Series: Cobalt Empire Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 234
Estimated words: 226965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1135(@200wpm)___ 908(@250wpm)___ 757(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 226965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1135(@200wpm)___ 908(@250wpm)___ 757(@300wpm)
He’s facing away from the hall, angled toward the bookshelf and a girl.
A girl.
I don’t have to be good at reading body language to see he knows her. It’s the way he stands close to her with little visible distance, the way his hands move passionately as he talks, the way his head dips down to be more at eyesight. To be closer.
She’s taller than me. Maybe by five inches, making their height difference not as awkwardly obvious as mine and Ben’s.
Her dark sandy blonde hair flows into a loose braid. A rust-orange satin, cowl-neck top is tucked into a pair of high-waisted denim jeans.
My throat dries. There’s no need to be jealous. She’s just a girl. He can talk to girls. I should introduce myself, I think. But my feet root to the ground, an invisible force seizing my muscles. My resolve. The way Ben starts to look at her, raw concern in his blue eyes, devastates every inch of me.
He touches her shoulder—and I can’t watch anymore.
I slip away from the alcove, walking dizzily toward…somewhere else. My head feels far too light, and I wonder if the pot has finally hit me. I really hope it has.
41
BEN COBALT
It’s always been easy to explain my relationship to Winona Meadows to other people.
She is my cousin.
She was my best friend.
But how do I explain the girl in front of me?
Vada Lauren Abbey is not blood related to me, but she’s related to the Hales and the Meadows. We grew up together. Almost every family function—she was there. But she’s been more my little sister’s friend than she’s ever been mine. And I didn’t start the night thinking I’d see her here. I didn’t start the month thinking I’d cross paths with Vada, since she’s supposed to be at a boarding school in Upstate New York.
So when I found her standing next to Xander and Easton, I thought I was seeing a mirage. A figment of my imagination. Because there was no way on this planet Earth that Vada came to a Halloween party filled with college students without Winona by her side.
The fact that she was tagging along with Easton had me seeing fucking red. Did he invite her here? To a college party? Is he out of his mind?
I didn’t start shit with him and cause a scene. The temptation was real, but I’m Harriet’s plus-one. It’ll destroy me if I’m the reason she gets rejected.
So I pulled Vada away. Found a quiet corner where we could talk. We currently stand between a bookshelf and a window, the thick velvet drapes drawn shut.
“You shouldn’t be here right now.” My voice is a low, angry whisper. “You’re seventeen.”
She glowers. “What are you my dad now, Ben?”
“No, I’m your friend.”
“Wow, wow.” Her aquamarine eyes widen like I’ve been huffing glue. “Some friend you are. You’re never even around. You don’t call. You don’t check-in. I don’t know what we are, but we’re not friends.” Hurt pinches her face. Loose strands from her braid touch her lashes, annoying her enough that she starts redoing her entire hair. Taking out the dark sandy pieces. Starting the braid over.
She has road rash on her forearms. From falling off a dirt bike. She’s a BMX racer, but she’s been trying out motocross, apparently.
For months. I had no clue.
If I were her friend, maybe I would’ve. So yeah, she’s right.
I skate a hand through my hair, my chest rising and falling. It shouldn’t be this painful, but I’m trying not to leave shattered pieces behind. I want everyone happy and whole and this…this is so far from that.
“Does your dad know you’re here?” I question.
She snaps the hair-tie at the end of her braid. “Does your dad know you don’t have a bodyguard on you right now?”
I hate that it’s obvious to her Novak isn’t with me. That there’s not a lingering presence ten feet from my body. It was easy telling Novak that I had no plans for Halloween. The lie should be hard on me, but it’s not when Novak betrayed me first.
Since I’m taller than Vada, I keep having to glance down. I hate it. She’s wearing some sort of droopy, thin-strapped top with a pushup bra, and it’s impossible to avoid glancing at her cleavage. I keep hearing Eliot’s voice in my head. I’d been a teenager when I overheard him talking to Tom. “You think Ben and Vada will ever hook up?” Eliot asked conversationally because forbidden gates for him are challenges meant to be unlocked and traversed through. “They’re close in age, no blood relation.”
I didn’t even hear Tom’s response. I walked away quickly, my face on fire. Before that day, I had never thought about Vada in that way. But after that…it sits in the forefront. That maybe other people in the family have been thinking it. Maybe she has.