Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 111676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 558(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 558(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
“This song…” She took a sip, and I swore to God, Jade turning up that three-dollar, gas-station bottle could have made any photograph of a bikini-laced Coca-Cola model sipping their ice-cold beverage look like shit. “Just like old times,” she said.
“Not just yet…” The truck rocked when I pushed to my feet and held out my hand.
When she took it, I pulled her against me, wrapping an arm around her waist.
“Oh, no. You know I hate dancing.”
The laughter on my lips quickly died as I looked at her, the amber glow of the setting sun playing over her face. God, she was beautiful. “We both know that’s a lie,” I said. “You just don’t like anyone seeing you dance.” I ducked my lips to her ear. “It’s just us.”
Her body relaxed against mine, her cheek to my chest as we swayed in beat with the music.
“Now, it’s just like old times.”
Jade would never dance in front of anyone, but I loved the way she trusted me, and only me, to see that side of her. I guessed, to her, it felt vulnerable. Which made moments like this feel like a small gift.
We slow danced as the sun sank below the horizon, the cicadas humming their rhythm. And there it was, that peace that I only ever found with her. I twirled her around, placing my stomach to her back and my chin on her shoulder as we moved. “I’m glad you stole those pills.”
“My dad would call that being a bad influence.” She tipped her head back to look up at me. “But I’m glad I did, too.”
My lips brushed her cheek. “I was miserable without you.”
I spun her around again, this time stopping her so that we were face-to-face. I took her chin in my hand, studying her face like I could take a picture in my mind. Preserve it in case I ever lost her again—which I refused to do. I would spend a lifetime chasing that girl if I had to. “I fucking love you, Jade.”
A soft smile shaped her lips. “Promise me we’ll never ‘take a break’ again.”
“I won’t let you. You’re stuck with me.”
“I love you, too, Wolf.”
And that feeling of warmth that spread through me, that was what men lived for. I pressed a kiss to her lips, my hands in her hair, while the music and the Alabama heat wrapped around us.
A paycheck, a house, the nicest car on the goddamn block didn’t mean shit if you didn’t have someone to share it with. Someone you really wanted to share it with. Someone you would willingly sacrifice your life for because death would be kinder than living without them. Selfishly stupid? Maybe. But wasn’t that the definition of love?
I’d spent enough time with her, and way too much time without her, to know that she was the one goddamn thing in this life I couldn’t live without.
Twenty-Nine
Jade
Most Saturday nights, I was working, studying, or stealing. But on this particular night, I was standing in the middle of the crowded frat house, looking at the sign Cassie and I had painted earlier that read: Welcome to the Meat Market. It was supposed to piss off Rogue. Turned out, he didn’t care, and neither did the squealing girls in the corner of the room, ready to be said meat. They were all wearing Rogue’s auction T-shirts—if they could even be referred to as T-shirts. There was underboob everywhere. Sure, the Roller Burger uniform was bad, but at least I got paid to wear it.
My attention homed in on one particularly busty blonde. Megan.
Of course she’d happily sell herself off like hamburger meat close to expiring. She glared across the room at me, or more specifically, at Wolf’s arm wrapped around me. I glared right back, hoping she knew exactly who gave her car its new paint job. Slash my damn tires…
Wolf pressed his lips to my temple, and a familiar sense of warmth rushed through me. If I had to endure this shit, and her, then at least I had him. The whole auction thing was also made far more bearable, knowing that somewhere in this packed house, were women ready to take a steaming shit on this misogynistic bullshit.
The music cut off when Bellamy stepped onto a chair. “Welcome to Omega Dicksolon’s Charity Auction.”
“Save the jackass penguins!” Petey shouted.
“That’s right,” Bellamy said, pointing at his frat brother. “Bless the little bastards. And bless the lovely ladies volunteering their time to save the flightless birds.” Bellamy waved a hand over the first string of half-naked girls lined up to the side of the room.
“I think lovely might be an overstatement,” Drew mumbled beside me as the room erupted in cheers.
“Don’t be jealous, cuz.” Rogue nudged her. “You could always get a boob job.”
His laughter was cut off when Drew whacked him on the back of the head. “My boobs are not small, you rat-faced little pervert.”