Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79963 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79963 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
“I need to go to the restroom. Be back in a few,” Max said, and slipped away.
I sipped my drink, and with great detachment watched the gathering of fine feathered birds around me.
Laughter broke out behind me and I looked around to see a couple who had just walked in. The thing that stood out about them was that they were holding hands. Nobody else was doing that. They also seemed to have eyes only for each other. They also neither preened nor displayed the pretentious mannerisms of the other partygoers. I noticed their shining rings and concluded they must be newlyweds. They spoke with their heads so close they were almost touching.
Why did love come so easily to some people?
Ferocious longing and envy crept into me. Why couldn’t I find someone who looked at me the way that man was looking at his woman? I desperately wanted to be Max’s woman. I wanted Max to look at me like that.
The longing was so ferocious I had to look away.
I stared blankly at a moss-covered stone statue in the middle of a fountain. I’d long accepted that not everybody (basically me) would be lucky enough to find their soulmate so why did it bother me now? Especially when I was with Max for a weekend of excitement and passion.
Someone bumped into me and my glass was knocked out of my hand. I looked up and it was the woman I’d been watching and envying.
“Sorry. I’m so sorry,” she apologized. “I wasn’t looking where I was going. I hope I haven’t ruined your lovely dress.”
“No, you haven’t. Don’t worry. No harm done,” I reassured her with a smile. I already liked her. She hadn’t given herself a pompous accent or any airs and graces.
“Thank God. I’m Dahlia and this beast here is my husband, Zane.”
I turned to look at the man and was shocked to see his face properly. He wasn’t anything like the rest of the pampered elitist guests of this party. He had a scar on one side of his face, but it was his eyes that held me spellbound.
They were the dangerous, merciless eyes of a killer. Yet, when they were turned towards Dahlia, they melted. He gazed at her as if he couldn’t get enough of her.
“I’m Lillian. Nice to meet you both,” I said.
“Yeah, same here,” Dahlia said. “It’s really nice to meet a normal person. Everyone here is so freaking snooty.”
I laughed.
“Are you here alone?” Dahlia asked.
“No, I came with Max Frost,” I said and glanced around to look for him. I spotted him talking to a woman. No one needed to tell me she was Paige.
Chapter 39
Max
“It’s so nice to see you again, Max,” Paige said, drawing me to one side, a little away from everybody. She had trimmed her blonde hair and become even thinner, a look that did not suit her at all. She kept her hand on my arm.
“Your mother told me you would be coming, but I could hardly believe it. What? Max at a party like this? No way,” she said flirtatiously and moved too close to me.
I took a step back, which somehow caused her to lose her footing, and she started to fall forward. Instinctively, I caught her. As I righted her, I realized she was smiling, a secret victorious smile. She had let herself fall on purpose. Immediately, my gaze searched for Lillian.
She was staring at us, a look of unspeakable hurt on her face.
Frustration welled up inside me. I hated women who played games. I remembered now what I hated about Paige. She played games. All the fucking time.
All the way to the restrooms I’d endured people who wanted to indulge in meaningless small talk about the people we had in common. People I cared little or nothing for. I’d grown up with the majority of these people, but I had a completely different outlook on life now. Almost all of them lived off their parents, or trust funds from their grandparents.
It sickened me to see people wasting their lives in such a manner and I wanted no part of it. All I wanted to do was go back to Lillian. Away from this conniving little bitch.
I looked beyond her to where Lillian was standing with Zane and Dahlia, seemingly happy. I should have been glad they were keeping her company, but I found it hard to trust any man near Lillian. Let alone a man like Zane. He was not like the highly cultivated, ultimately weak hot- house-flower type of men at this party. Zane was electrifyingly virile. A killer. Even though I’d never seen a man get so crazy for a woman, as Zane had for Dahlia, I still felt threatened if he got too close to Lillian.
“Have a good night, Paige,” I said through gritted teeth and started to make my way towards Lillian.