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 remained seated, watching.
Cloe reached the door just as Ashton’s voice rose, and she stepped back. Again. There wasn’t enough restraint in the fucking world to keep me sitting there after that. I was on my feet, moving before I even registered my own actions. I reached the door right as Sanjana turned toward Nick and murmured a quiet, worn, “Thank you.”
“You never have to thank me for looking out for you,” he told her.
We watched as Cloe, Ari, and Roxxi led her toward Cici’s Range Rover. Ari climbed into the back seat beside her. The look on her face--fuck. That was Sanj with too many feelings bottled up. Stress wrapped in exhaustion beneath whatever bullshit Deadweight had said to make her react the way she had. I was doing my damndest to give her the illusion of choice, maintain some semblance of a line she could toe to feel like she was still in control. Seeing her like this made it hard. If she needed to yell or be pissed off, it should be at me for something stupid we’d end up joking about hours later with her wrapped up in my hoodie, in my bed, and in my fucking arms.
This piece of shit, who had barely scraped his way onto my team, was siphoning away all the patience I’d spent years learning to hold onto. Cloe pulled out of the lot, her windows too dark for me to see Sass now that the doors were closed. The important thing was that they were taking her home. The second the taillights vanished, Nick moved closer to Ashton. His hands were in his pockets, and he was grinning as if they were the best of friends.
“If I ever hear you raise your voice at her again, public or private, I’ll personally show you what a dental plan looks like when you’re drinking your food through a straw.”
Ashton’s jaw tensed, but Nick didn’t pause.
“And in case you missed this somehow, upsetting her pisses off all her friends. That’s never a smart thing to do.” Nick clapped a hand on his shoulder like he’d doled out actual friendly advice. “Anyway. Enjoy your night while you still can.”
Ashton turned to me instead of engaging Nick. “I saw the way you were looking at her.”
Nick sighed. “Damn, he’s slower than I thought.”
I grinned and stared him dead in the eye. “I’m always looking at her. I’ve been doing it longer than you even knew her name. Difference is... she looks back at me.”
I knew that struck when his posture stiffened.
“I don’t want problems with you,” he said tightly.
Cade stepped out of the diner, voice cold and even. “Then don’t make yourself one.”
To his credit, Ashton held his ground. I’ll give him that. Then he spoke again, and I found myself wondering how in the fuck he convinced my girl to give him a chance.
“She’s mine,” he stated loud enough to cut through the murmur of conversation outside The Nest. “No matter what fantasies you’ve got, I fucked her before you did.”
Every conversation around us slowed. Heads turned. A few of Nick’s hockey teammates came around from the rear patio, drawn by our voices. Cade stilled beside me. I wanted to break him for talking about her like that, reducing her to another body he’d had. I stepped in close, so my voice didn’t carry. “When she was with me, I told her I should thank you for that.”
He blinked, confused. I leaned closer as if I were going to tell him a secret. “Now, when she’s where she belongs, and make no mistake, she will be, you won’t even be an afterthought. She’ll be too busy learning how it feels to be ruined nice and slow by someone who knows exactly where to touch and how to keep her begging.”
He clenched his jaw so hard I heard his teeth grind. For half a second, I thought he might do the smart thing and walk away. I should’ve known better. Ashton had the intelligence of a crackpot goldfish.
He swung.
The throw was sloppy, the kind of punch you toss out when you’re all emotion and no logic. If he was aiming for me, he missed by a long shot. Before he could recover, my brother’s fist cracked across his jaw with a sound that snapped the air open. The impact sent him staggering sideways into a parked car. He caught himself—barely. His eyes were wild, teeth bared, and he lunged again like a fucking idiot.
The result was a match striking powder.
Students flooded out of The Nest like bloodhounds catching a scent. Phones were up, voices high, chaos spilling faster than anyone could stop it. Ashton’s boys were quick to follow his lead, fists raised, forgetting whose names carried weight here. One of them swung at Nick and caught him in the gut; he retaliated with a gleeful laugh and dropped him.