Total pages in book: 186
Estimated words: 176552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 883(@200wpm)___ 706(@250wpm)___ 589(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 176552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 883(@200wpm)___ 706(@250wpm)___ 589(@300wpm)
I pressed harder on the gas, the truck growling under me. Being at war with myself was exhausting. One half of me was done waiting. The other knew the payoff was coming. And soon. In the meantime, I would take full advantage of every opening she gave me to move things along. I turned onto another street, not sure if I should hit the highway and just ride or head home to try and concentrate on the schoolwork waiting for me.
My phone rang, and the call flashed across the dash display with Nick’s name.
Perfect timing.
I had been waiting for him to call me back since we’d hung up right before Sass came out of the drugstore. Whatever he was about to say would determine what I did next. I tapped the button on the steering wheel to answer.
"Did you find it?"
“Yes, sir.” I could hear the grin in his voice. "They're at the old Miller Pub."
"They’re? Who is it?" I asked, eager to know.
"Kyle Anderson, DeAndre Woods, and there's a girl with them, Xan couldn’t get confirmation on yet."
Kyle Anderson.
I sifted through the people I knew until I placed him. “The fucking chess club kid?”
A burst of laughter came from the background, which I recognized as Rook's.
“That's the one,” he confirmed.
“Kyle Anderson, huh. What the fuck was he doing getting mixed up in something like this?”
“You know how half the Huntsmen come to be. They play just so they’re acknowledged for once in their life.”
Rook chuckled. “Kid probably thinks if he wins, someone might actually remember his name for something other than that time he cried during his famine presentation.”
“Or when he puked all over that blonde chick during the charity run freshman year,” I added with a laugh.
Nick made a sound of mock sympathy. “Poor lil dude. What he lacks in all areas of his life, he’s trying to make up for in theatrics. Xan found out he was gunning to outbid two legacy players for a certain Marked.”
“Sanjana,” Rook supplied, like I needed the double clarification.
I wasn’t surprised our names were put up at the first opportunity. People liked the idea of hunting us. The potential bragging rights on top of thinking they would get to see us sweat for once. All it took was one dumb fuck to start the bidding, and we were ripe for picking. The irony was that things had changed with The Hunt this year. The rules were shifting, and thanks to that, we would use them to our advantage. Like I promised, Sass, it would be handled. We hadn’t spent years keeping them untouched just to let strangers turn them into casualties.
“And DeAndre?” I asked, remembering the other guy Nick mentioned.
“He chose Ari.”
Rook made a sound, something between a laugh and a scoff. “Probably thought she’d be an easy target.”
“Then they underestimated her,” Nick volleyed, voice hardening, “and us.”
No shit, they underestimated her.
Ari might’ve been shy and quiet, but she was steel wrapped in cotton with a brain full of knowledge. That didn’t make a difference for us, though. No one was going to fuck with any of them.
“I'm heading out there.”
“Hey, I wanna come,” Nick called out before I hung up.
I laughed, shaking my head. Nick had a taste for chaos that rivaled my brothers. Missing out wasn’t something he tolerated well.
“I’ll be there in five.”
I disconnected the call and circled the block to get to our house. When I pulled up in front a few minutes later, the porch light came on. The door opened, and Nick jogged out first. Rook followed, and then Cade stepped into view, Angela B, his metal bat resting across one shoulder.
I reached across to my passenger seat and moved the candy Sass had bought me, so it didn’t get crushed. The plastic crinkled beneath my fingers and reminded me of the pregnancy tests. When I saw those boxes—fuck. I never wanted to experience that feeling again. It was like a cold, sharp blade, driven straight through the organ in my chest that belonged to her. Pulverizing everything in its path. She’d shut that shit down fast, thankfully.
The lapse in control was not my finest moment, but considering I was barely keeping it together, knowing someone else had been touching her at all, I handled it better than I could have imagined. I owed some of that credit to Xan. When I’d been in my feelings the other night while we rode around looking for whoever was outside of Ashton’s spot, pissed all over again that she was with him in the first place, he looked me dead in the eye and said, “You can’t expect her to have stayed this pure, untouched virgin when you’ve been slanging your dick around.” That last bit was overkill. We both knew I was close to a saint when it came to that, but the point was made.