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)
Thankfully, Brent turned right, without another word, and we drove to the gas station in blissful silence.
Eleven
Wolf
I only played Assassin’s Creed when I really needed to lose myself in a game, but that night, I couldn’t focus for shit. Everything about Jade’s being at The Platinum Club in that skimpy-ass dress bothered me. That bar was where the lowest of low-lifes went. A front for a strip-club where a guy could pay a quick buck for a fuck. The only women I had ever seen in that place were there for one reason and one reason only… Which was why, when I’d seen her in that bar, talking to some random guy, I almost got up and dragged her ass out of there. And I would have had Brent not popped up behind her. By the time I’d made the deal and looked back at the bar, Jade was shoving her way through the crowd, Brent’s bitch ass right behind her. I hated the way she laughed at him. Almost as much as I hated him touching her. He didn’t deserve her. To be fair, though, neither did I.
It was something I’d known since the moment I’d first laid eyes on her in high school. Again, when I’d shown up at her house, her dad had greeted me by telling me what I already knew, that she was too good for me. She had always been a little sliver of heaven in a life full of hell. She’d given me hope when nothing else could. And that was where I’d really fucked up—putting all of my hope in a person who had none in me.
Dog hopped off the couch and went to the front door, glancing back at me. I paused the game, checking the time.
Two minutes past eleven.
She’d missed curfew, and as far as I knew, was with Fuckface Brent. Jealousy wound through me. He’d cheated on her, and that motherfucker still had her attention. If I ever wanted proof that I was just as worthless as I’d been told, that was it.
The chirp of crickets and humid air wrapped around me when I stepped onto the porch. Dog pulled on the leash, digging his paws into the grass as he mushed toward the neighbor’s yard. “You aren’t getting off the leash. We both know you just want to run off and eat their chickens again.”
The entire walk around the block—where he refused to take a shit—I replayed Jade saying, “Nothing I’ve done has been because I don’t care.” To be honest, that had sent my head into a tailspin. She hadn’t come to my dad’s funeral; she’d acted like I didn’t exist, and all because she’d cared? It made zero sense, and damn if I didn’t want to stop thinking about it. Stop thinking about her.
Dog stopped at a trash can, gave it a sniff, then squatted just as headlights turned onto the street. A junk car I didn’t recognize rolled up in front of the frat. It hadn’t come to a complete stop before the back door flew open. Cassie shot out, followed by Jade, and they took off in a sprint toward the front door.
My attention went back to the car now creeping along the curb.
When it passed, I met Brent’s glare through the driver’s window, and my jaw tensed. Hard. Brave little cocksucker to give me a death stare like that.
Dog pulled on the leash, but I couldn’t look away from Brent’s fading taillights. I wanted to take a rock and chuck it through the back window. Truth be told, given the chance, I’d set his new piece of shit car on fire with him in it.
My annoyance grew with each step toward the house. Jade had not only been at the bar with him, she’d had him drop her off—at my house. Five minutes past curfew.
By the time I opened the front door, that annoyance had grown into full-blown, irrational rage. I unfastened Dog from his leash, and, of course, the little shit took off toward the kitchen. His oh-my-God-you’re-home Shiba screeches filled the silence, followed by Jade greeting him. She had been at the bar with that cocksucker, and not only did my dog smell of her, he now liked her more than me. That was too much. It was the flaming match tossed into the powder barrel, causing my emotions to blow the fuck up.
When I rounded the corner, I found Cassie rummaging through the pantry. Jade was crouched by the counter, petting my traitorous dog, that short-ass dress riding up her thighs. I told myself to focus on the rage, willing the blood flow to shift away from my hardening dick. God, that woman could do a number on me. That was for damn sure.
A floorboard creaked beneath my foot, and Cassie turned from the pantry with a bag of chips in her hand. “Uh…” She studied my face for a moment, then a small frown creased her forehead. “Hi?”