Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 155405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 777(@200wpm)___ 622(@250wpm)___ 518(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 777(@200wpm)___ 622(@250wpm)___ 518(@300wpm)
I’ll take the back one since she asked me to, but making my way through dark, isolated corridors at a party Landon is also attending isn’t something I’m excited about. I find him in the crowd and make sure he isn’t looking my way before I disappear down the hall.
I have noticed him keeping an eye on me tonight.
And he has been drinking.
When Landon drinks, his inhibitions go right out the window.
Malek is supposed to drop him off after the party. I haven’t figured out an ideal way to time my exit. Do I leave first and risk Landon following me? Or do I wait for him to leave and give him enough time to get home before I do?
Imagining him lying in wait for me is no more reassuring than the thought of him following me.
I really, really wish he would have just followed the rules for once and abstained from drinking at this stupid party.
Since thoughts of the present trigger immediate dread and anxiety, I shift my focus to the future.
We’ll both be off at college this time next year. I don’t know where Landon is going, but I’m certain it’s not where I’m headed.
I only have to keep the peace long enough for Mom and Hayden to tie the knot. It’s not like I’ll have to deal with his shenanigans forever.
As I make my way down the corridor away from the party, my mind teases me with a “what if?” scenario of if I did. If Mom and Hayden get married, but Landon never stops being a terror.
It’s Christmas a decade from now. I’m visiting Mom with my loving, supportive husband who never terrorizes me. Landon is there with some Playboy bunny-looking date. Not the one he brought last year, of course. Landon isn’t married in my daydream, he just flits from knockout to knockout, always leaving before anything can get real.
Every year, we come home for the holidays and I pretend everything is fine for Mom and Hayden—who are still so happily married it makes unhappy couples sick—and each year I have to be careful not to bump into Landon alone because he pulls the same shameless shit regardless of our parents, my husband, and whichever cute little bunny he has brought with him that year.
Daydream. More like a nightmare.
I shake it off as I approach the massive wooden doors that lead to Hannah’s library. It used to be her dad’s study, but the room is mostly unused now that he’s gone. It’s a travesty, too, because it’s an amazing study.
Before I head upstairs, I swing into the library to relay Hannah’s message. I’m no voyeur, but Arden isn’t remotely seeking privacy.
No one else is in the library (which is why I wanted to come in here and wander around away from the party when I first stumbled across him), but the door is wide open. I knock on it to alert them that someone’s coming in just in case they care.
Arden’s attention doesn’t even flicker in my direction. Some girl in an olive green crop top kneels on the ground between his legs with her long dark hair fisted in one of Arden’s hands. He uses the makeshift ponytail to guide her head up and down, and I try to ignore the wet, sloppy sounds as I walk closer to them.
“Hannah said you better not leave a mess for her to clean up in here.”
Arden’s head falls back, and he shoots me a roguish smile. “You tell Hannah not to worry her pretty little head. Any girl lucky enough to have my cock in her mouth always swallows. Maybe I’ll show her firsthand someday.”
Ew.
I roll my eyes. “I don’t think so. Hannah doesn’t date players.”
“Who said anything about dating?” he asks benignly.
The girl laboring over his lap pops off his dick to look up at him. “Are you seriously having a conversation about fucking someone else while I am blowing you?”
He looks down at her coolly. “I guess that indicates you’re not doing a very good job, doesn’t it?”
If I were her, I’d punch him right in the dick and storm out of the room, but she’s obviously suited to his brand of evil because she flushes with embarrassment, steals a glance at me, then grips the base of his dick and takes it into her mouth again, apparently willing to try harder to please him.
That thing must be made of literal magic for anyone to put up with him. Shaking my head in vague disbelief, I turn to leave since I’ve delivered my message.
Before I reach the door, he calls, “Parker.”
I pause and look back. “Yeah?”
His blue eyes twinkle with amusement. “I hear you’re a screamer. Shame I don’t remember our encounter.”
“Oh, yeah. You really rocked my world.”
He smirks. “You shouldn’t joke like that with Landon. You know he’s obsessed with you, and a bit of a hothead. I’m too handsome to get punched in the face.”