Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
She thinks on it for a moment. “Well, Mom usually goes to the club at around nine, but if not she will be here and go to sleep around the same time. I think if we wait until about ten, we should be safe.”
“Let’s go ten thirty, just to be sure.”
She nods. “Okay, perfect, I’m so freaking excited.”
“Me, too. But remember, let’s act like we’re not happy about it. Yeah?”
She claps her hands and then tells me she’s going to find an outfit to wear. She disappears out of my room and I text Xander, telling him the plan, and then I delete the message. He doesn’t reply, but I figure he’s probably just busy. I mean, he’s the most popular guy in school, being two years older than me at seventeen, so he’s likely playing football or something along those lines.
I try not to think about it.
“Still sulkin’?”
I look up from my phone to see Alarick standing at my door. I grin at him, because it’s been a few days since I’ve seen him. Now that he’s twenty-three, he’s out and about a lot. He also spends most of his time at the club with everyone there. He’s fitting right into that life, which is what King wants but sometimes I wonder if it’s what Alarick wants. He doesn’t say much about it.
I know by the time he’s thirty, he will be running that club.
That’s a scary thought.
“I’m not sulking,” I say, shrugging. “It is what it is. How come you’re here?”
He doesn’t live here anymore. He moved out with his best friends Cohen, Kendric, Samson and Mykel who are all part of the club as prospects, and since then I barely see any of them. Which makes me a little sad because I miss Flick. I miss all of them. I like spending time with those guys. The club life is everything now, and I know they’re doing things that aren’t exactly legal.
That comes with the life, I suppose.
Mom keeps me right out of it, but I’m not stupid.
I’ve been there, I’ve overheard conversations, I know what goes on.
“Had to drop Sissy off. Heard you weren’t allowed to go to a party and you were up here sulkin’.”
“Who told you that, Sissy or Mom?”
He grins. “Sissy.”
“Then of course it was dramatic. Way over the top.”
He snorts. “Probably right.”
I stare at him and, as always, I’m in awe of how handsome he is. I’m a girl, I have eyes, I know what is good looking and what is not, and Flick is gorgeous. My friends are always begging to come over here or begging me to take them to the club so they can catch sight of him and his friends.
He’s filling out now. Gone are any teenage boy features. He looks like a man now, with growing muscles and face hair that’s very, very masculine.
I look away, cheeks flushing, because it’s weird, right? I mean, me staring at my step-brother. Not that he’s ever ever been a step-brother to me, not really. He’s always been something different. A protector, sure, but never a brother. He’s never felt like a brother. He’s never acted like a brother. And I’m kind of glad because he’s the very best friend I have, and I’d never want to see him like that.
Ick.
It would make those times I used to run into his room scared of the thunder and crawl into his bed really, really weird.
I smile as I remember those nights, where I’d curl into his side and he’d gruffly tell me to go back to my own bed, because it wasn’t okay that I was hanging onto him for dear life, but he’d never kick me out. He’d let me lie there, pressed into his side, until I fell asleep.
Our friendship has always been ... I don’t know ... deep.
“Mag’s told me you’ve got yourself a man.”
I roll my eyes and stand, walking over to the mirror and staring at my reflection. My blond hair is long and thick, perfectly straight of course because that’s how we all keep it now. My eyes are bright from the makeup surrounding them and my face is changing. I, too, don’t look like a little girl anymore. I’m starting to look a lot more like Momma, which is fine because she’s so beautiful. My body is filling out, I’ve got boobs that are far bigger than I ever would have wished for and a booty that’s starting to fill out my jeans a little too well.
Xander told me I have a hot body, because I’m not skinny like all of the other girls.
But that only made me feel like crap because, well, isn’t skinny what we all want to be?
“Yes,” I finally answer Flick. “I have a man.”
He walks in closer and stands behind me, glancing at me in the mirror. “Who?”