Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 28386 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28386 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
“Oh shit, Zander, it’s that slut that tried to seduce you freshman year.”
Shiloh’s eyes slide closed, her shoulders slumping dramatically.
It’s like I’ve been set on fire.
My skin burns, head to toe. A rash of flames.
Righteous rage is a juggernaut inside of me, knocking bones and ribs into new locations.
Zander. That’s the guy. Who touched my girl against her will.
“It’ll be over quick, Shiloh,” I say, hoarsely. “Promise.”
With that, I’m shooting to my feet, already turning with the tray in my hands. I find my target—the only young man in the group—cracking the hard plastic against the side of his head, sending him reeling sideways in shock, before he drops down onto his ass. The girls screech at the top of their lungs, but I don’t pay them any attention. For one, I don’t raise my hand to females, but two, I blame this piece of garbage for the last four years of my girl’s misery. He spread a false rumor and didn’t take the opportunity to clear it up. And he touched what’s mine. I don’t care if I wasn’t in her life yet, it’s unacceptable.
He starts to get up like he’s actually going to try and fight me, so I plant a boot in the middle of his chest and keep him down. And I point at the two females he came in with.
“Tell them what really happened with my Shiloh. Do it fast or I’ll start breaking bones.”
Shiloh’s hands are on my back, fisting the T-shirt. “Stop, Blaste. You don’t have to—”
“I’ll always take care of you without you having to ask, Shiloh.” The motherfucker still hasn’t said anything, so I remove my foot from his chest long enough to give him a right hook, enjoying the plume of blood that sprays from his nose across the beige tile floor. “Start talking.”
“All right,” whines the pipsqueak. “I kissed her. She didn’t want it and I…did it anyway.”
I glance over at the two females long enough to watch their mouths fall open. “Even if she’d kissed him back, it wouldn’t have been reason to call her those words. Apologize. All of you. Or it’s going to get a lot worse.”
“Sorry!” cries Zander, blood dripping down his chin. “Come on! Apologize!” he shouts at his companions.
“Sorry!”
“We’re sorry!”
“Say her name,” I growl, back to grinding my foot into his sternum.
“Sorry, Shiloh,” they all say in unison.
Far from satisfied, I take my foot back, nonetheless. “We done here, sugar?” I ask, pulling her into my side and kissing the crown of her head.
“Yeah,” she says, sounding dazed. “We’re done.”
Chapter
Nine
Shiloh
Violence is never supposed to be the answer.
Right.
Tell that to the sense of vindication circulating my ribcage. Gone is the weight I’ve been carrying around on my shoulders for four years. I’m floating. I’m buoyant and breathless as Blaste guides me down the brightly lit mall promenade, totally at ease in his big, rangy body. Swaggering and collected, as if he didn’t just beat the snot out of my high school bully. He didn’t even break a sweat. The only proof of the altercation is a few droplets of blood on his cheek, a few more on the grey shirt collar.
Might as well face it, I’m turned on.
I’m really, really turned on.
I’m supposed to be a pacifist, but every time I replay the moment Blaste clocked Zander in the head with the tray, another wave of heat goes crashing through me. Every time I think about him demanding that apology in that growling twang, my breath stutters in and out.
“Where do you want to go next, sugar?”
“I…don’t care,” I say, dazed. “Anywhere. But we should probably get out of here soon, because mall security is going to be looking for you.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“It’s not.”
Blaste stops short, doing a double take at the closest shop window. “Son of a…” Just as quickly, he averts his gaze. “There is a mannequin over there wearing…I don’t even know what to call it, but it’s not underwear.”
I follow his line of vision. “That’s Victoria’s Secret.”
“Jesus, there isn’t much being kept a secret, is there? My brother would be dying right now.” The tips of his ears are actually turning red. Not three minutes after he broke Zander’s nose and he was blushing over underwear. “Do you…wear things like that, Shiloh?”
I do a quick examination of the mannequin. “Thongs? Sure. I mean, I own a few of them, but that place is a little out of my price range. I get mine from Walmart and they do the trick.”
He swallows. “I’d really like to see you in that one, specifically.”
“I don’t have the money—”
“Stay right here where I can see you. I’ll be right back.”
I stand in the middle of the mall corridor watching as my boyfriend from the past enters Victoria’s Secret and strips the thong off a mannequin, shoving it into his pocket and walking back out, whistling casually. Behind him, a store employee looks almost shell shocked by what is occurring. I know the feeling.