Total pages in book: 181
Estimated words: 181613 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 908(@200wpm)___ 726(@250wpm)___ 605(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181613 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 908(@200wpm)___ 726(@250wpm)___ 605(@300wpm)
But I cannot fathom a world … without her.
I grab the mug and chuck it at the wall, shattering it into a million pieces.
“Levi!” Mom yells after me, but I’ve already waltzed out the door, jumped on my motorcycle, and raced off.
Apollo
Present
“Well, fuck me, what a party,” I muse as I grab the broken vase off the floor.
“It isn’t a party without a fight,” Heath responds.
I snort and look his way, and he comes to help me pick up some of the shards.
“Sorry I hit you, brother,” I say.
He pats me on the shoulder. “I deserved it.”
“Can we leave the brotherly love for after the cleanup?” Max mumbles, putting chairs back where they’re supposed to be.
“Everyone shut the fuck up,” Silas grits.
“No one asked you,” Aspen retorts.
“I was trying to save your ungrateful ass,” Silas says.
Aspen stops sweeping the floor. “I didn’t ask to be rescued. I’m not a damsel in distress.”
“Why are you even here?” Silas makes a face. “You have your own sorority.”
Aspen grimaces back. “Because I’m trying to be civil and clean up a mess my brother made.”
I admit, I kinda like how she keeps talking back to him out of spite.
Grey hops into the fray too. “Can we not start again? Please? The dean warned us.”
“What’s he gonna do, kick his own son out of college?” Silas snorts. “Good luck trying.”
“No, but he might kill us all,” Max responds casually.
He might be right on that part. Felix is as vicious as his son.
“Would love to see him try,” I say, laughing.
“He wouldn’t kill me, right?” Max’s eyes suddenly widen. “I mean, Levi and I—”
“Don’t talk about your mom,” Silas interjects.
“Are you scared of her?” I wink.
“Fuck you, the fuck I’m not,” Silas spits.
I laugh. “Sure sounds like you are.”
Silas tosses away his mop. “You wanna try me?”
Ivy literally throws her broom on the floor. “Motherfuckers, stop it! Right now.”
Everyone looks at her, impressed by the sudden outburst.
“Ivy’s right. All this fighting will lead us nowhere except death,” Aspen mutters to herself while picking up leftover masks off the floor. But she doesn’t continue talking, even though her lips are still parted. Her eyes are fixated on the masks in her hand.
I float over her shoulder to look, and she turns her head. “You knew, didn’t you?”
“Knew what?”
“These masks …”
“What about them?”
“Why did you pick these?”
“It’s a Phantom tradition to give these out at parties.”
She stares at the mask like it’s cursed or something. “Please tell me it’s a joke.”
“It’s true. I got another one from my last party here,” Grey adds.
“Corny,” Silas mutters, trying to start another fight.
Suddenly, Aspen waltzes off to the kitchen, clearly upset, but no one else seems to notice. I follow her only because I’m curious. Because I’m an obsessed motherfucker who can’t let something go once he’s sunk his teeth into it.
And this girl … this girl has definitely piqued my interest.
Aspen
I grab a glass of water to have a drink, but my hand is shaking. Levi almost died.
Why did I call out his name?
I nearly drop the glass, but then I hear footsteps, and I can already tell by how heavy they are that the person is bulky and muscular.
Apollo.
He brought me into this party, into this mess. “Did you know when you invited me to the party?”
He’s standing in the door opening, watching me intently. “I organize these parties. Of course, I knew about the masks.”
Of course, he knew.
I march over to him and slam the mask into his chest. “This is the mask my stalker wears.”
He lowers his arrogant gaze at my hand still stuck on his chest, and he covers it with his, almost as if he wants to keep it there, while a smile slowly spreads on his cheeks. “So that’s the mask you were looking for when you stormed into my room. You’re convinced your stalker is part of the Phantom Society, but he could’ve gotten this mask at any of our parties.”
He steals the glass right out of my hand, sloppily glugging down the water I was about to drink. Rivulets of water rush past his veiny neck as his Adam’s apple rises and falls with each gulp, and I don’t know why it makes me want to lick the droplets right off his skin.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
He puts the glass down on the kitchen counter. “Or it could still be a Phantom.” His tongue dips out to roll around his mouth, licking up some stray water droplets. Then he leans in. Too close. “It could be anyone. Could even be me.”
Chills run up and down my spine.
“A stalker?”
Oh God.
My eyes widen in shock at the sound of Grey’s voice, and I immediately pull away from Apollo.
Shit. He saw us.
“You have a stalker, and you didn’t tell me?”
“Guess everyone’s got their secrets.” Apollo tilts his head and smirks, and while Grey and I both stare at him like he’s the stalker in the room, he nonchalantly struts off. “See you at school, Freckles.”