Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
I turned to find Laney, and a man, standing directly behind me.
“Sorry,” I apologized to them, turning back around to mount the steps.
“No worries,” the man replied, looking at me curiously.
Thankfully, he didn’t have any animosity towards me, which I could so obviously read on Laney’s face.
Dean’s grip on my hand tightened the further we climbed, and then abruptly released when I patted his knuckles in commiseration.
“I’m okay,” I promised him.
He looked down at me, studied my eyes, and then nodded.
“Yeah, you are,” he confirmed. “But they better hope I don’t hear them talking shit tonight, or I might not be able to hold my tongue.”
I laughed softly and bent forward to open the gym door, but Dean beat me to it.
He also held the door open for Laney and her man, and I scooted forward into the room to get out of their way.
Laney stopped and placed her delicate hand on Dean’s forearm that was holding the door open, and smiled at him.
Dean shook her off, then left the door to Laney’s man before hurrying over to me.
“I need some antibacterial soap,” he grunted as he got to me.
I smiled and let my eyes drift beyond the front door, my heart hammering in my chest as I saw all the balloons and people.
It was so packed inside that my nerves started to tighten even further.
I’d had half a hope that nobody would show. Sadly, it looked like a lot of them did.
Unlucky for me.
“Name,” a dark haired woman that looked somewhat familiar but I couldn’t place, said shortly.
“July Amsel,” Dean rumbled. “Top of the page.”
The woman’s head snapped up, and the heart shaped birthmark on her cheek came into view.
My lips twisted into a smile, but not because I was happy to see her.
In fact, I was about as far away from happy as a person could be at seeing this woman. What made me want to laugh, however, was the fact that the most popular bitch in school, the queen of the mean girls, Jasmine Martine, didn’t look anything at all like her previously perfectly put together high school self.
It appeared that little miss better than everyone else had gotten a little fat in the ten years since graduation.
Well, fat according to her standards. She didn’t look that fat to me, but I’d guess that she had gained about seventy-five pounds, though.
“July,” Jasmine cooed as she looked down once again at her nametags she was writing names down on, wrote my name, and then peeled it off the paper. “It’s nice that you could make it.”
I smiled tightly and took the name tag she handed me, placing it on my sundress at my waist line.
I didn’t want anyone to know it was me.
I tried hard as hell to blend in over the years whenever I visited, scared as hell someone would recognize me and try to chat.
This time was no different.
“Thanks,” I muttered, searching for Dean’s hand blindly.
“You’re welcome!” Jasmine replied cheerfully.
Bitch.
I’d just made my way into the gym when the last person in the world I thought I’d see stepped out of a side room in front of me.
I froze. Literally and figuratively.
Jensen Gordon, the boy I’d dated my senior year of high school.
The boy who’d promised me the world only to get into my pants. The boy who almost got my virginity before he went off to college and cheated on me within the first week of being there.
The boy who played huge part in my decision to stay away from all things with a penis attached to them.
“What’s wrong?” Dean murmured against my ear, hooking me around the waist and bending his head down to my neck.
I shivered when his day old beard rasped across my sensitive skin, and turned my head up to him.
He dropped a kiss onto my upturned lips, and I smiled.
“Ex-boyfriend,” I whispered to him.
Dean’s eyes moved to the man, and I followed his gaze, flinching when I caught Jensen’s gaze on me.
Jensen’s mouth had dropped open at some point, and I turned my face into Dean’s upraised arm that was now wrapped around my chest above my breasts.
“Your brother told me a little about him,” Dean said, surprising the shit out of me. “Do you want me to kick his ass?”
I burst out laughing and pulled out of his arms, grabbing a hold of his bulging bicep and urging him in the direction of the refreshment table and the open bar.
“That would be a big ol’ negative,” I told him sternly. “I’d like to have you for backup later with you know who. What I would not like to do is go to the sheriff’s office and bail you out.”
Dean brought my hand up to his mouth and kissed the back of it, and my spine started to tingle.
“You’re good with that mouth of yours,” I whispered faintly so only he could hear.