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)
“See! Just the mention of that Medusa’s name and you lose all focus.”
“That’s not her name.”
He whacked the side of my head. “You need to—”
I nailed him in the stomach so hard he doubled over on a cough. “Fine, you want to abuse me because I’m trying to help you. She fucked you up, man. Taking all your dreams and shitting all over them.”
“I’m not doing anything with Jade.”
“Did you or did you not get suspended from the team because you knocked out her boyfriend?”
“Ex-boyfriend. And if you met the guy, you’d punch him.”
Frowning, he cracked a pretend whip. “Whippah, Wolf. Whip-the-fuck-ah.”
The stairs behind the living room wall creaked. “Stop being a cocksucker, Hendrix.” Zepp, Hendrix’s older brother, rounded the corner, lighting a cigarette.
Hendrix paused the game. “At least I had the decency not to be balls deep in a redhead when this sack of shit,” he thumbed at me, “showed up.”
Zepp cracked a smile. “If you were balls deep in my redhead, we’d be having your funeral.”
“You disgust me.”
Ignoring his brother, Zepp moved around the couch, so I stood up, and he clapped his arm around my back. “Good to see you, man.”
“Yeah, you, too.”
“He’s bumping uglies with Jade again!” Hendrix shouted. “Talk some sense into him.”
Zepp lifted a brow at me. I swore, if he actually took Hendrix’s side…
“I’m not.”
“Wouldn’t matter if you were.”
Hendrix shot to his feet, both hands on his head like it was about to explode. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this crap.”
“Go jerk one off or something,” Zepp said, glaring at his brother. “You’re acting like a moody bitch.”
“I’m acting like a savior, you dickface.” He headed to the kitchen. “You don’t want to fix this crap. I will.” The fridge creaked open. The rattle of bottles sounded.
Zepp clapped a hand to my shoulder. “Wanna go with me to the Wal-E-Mart—” he said that word extra loud—“to pick up a keg.”
“Fuck you, Zepp!” The fridge slammed shut before Hendrix stormed back into the room. “I’m drinking your soda, you capitalist traitor. And you…” His eyes narrowed on me. “Weirdo isn’t ringing your bell tower if I have anything to do with it.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and headed to the stairs.
“I don’t even know what he’s up to.”
Zepp chuckled to himself. “Ah, don’t worry about dickhead. He’s been extra moody since Lola started working. Let’s go get the beer and take selfies with One-eyed Gerald to really piss off Hendrix.”
We picked up beer and a yard flamingo. Hendrix was like a toddler. Give him a present and he forgets all past transgressions. We set up the house for the party, Hendrix propping the flamingo he’d named Carl the Second against the boarded-up fireplace. People slowly trickled in, and with each passing hour, the music pumping through the speakers grew louder. By the time I’d downed five beers, the living room was packed. Aside from there being no half-naked girls dancing on the sofa, it didn’t feel that much different than the parties Zepp had thrown in high school. With no parents to bitch about trashing their house, theirs were the parties everyone wanted to come to.
Hendrix shoved his way through the crowd, Carl the Second tucked under his arm. He stopped beside me and belched in my ear.
Fucking idiot. He was never going to grow up. I shoved him hard enough that he collided with the person behind him. “Asshole. You could have wounded Carl.” He stroked the plastic bird’s head. “And to think, I was coming to show you the pack of fresh meat I invited just for your stumpy ass.” He jutted his chin toward the entrance.
My attention drifted to the group of girls at the front of the room. All in skin-tight clothes and enough makeup to make a hooker look like a virgin. That was his plan to keep Jade from “ringing my bell tower.”
“Dude, I’m not—”
“Don’t give me that load of horseshit. I’m trying to save your ass from certain Medusa-tainted doom.”
Lola wedged herself between us. “Why am I a Medusa now?”
“Not you. Weirdo.”
She glanced at me. “Jade?”
I gave a nod as I lifted my beer to my lips.
“Ah, you guys were so good together.”
Hendrix’s eyes looked like they were going to explode out of his head. “No, the fuck they were not. He’s lucky she didn’t sacrifice him to her goat god or some crap back in high school.” He pointed at me. “He went all sniveling pussy after they started doing whatever it was they were doing. She’s Queen Medusa of Weirdos and—”
“Seeing as I’m your ‘Medusa,’ those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”
Hendrix’s head snapped to the side, his glare aimed at his girlfriend. “You’re a different breed of Medusa. Doesn’t count.”
It had counted for two whole damn years when anytime we mentioned Lola’s name, Hendrix would sucker punch the shit out of us.