Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 164459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 822(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 822(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
With haste, I turned and stood tall. But my breath caught in my chest as I spotted the familiar stranger.
My eyes expanded and my chin dropped when I caught sight of him.
Holy crap… it was him!
Drake Davenport.
After so many years, he was right there, standing only a few feet away from me. I always wondered what happened to him. I thought he moved from Fox River or something a long time ago. After I started high school, I never saw him again… until now.
He stood by the driver’s side with his large arms folded. He’d gotten ink. A lot of ink. His familiar green eyes latched onto mine, and as I released a ragged breath, he took a step forward.
“You okay?” His voice had changed over the years… well, duh. But I mean, dramatically. It was much deeper than what I remembered. Smoother. Like dark silk.
My belly flipped, all of the anxiety I once had now fading away as he looked me over.
He came towards me, the moonlight giving me a better view of his hard, sculpted face. His chiseled cheekbone held a single cut, right below his left eye. It was red around the edges, somehow increasing his dauntingly good looks.
It was a fresh wound. Recent.
His black T-shirt fit snug to his large torso, molding around his abs.
His inky hair was no longer long, curly, or scattered all over his head. It’d been cut and shaped neatly around his ears, shaped with gel and spiked, giving him that ultimate bad-boy appearance.
Though his looks had changed, his intimidating air had not.
“Jenny, right?” Drake asked.
“Yeah,” I breathed.
His brows drew together as he took another step closer. “Are you okay?” His question was full this time. Not partial or incomplete. Full.
He was concerned. It was written all over his face.
“I’m…fine. Just needed some air before hitting the party.” He frowned, his eyes still glued to mine. They flickered with the sparks a short distance behind me.
I looked away, towards the shimmering water of the lake. “Hey, what are you doing here, anyway?” I asked.
“I can’t join the party?”
I looked up, and his arms were folded again, his expression smug. “I never said that. I was just wondering.”
He fixed his lips to respond, but quickly held back on it.
“Nah-uh. What were you going to say?”
“Still ask a lot of questions, I see.” One of his brows lifted.
I zipped my lips.
He stepped closer. “Was gonna say something smart, but I can see right now probably isn’t the best time to make jokes.” He scanned me with those big green eyes, and then he narrowed his eyebrows again.
He was only a few steps away. He watched my worried face, how a light sweat swathed my forehead and my skin had paled.
“You don’t really look like you want to be here.”
“I don’t,” I admitted.
“Specific reason why?”
I glanced at the cliff, giving away the primary cause for my unease.
When I looked at him again, he was focused on the cliff, head tilted, eyes full of curiosity. I expected him to ask about it—pry, like anyone else would have.
He didn’t.
Instead he unfolded his arms, and his pink lips flattened. He moved to my side, leaning against Trace’s Jeep. It was my turn to furrow my brow and try to figure out what he was doing.
He focused on his truck ahead, inhaling before exhaling. We stood in an awkward silence, and I fiddled with my fingers and then the edges of my hair.
I watched him pick his head up to look at the sky. The stars. The moon. The beautiful layout.
“I’m sorry—wait.” I held up a hand, stepping in front of him. This was getting weird…and really, really uncomfortable. He dropped his head, his attention on me again. “What are you doing?”
“Thought I’d stand here with you.” He shrugged, bobbing his head towards the shrill laughter and some people hollering Chug! “I don’t really want to be here either.”
“So why’d you come?”
“Because they wanted to. Trying to bag some chicks or something.” His broad shoulders rolled back as he pointed his thumb towards the crowd surrounding the bonfire. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t want to do the same?” I probed.
“Party chicks aren’t really my thing.”
“Oh.” I took a long pause. “Well, either way, you don’t have to stand here with me.”
He blinked, but before I could say anything more, he pushed off the Jeep, walking around the front bumper and toward the bonfire.
Wait… what?!
“HEY!” I called after him, my feet scuffling ahead before my mind could even register what my body was doing. I rushed around the car and he stopped in his tracks, brows piqued as he ran his eyes up and down my frame. “I didn’t mean you had to leave,” I stated.
“I’m clearly interrupting your alone time,” he replied.
“I… I don’t want to be alone right now. But I also don’t want to be at the party. I just didn’t want you to feel like you had to take care of me.” He caught my spur of grief, and his face immediately changed from boastful to apprehensive.