Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 145746 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145746 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
A short laugh breezes past her lips. “Drove Mama crazy. I can still hear her saying, ‘Now, Will, if you don’t clean that mess off my walls.’”
She pulls a knee to her chest and wraps an arm around it. “It wasn’t mess, though. He was talented. I can’t draw for shit, but I like to think my creativity came from him.”
“Here you are,” Petra says from the open patio door. “I been looking all over for you.”
I don’t get the chance to figure out if she means me, Verity, or us both. I hide my irritation that she interrupted our conversation. What right do I have to be annoyed that Petra was looking for her girlfriend and found her with me?
“Come grab something to eat.” Petra walks over to Verity and pulls her up and into a hug. “You barely ate and you cleaned all day.”
“Whose fault is that?” Verity asks dryly.
“All mine.” Petra slides her look to me. “There’s plenty of pizza left. Come grab a slice, Monk.”
“I’m not hungry,” I say, but my stomach betrays me with a monstrous growl.
“Oh, okay,” Petra laughs. “Might wanna tell your belly that. Come get some before it’s all gone.”
So I do.
Verity and I settle on the couch with two slices each. Petra comes in and out. People dance and get drunk and make out all around us, but it feels like we’re insulated from the chaos. We discuss a wide range of topics while we eat, everything from the Greeks, who just crossed over, to the new student body president and the halftime show at homecoming. Verity seems suitably impressed that I arranged some of the music for the show, but I don’t offer much more. I don’t want to make the conversation about me, when I could be learning as much as possible about Verity.
I’m fucked.
Am I crushing on a girl I just met last night, while I’m at her girlfriend’s place eating her food? I don’t do cheating. Ever. I don’t accept it, and I don’t do it to other people. Verity is the kind of woman who would make you break your rules, and I don’t trust myself not to pursue her, their relationship be damned. So just for tonight, I let myself enjoy one of the prettiest girls I’ve ever met, eat free pizza, and drink cheap beer while Verity sticks to water and a few sips of Coke.
“You don’t drink?” I ask her, when we’ve been on the couch for probably a couple of hours and people are starting to leave.
“Not really.” She doesn’t offer further explanation, but looks up briefly to catch my eyes. Even though we’ve been talking for hours, she’s barely looked directly at me all night. Meanwhile, I can’t seem to keep my eyes off her longer than a minute.
For somebody who wasn’t even sure he was coming and promised himself he would only stay awhile, I’m still here when the room has almost cleared out. Finally the door closes behind the last person, and Petra flops down in the armchair across from us.
“Shit, I thought they’d never leave,” she says, blowing out an exhausted breath and stretching her arms overhead.
“I tried to tell you this little get-together was gonna become an all-nighter,” Verity teases. “You never listen to me.”
“You called it,” Petra sighs. “But, hey, it’s my last year before med school and then residency. That’s some serious adulting for the rest of my life. I better enjoy this last hurrah. You’ll have to hold it down for us here at Finley next year, babe.”
“You’re not a senior?” I ask Verity. I can’t believe that never came up.
“I would be a senior, but I transferred from USC and took a little time off.” Lowering her lashes, Verity twists the folds of her skirt between her fingers, not looking up when she answers. “This is my first semester at Finley, but I’m a junior.”
“Ahh, okay,” I say. “Wow. I love Finley, but it’s hard to beat USC for film. What made you leave?”
Her brows lower and she tightens her fist in the skirt.
“Sorry,” I say. “None of my business.”
“No, it’s fine.” She offers a smile, but it’s as stiff as her slim back pressed into the couch cushions. “Some of it was just being far from home. It was super-stressful, and I’m from a small town. I’d barely ever been out of Georgia, much less gone all the way to California. I missed home and ended up losing my scholarship, so money became an issue.”
“Sorry to hear that,” I murmur.
“It’s cool.” She does look up then, her smile more natural. “I’m where I’m supposed to be.”
“Yeah, you are,” Petra says. “Because that brought you to me.”
“True.” Verity breathes out a laugh and nods. “I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Petra’s eyes dart between us like we’re lab rats in a cage and she’s observing our behavior as part of an experiment. After a few seconds, she joins us on the couch, slipping her arm around Verity’s shoulder. The three of us on the couch together is weird, and I haven’t actually felt like the third wheel I obviously am until now. Even more so when Petra presses a kiss to Verity’s temple and caresses her thigh, subtly pushing the skirt up to expose smooth skin above her girlfriend’s knee. I stiffen, my eyes riveted on the flex of muscle in Verity’s legs. I lick my lips and make a conscious effort to control my breathing. Petra looks over at me, her eyes never leaving mine when she bends to whisper something in her girlfriend’s ear. Verity’s eyes go wide, and she swivels her head to stare at Petra, who grins and waggles her brows. I don’t know what the hell is going on, but I’m out.