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)
He held a stance in front of a red punching bag, his large hands buried in leather gloves, his face and gray T-shirt shirt soaked with sweat. A baldheaded man stood a few feet away from him, his face hard as he observed his every move, calculating each cross and hook.
“What happened last night, anyway?” Kylie asked, panting as her speed picked up. “Did you guys make out before he took you home? Is that why he agreed to do it?”
I shook my head, doing my best to hide my reddened cheeks. “No… nothing like that. I actually kind of pissed him off ‘cause I told him he never should have dropped out of school.”
“Well, shit, what did you expect, Jen? You can’t just go up to someone like him and say whatever you’re thinking! You hardly even know that guy. Sheesh, girl. You seriously have to chill with that whole speaking your mind thing. It could get you killed.”
“Whatever. I may not know much about him but I do know he isn’t as bad as everyone thinks he is. He wouldn’t have given me a ride home if he was.”
“Are you kidding?” Her head shook swiftly as she swiped above her eyebrow. “He’s worse than when my niece McKenzie was going through her “terrible two” phase. I hear so many horror stories about him. It’s insane. They call him Doomsday for a reason.”
My forehead creased. “Doomsday? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“You know, his underground fighter nickname. He fights dirty, wins a pocketful of money.” She paused, turning up the notches of her bike as our workout increased, peering my way and narrowing her eyes. “Wait—you didn’t know he was a fighter?” She released a hoarse laugh. “How did you not know that?”
“I… never bothered to ask.”
“His looks are a dead giveaway. Guy looks like he’d take on a lion if it meant being king of the jungle.”
My gaze switched from hers to the window again, and as Kylie quickly dismissed the subject of me not knowing about Drake and started talking about how her party was going to be the “highlight of the Lake Lane century”, I couldn’t help but steal glances of him.
Doomsday? What the hell did that even mean? He wasn’t as bad as people made him out to be. In fact, I actually thought he was pretty sweet when he wanted to be.
He punched the bag, jaw locked, body tense.
He looked over his shoulder and said something to the bald man with a grimace. The bald man walked away, but not before a mini-showdown.
Hmm…
I guess I could see where people got the idea. He looked like a troublemaker, with his inked arms, firm jaw, and fierce green eyes. It was hard to read him—hard to truly understand him… someone that hardly ever said a thing.
Our workout lasted forty minutes, and after we were done, Kylie ran to the locker room to get a few things she’d left behind from before.
As she took the time to do that, I stepped out of the workout room, pausing in the middle of the gym and watching Drake doing reps at a pull-up bar, now shirtless.
His face hardly strained as he pulled up and then dropped. His entire upper half was locked and solid, thus proving that he’d gone through this routine daily. His abs glistened with sweat that trickled down to the V carved into his waist. With his legs locked, he did one last set of pull ups, and then he hopped down.
Snatching up a towel, he swiped away the sweat on his face, tousling his spiky black hair and ridding himself of the wet beads that dripped from his temple to the sharp curve of his jawline.
Looking up, he scanned the gym, as if he felt someone were watching him. He thinned his eyes, looking around until he finally caught sight of me: the fool watching his every move.
I hadn’t realized that I was still standing in the middle of the gym, looking like a complete idiot, with a towel around the back of my neck and my brand new sneakers on.
His eyes held mine, intent, but then he quickly dropped his gaze to my feet, and I swear I spotted a tiny smile touch the corners of his mouth. That smile held a mixture of humor and a little too much ego.
Pressing his lips, he dropped his towel, walked towards the dumbbells in the far corner, and I moved to my right. I took a step back, looking towards the locker room to see if Kylie had come out. She hadn’t, but I kept staring that way to avoid his existence.
Why in the hell was I staring at him anyway? You’re acting like a weirdo, Jenny! Stop staring! I scolded myself.
Without a doubt, I knew I wouldn’t be able to help it. There was something about him that fascinated me.