Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 124923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 416(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 416(@300wpm)
“He was a baby when my parents bought the place, so my mom ended up staying in here with him half the time because he was such a bad sleeper. Kept everyone up. Danny and I had the bunkbeds.”
I see a rare flash of emotion in his dark eyes, and I wonder if it has to do with his mom, Danny, this place, or maybe a combination of the three.
“Show me our room,” Shayne says.
Once they leave, I toss my backpack onto the bed before sitting on the mattress. There’s a little nightstand with a lamp that has bear cubs climbing each other on the stand. Just to be nosy, I pull open the drawer and see a couple pennies, a tube of Chapstick, a few other miscellaneous items, and a handful of condoms.
Must not have been that long since they’ve been here.
I slam the drawer shut when I hear the front door open downstairs followed by the sound of two sets of footsteps clanking against the metal steps. They head left, to the primary bedroom I presume. I can hear their deep voices reverberating through the walls as I shrug my jacket off and hang it from the hook on the back of my door, but I can’t make out what they’re saying. I walk back to sit on the edge of the bed and flop backward, stretching my arms over my head.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I spring upright when Holden’s loud voice echoes down the hallway. His footsteps pound down the hall until he’s standing in my doorway. “This is my room.” He points to where I’m sitting. “That is my bed.”
“This bed?” I ask innocently, leaning backward as I smooth my palms along the thick patchwork quilt, making a show out of feeling out the mattress and testing its firmness. “Looks like it’s mine for the week.”
Ryan appears behind Holden and shakes his head, looking more amused than put out, before he heads to their room. Clearly, he isn’t as bothered about his sleeping arrangements.
“I haven’t fit in that bunkbed since I was seven years old.” He throws his backpack onto the bed, and it lands right next to me with a bounce. “Move over.”
“I’m not sharing a bed with you.” The idea of sharing a room, let alone a bed, with anyone has my palms starting to sweat.
“Once again. My bed. Stay wherever the hell you want, but I’m sleeping here.” He pins me with a heated gaze. “With or without you.”
Aiming for nonchalance, I shrug a shoulder before rising to my feet. “Fine. I’m sure Ryan won’t mind rooming with me,” I say, hoping he doesn’t call my bluff. I won’t pretend to know why he had an issue with Ryan’s harmless flirting earlier, but I’m banking on the assumption that his irrational objection extends to sharing a bunkbed with him, too.
The muscles in Holden’s jaw tick, and I can tell he’s trying to play it cool. When he doesn’t say anything, I grab my bag off the bed and walk past him, heading for the hallway. I don’t get more than three steps before he yanks me backward by the strap of my backpack.
“Fine,” he bites out. “Take my bed.”
The first day was a success. After we finished unloading the car, we all decided to make a grocery run for necessities before it got too late. We planned on having a couple drinks and then going to sleep early in order to be able to wake up at an ungodly hour for snowboarding. But it’s now three o’clock in the morning and Shayne and I are still hanging out in her room upstairs, talking about everything and nothing, while Thayer, Holden, and Ryan play video games downstairs.
“Okay, I have to sleep or else there’s zero chance I’m going snowboarding,” Shayne announces, setting her beer bottle down on the bedside table before twisting her long hair up and securing it with a clip at the base of her neck. “Thayer says we’ll have to leave by eight to get a parking spot.”
“Ugh,” I groan. “I thought the whole point of break was to not wake up early.” I stand, swaying on my feet a little as I gather up an armful of empty bottles we’ve amassed over the past few hours.
“Leave them there.” Shayne laughs, waving me off. “I’ll get them in the morning.”
The bottles clank together as I set them back down. We say good night before I set off for the bathroom. As I walk down the hall, I note that the guys are noticeably quieter than they were earlier, but the faint sounds of literal warfare coming from the TV downstairs tells me they’re still playing video games.
Once I’ve grabbed my toiletry bag from my room, I grip the knob of the bathroom door and push it open and freeze at the sight in front of me. Holden. Shirtless. Standing in front of the toilet with his sweats pulled down and his considerable length in hand.