Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 137433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 550(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 550(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
“You got the balls to come here and say it to my face?” Austin bares his teeth, looking flustered. He didn’t know I was still here.
“I thought I did. Damn, your ass looks uncanny.”
“Speaking of ass.” Austin’s lips stretch into an ugly sneer. “Bailey’s—”
He doesn’t get to finish the sentence. I slam him against the floor.
I’m on top of him, straddling his waist, plowing my fists into his face. I hear the crack of bones shifting but don’t stop. There’s blood everywhere. It splatters over the sleek, wet tiles.
Over the flawless track record I maintained the past twelve years at school.
Who cares? It’s not like I’m headed where I want to be. Austin is screaming, trying to raise his arms to wrap his hands around my neck, but I’m bigger, faster, stronger, and I have the most potent weapon of all—anger.
Finn, Mac, and Antonio try to pull me off of him. They’re grabbing at my arms, tugging me away, pleading for me to stop before I kill him.
Ballsy and Grim each grab one of Austin’s arms and haul him to the other side of the room. Austin is still protecting his face with his hands.
His designer clothes are soaked scarlet, and I’m pretty sure I broke a few small bones in the process.
We’re both pushed to opposites sides of the room. Mac and Antonio nail my arms to the wall, blocking me from getting in his face again. I’m panting, rage oozing out of me in currents.
“Do you have a death wish?” I’m genuinely curious because trashing Bailey in the same zip code as me is nothing short of suicidal.
Austin laughs, his teeth pink from blood and saliva, the bruises under his eyes swollen with my punches. “You think so fucking highly of yourself, Cole. Just because you like a girl doesn’t mean she’s off-limits for the rest of us mortals.”
“What’s your problem with me?” I demand.
Austin has been a pain in my ass ever since we met. As far as I can tell, I’d never done anything to deserve his constant ire.
Freshman year, I even helped him with calc and tossed ball with him ahead of scrimmages.
“My problem with you,” Austin spits blood and maybe even a tooth on the floor, “is that every Cole man I’ve met is a total ass face.”
I stare at him vacantly, momentarily confused. “There’re only three of us.” Four with Cayden, but come on, kiddo is barely potty-trained.
“Three more than there should be,” he snarls. “And your brother, Knight, just happened to steal the captain title from my brother. Stole his girlfriend too.”
“Luna?” I ask, surprised.
Austin shakes his head. “Poppy.”
Holy blast from the ice age past. Poppy—Lenora’s older sister—dated my brother for two seconds. Maximum.
And I don’t even remember who Knight competed with for the captainship at All Saints High.
Which I guess cements that the resentment Austin is feeling is tribal and not personal right now. His family was pretty much invisible to mine.
“What’s your brother’s name?” I ask. I don’t know why.
“Alvin.”
Eh, shit. He even has a chipmunk name. Can’t help but feel bad for the guy.
“Alvin is a bookkeeper in a real estate office by the way. All because your brother stole what was his,” Austin accuses. “He could’ve been big.”
My jaw works from side to side. “Listen. Sorry, but…this has nothing to do with Bailey. Stay the fuck away, yeah?”
Austin shrugs off the hands around him, flashes me a bloody smile, and shakes his head as he walks off. “If you want something, you better fucking know I’m going to beat you to it and get it myself. Consider this payback, Cole. The thing about turning everything you touch to gold…” He trails off, stopping a few inches from me. “Is that you end up with a bunch of soulless, lifeless shit.”
CHAPTER 26
Lev
Next on my list is Thalia.
I’ve given her a few weeks of fake dating in which we haven’t really met or communicated. I think it’s time to cut the cord.
I know she was hoping for a bit more time, but I can’t do this to Bailey. Can’t do this to Thalia, either.
Giving her false hope is cruel, and I have a feeling that’s exactly what’s happening right now, based on the trillion text messages she bombarded me with while I was in Jackson Hole.
Thalia: how’s jacksonhall?
Thalia: miss u.
Thalia:
Thalia: call me when u get the chnce.
Thalia: Lev where r u? ☹
So now I’m shouldering past a sea of acned faces, about a foot taller than everyone else, trying to find my fake whatever-the-fuck-we-were.
I leave no rock unturned. The gymnasium. Her homeroom. Her friends. I even walk into the girls’ restroom and cause a small fire (literally. Not my fault, though. Who brings a hair straightener to school?).
I’m losing my mind. And patience. Where the hell is she?