants to humiliate me for the fun of it and not because she thinks I want to ride your dick like a fucking cowgirl.”
My eyes widen, never having heard her talk like this in her life. I know she’s always had a stubborn streak, but she’s always been respectful with her language, refusing to curse unless it was detrimental to the situation. But this is the alcohol speaking.
“This is all on you, Noah,” she continues, sounding like a broken record and telling me everything I already hate about myself. “She’s only getting at me in the hopes of winning your approval because for some fucking reason, you haven’t bent her over and given her what she wants yet. You are the only person in this stupid school who has the power to do anything about this, and you just stood there like a fucking idiot. Do I really mean that little to you now?”