Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 80197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
"Fuck people who cheat." It's said with so much venom that my head jerks back in surprise.
"Yeah. Fuck them," Dornan agrees.
If I could kiss them both right now without it being weird, I would. I swear, the number of dudes I know who have cheated on their girlfriends is obscenely high. I don't know why I thought I'd experience anything different. Men have a problem, otherwise known as a dick, and they can't help themselves. I think there is something very wrong with Eddie because we'd fuck twice a day, most days, and he still found the time and the urge to wander.
"I need a drink."
The bar is way over the other side of the dance floor, which seems like ten miles away in my ridiculous shoes, and moving from where I am, sheltered between Dornan and Travis, feels risky. Maybe sensing my unease, Dornan steers me so his body shields me. "I'll come with you."
"Me, too." Travis leads the way and clears the dancing throngs like Moses parting the Red Sea.
At the bar, I order two of my favorite peachy cocktails and drink them both so fast, I gasp from the immense brain freeze.
"Easy, tiger." Travis orders me another and pays before either Dornan or I can offer. Dornan tips his beer at Travis gratefully, and I sneak a sideways glance at Travis's profile, watching his throat move as he swallows down his drink. Damn, there's something really masculine about him. Maybe the extra years he has are enough to set him apart. He has that strong jaw and brow thing about him that's seriously sexy, and his biceps are more than lickable.
"So, what's the plan?" Dornan leans against the bar, still using his body to shield me from Eddie. "Are you going to hide out over here all night because that cocksucker is marking his territory over there?"
"You think he's there on purpose?" Travis asks, resting his beer on the wet bar top.
"He knows Celine is hanging out tonight. I caught him listening while I was talking about it with Ellie in the coffee shop earlier. There are plenty of other places he could have chosen to go with his friends, but he happens to pick this place where he can intimidate Celine."
"I'm not intimidated." Without thinking about it, I draw myself taller and push my shoulders back.
"Down girl." Dornan touches my arm, his big, rough hand warm against my skin. "Maybe intimidated is too strong. Where he can make his presence felt."
"I'm done with him. I don't care where he is."
"So, let's get back over there."
For all my bravado, I'm not eager to face Eddie, especially in front of everyone. But Dornan is looking at me expectantly, and I don't want to lose face in front of Travis. Ellie's words are still simmering in my alcohol-loosened mind. Rebound sex seems mercenary, but maybe a little fun could help take my mind off things and show Eddie how unbothered I am by his infidelity.
As I follow Dornan back across the room, sipping on my peach cocktail with Travis at my side, the alcohol makes me wobble. Yowzah! I'm going too fast, or maybe it's my mood combined with the drink that has me spinning out of control.
Ellie grins at me from where she's resting with her back against Colby's front. Her stepbrother-boyfriend has his arm across her chest, protectively holding her in place and sending the ‘mine’ signal to anyone looking. A pang of envy shoots through me. Eddie was never like that with me. He'd be sexual in front of other people, grabbing my ass or groping beneath my shirt, and I'd swat him away, but there was never any protectiveness in the way he treated me in public.
Dornan stops to talk to Colby, and Travis slides into a booth. I crane to look in the direction of Eddie's table, and my head spins. My feet seem to get tangled, and suddenly, I'm stumbling right into a huge, rock-hard chest. Big beefy arms close around me, and I scramble to stabilize myself, grabbing handfuls of soft, warm shirt.
When I look up to see who's holding me like a log, I find Elias staring down at me with one dark eyebrow cocked.
Elias. Fuck.
A flash of him hefting me against him with just one hand and then pinning me against the wall momentarily blinds me. The furious way he fucked me knocked the breath from my lungs then, and the memory of it does the same.
"You're drunk."
"I'm fine." I try to push away as his onyx eyes bore into me, deciding something different, but he lifts me like a sack of potatoes and tosses me into the booth next to Travis. I brace my hands on the cool table before me, my mouth hanging open. Angry, indignant words catch in my throat, but Elias grins as he slides in next to me as though he intends to use his big, strong, unbelievably muscular, sexy body to block me from leaving the booth.