Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 84289 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84289 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
He looks ravished, and all I did was kiss his neck. His hair’s a little tousled. His cheeks are flushed. His body looks like it’s melted into the couch, and his legs are parted enough that I can see the faint outline of his hard-on even in the dim light.
“Stay here for a while,” I tell him.
He frowns, and it’s adorable. “No. Where are you going? Why does it seem like you’re about to do something terrible?” he asks.
“I’m about to do something necessary, and it’s going to ensure that by the end of this party, everyone knows we’re a couple.”
“Ollie! Yo! Guess who I just talked to,” Weston says as he enters the room, grinning and waving at me, too.
“Perfect,” I tell Oliver in a low tone. “Talk to Wes. I’ll be back in a bit.”
Weston seems drunk, warm, and happy now, too. He sits on the couch next to Ollie and I blow a little kiss before taking off toward the back of the house.
The back sunroom has tall, floor-to-ceiling windows that look out onto the backyard, and right now the guys have turned off all the lights and put on blacklights, instead.
The blacklights illuminate the room in a glowy purple hue, and every bit of white that anyone’s wearing glows bright like neon.
I look around the people in the sunroom, scanning the crowd. Finally, I find who I’m looking for.
Noah is sitting on a lounge chair, shirtless, and flanked by two gorgeous women, one with long, dark braids and the other with messy blonde short hair. One of them has decided to take off her shirt, too, and her tits are mashed up against his arm as she leans over, drawing on his chest with a highlighter. Her drawings glow neon yellow-green in the light.
The other girl sits on the opposite arm of Noah’s chair, taking a pull from a vape that makes the whole room smell like a cloud of vanilla.
There are two other girls sitting on a couch across from them, both of them watching Noah like they’re waiting for their turn to surround him.
Well, aren’t you popular at parties, Noah.
Exactly why I need to use you for social dynamite.
“Niko! My man. You having a good time?” Noah greets me, his eyes half-lidded as the topless girl draws an impressive bird on his chest with the highlighter.
“Peachy,” I tell him. “You’re enjoying the party, I assume?”
“He’ll be enjoying it a lot more once he goes upstairs with us,” the girl who’s drawing tells me, without looking up from her work.
“Hit this vape with me,” the other girl says near Noah’s ear.
“No thanks, that’s all yours,” he politely tells her, putting his arm around her and stroking the small of her back.
“You want me to color in your tattoos after I’m done with Noah?” the topless girl asks me, finally looking up. “They’d look fucking sick in the blacklight.”
“Not tonight.”
“You chilling, Niko? What’s up?” Noah asks.
“Got a question for you.”
“I’m your man.”
I cock my head to the side. “Is Oliver single?”
A devious smile spreads over Noah’s lips. “Oliver Ashford is the definition of single. That man hasn’t settled down since he got here. Fucks who he wants, when he wants. Why do you ask?”
“No reason,” I say.
Stoking a fire.
Pouring fuel on a gossip inferno that will spread like wildfire as quickly as I say it.
“Ollie’s a good man,” Noah says.
“He’s hot as fuck, too,” one of the girls says, and the other agrees. “Not as hot as you, though, Noah.”
For Christ’s sake.
These women see an Onyx guy and they salivate, don’t they?
I give Noah a nod. “Thanks for letting me know. Have fun.”
Highlighter Girl has now moved upward to draw on the side of Noah’s face, and her nipple is right in front of his mouth. He leans forward to give it a little kiss, then grins at me.
“You fucking know I will. You have fun too, Niko.”
As I head out of the room, I already know the social grapevine will take care of half of the work for me.
I stop in the kitchen to make myself another drink, and then I tap out a quick text to Sevan.
Niko: All good still?
Sevan: I’m now the rank 1 player of the Martial Arts Mayhem video game in North America, so I’d say I’m doing fucking fantastic.
You know what I mean, smartass. No further threats on your life?
I’m safe, Niko. Also, when I’m able to walk normally again, I am going to go to every goddamn party this campus has to offer.
You’re not missing much. Debauchery and depravity.
But those are my favorites. I want to fucking *fight* somebody. Just for fun, not even because I’m mad.
There’ll be plenty more of that once you’re healed. Who would you fight, anyway?
Weston Knox needs a fist to his head.
Hey. He is my brother, even if… we’re basically strangers.