Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 124451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
Jax grins back at her. “I’d like to see you try,” he says before narrowing his gaze on my girl and making his way toward his bed. “And for the record, my ass is not squishy. It’s delightful. It’s perfectly plump, like a nice juicy peach.”
Jax walks the few steps to his bed, his exhaustion quickly closing in, and the moment his face is hidden from the girls, he drops the mask and I see just how much pain he’s really in. It fucking kills me. He’s never been one to let on how much pain he’s in, even as a kid when he broke his leg. He was always smiling, always making jokes to ease everyone else’s concerns, but he can’t fool me. I won’t stand for it.
“Get your ass in bed,” I tell him, keeping my voice low and walking around to him, ready to help him up, though I doubt he’ll let me. “You’re moving too much. You’re going to pop your stitches.”
He leans against the edge of the bed, but as the door opens and he twists to see who it is, he doubles over in pain, mooning every last one of us. “Holy fuck,” Riley says from the door, getting an eye full of not just Jax’s asshole, but his junk too. “I wish someone would have warned me this was a full moon party. I would have come better prepared.”
Hudson follows him in, and I’m not surprised to see Ilaria striding in a moment later. Ilaria goes straight to the girls as Hudson slinks across the room to check on Jax. But not Riley. That asshole has other plans.
He bypasses the chairs for visitors and heads straight for Bri’s bed, making himself comfortable right beside her. “So, speaking of full moon parties,” he says, hooking his arm over her shoulders and leaning back. “Given any extra thought to me popping that ass cherry?”
Bri stares up at him with complete adoration. At least, that’s what it’ll look like to him. To me, it’s the face she gives me right before she’s about to fuck with my day. “Actually, I have,” she tells him, making his whole body tense beside her, unease flashing in his usually bright eyes. “And I think you’re right. We should just do it and get it over with. Otherwise, this desperate need I’ve had for you since the moment we met is never going to go away. Just one reckless, passionate night is all I need.”
Riley’s arm pulls back off her shoulder and he scoots just a fraction away, his gaze awkwardly swinging to me before landing back on Bri, her big, wide eyes staring up at him as though she’s terrified he will break her heart. “Babe, I … I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry, I … I’ve just been messing around to get under Tanner’s skin. I wasn’t intentionally leading you on. I … I thought you knew that.”
Bri’s face falls and for a second, the heartache in her eyes kills me. I’d give everything I have to never have her look at me like that. “What … what do you mean?” she questions, reaching out and taking his hand in hers. “I thought you wanted this. All the comments and secret glances. Don’t tell me this isn’t real. Can’t you feel this pull between us?”
“I’m sorry, Bri. I don’t,” he says, pulling his hand from hers before pulling himself off the side of her bed and turning toward me, looking as though he’s about ready to receive the biggest ass-whooping of all time. His hands go up, more than ready to start groveling. “Hey, man. I didn’t—”
Riley cuts himself off as a wide grin cuts across my face, and as if on cue, Bri breaks out into a loud, booming laugh that has her clutching her stomach in agony.
“Wait,” Riley says, looking back at Bri. “You’re fucking with me?”
“How could you not tell? I’m a terrible actress.”
Ilaria scoffs as she shoves Riley out of her way to take his space beside Bri on her bed. “Are you kidding?” she says, rolling her eyes. “Riley’s ego is so big, he wouldn’t even think to question someone confessing their need for his cock. Why do you think I work so hard at trying to knock his ego down a few pegs? It’s not for my own pleasure, it’s for the greater good.”
The girls have barely finished laughing at Riley’s expense when Chanel and Logan walk in with the twins’ dad in tow. He takes one look around the room, and after eighteen years of dealing with the boys’ bullshit, he thankfully doesn’t bother asking what the fuck is going on. Instead, just walks over to Jax’s bedside to drill him about his surgery and what’s to come next. Despite how much he genuinely loves his sons, we all know he’ll be back on a plane come morning, leaving the boys to figure it out themselves.