Total pages in book: 9
Estimated words: 7999 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 40(@200wpm)___ 32(@250wpm)___ 27(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 7999 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 40(@200wpm)___ 32(@250wpm)___ 27(@300wpm)
Diligently.
Dutifully.
Starving for her touch.
Never once did he cross the line...
Until she made him beg.
MEN WHO YEARN is a dark romance prelude SHORT STORY to BOYS WHO HUNT. Contains disturbing content that might not be suitable for all readers
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter 1
Year 4 – Spine Ridge University
Kayla
Every bite I take out of my sandwich becomes harder and harder to swallow because of those eyes. Those damn dark brown eyes that look up from a laptop every other minute to take a very direct, intense glance at us.
At me.
Or at least, that’s what it feels like while I’m sitting here in the grass, trying to enjoy my lunch. It’s not often we all get to hang out together as a group. Though, it did take me a while to get used to the fact that Penelope and Crystal are going out with boys from the Skull and Serpent Society and the Tartarus House, where some of the most notorious boys on campus have made their home.
But not even them are as unnerving as the forty-year-old suited-up man with a chiseled jaw and a neatly shaven beard staring at us from a bench in the distance.
“Goddammit …” I murmur to myself, as I take another bite.
“What’s wrong?” Penelope asks.
“Nothing,” I say, swiftly swallowing it, not wanting to make a fuss when we’re finally together again.
Especially not while Felix is sitting across from me.
Because it’s most definitely his dad working on that bench.
“So … Felix …” I try to smile but it’s only returned with a snarl.
“What?” he growls.
Penelope shoves him with her elbow and it immediately makes him loose his murderous gaze. “Be nice, please.” She looks at me. “Go on. What’d you want to ask him? I promise he won’t bite.” She chuckles.
“At least not her,” Dylan muses, and Felix throws him a deathly glare.
Felix takes a big bite out of his sandwich, and I clear my throat to get rid of the awkward silence. “So, your father is the dean, right?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Don’t you find it odd? I mean, since he’s here every day, talking with other students when they don’t even know he’s your dad.”
He simply shrugs. “I don’t care.”
“As long as he lets us do whatever we want, why does it matter?” Dylan says, raising a brow.
“He’s very strict, even though you can’t see it,” Penelope says.
I frown. “Really?”
She nods. “He’s protective over his kids.”
“He actually threatened Lana’s boyfriends,” Crystal pitches in, and everyone looks at her. “She told me she had a tough time convincing him they were all right.”
“Not the least bit surprising to me,” Alistair says, folding his arms.
“Those fuckers don’t deserve her,” Felix says, making a fist.
“Felix, chill. Please.” Penelope rolls her eyes. “It’s Lana’s choice, not yours.”
“Well, it’s good that your father cares so much about you and Lana,” I say, and I glance at him while he types away on his laptop. I wonder what’s so important that it couldn’t wait until he got back into his office. This must be break-time for him too.
“He’s watching us, isn’t he?” Felix grumbles.
I tentatively nod. “Can’t tell for sure, but I think so.”
Felix sighs out loud. “For fuck’s sake, he really doesn’t have a fucking life.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Work means everything for Mr. Rivera,” Penelope explains. “It’s just … the way he is.”
“Bullshit,” Felix says. “He just doesn’t have anything else that’s interesting enough.”
I tilt my head, brows furrowed. “What do you mean … have?”
“Hobbies. Fun …” Dylan’s brows wriggle. “A girlfriend.”
Felix rolls up the wrapper of his sandwich and chucks it at Dylan. “Shut the fuck up.” But all Dylan does is laugh hysterically.
“It can’t be that bad, right?” Crystal asks.
“Oh, it is,” Alistair mumbles from the corner, avoiding Felix’ gaze as if he’s afraid of swift vengeance in the form of a half-finished sandwich smacking into his cheeks.
I take another glance at Mr. Rivera, the sunlight casting an eerie shadow on the pavement beneath him. But when he glances up from his work again, the unease that stirs in my stomach only grows wilder.
***
Days later
I put my laptop on the study desk in the library and throw my bag on the floor, breathing out a sigh from all the homework I still have to do for the finals. But when I come back up to open up my laptop, there’s a guy a few feet away from me that I really don’t want to see.
“Motherf…” I mutter to myself as he struts towards me with those hungry eyes. “Johnny, I’m not interested. Give it a fucking rest.”
“Girl, let me buy you a drink. Please. Just one drink. One.”
I raise a brow and lower my laptop screen. “No.”
“Oh, c’mon. It’s just a drink. Why not?”
“Do you know these two fucking letters? N. O? Learn ‘em.”
I roll my eyes and open up my laptop right in his face so I don’t have to look at it anymore.
“Hey.” Suddenly, he grips my screen. Too tightly. “I’ve been nothing but nice to you, and yet you’re being nothing but a—”
“A what?” My eyes rise to meet his in disdain. “Say it. Fucking say it … Bitch.”