Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 149510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 748(@200wpm)___ 598(@250wpm)___ 498(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 748(@200wpm)___ 598(@250wpm)___ 498(@300wpm)
“Damn it, Scottie,” Dane snaps back, shoving me away from him hard enough that my back impacts the wall this time. His gray eyes grow dark with annoyance as he stares down at me. I don’t think he’s actively trying to hurt me, but the booze has pretty much ensured he’s not feeling remorse either. “Why do you always have to be such a killjoy?”
“Hey there, buddy,” a different male voice chastises from behind before stepping in between us. “Go easy on your girl, yeah?”
“Suck my dick, Boden,” Dane retorts to the Blake Boden, his teammate and nationally recognized starting quarterback for the Dickson Dragons.
Blake’s gaze moves to mine, a concerned warmth making his eyes look like the Caribbean, and I shake my head toward him. It’s a silent I’m okay, even though I’m not necessarily feeling it.
At the end of our senior year, Dane really got into drinking more heavily, and sadly, it only seems to enhance every asshole bone in his body. We wouldn’t have lasted two years if this was the way he’d always been, but the majority of our relationship was different. We were different.
He was different.
He used to pick flowers for me from the front of the school and write notes to me during class, and every Friday night, we did movie night in his parents’ basement, just the two of us. I still have the fake movie stubs he made me for all of them.
But when he acts like this, I have to fight my inner-child instincts to go fetal and cower in the corner. He reminds me too much of my mom before my dad divorced her and took full custody of my sister Wren and me. Our mom always turned into the worst kind of drunk when left to her own devices.
She’s been to rehab too many times to count—her latest stint having just finished up a month before I graduated. Wren and I still haven’t given in to her requests to see us. She says she’s really turned over a new leaf this time, but after seeing her as nothing but a mean drunk for most of my life, her words don’t hold any power.
Blake Boden eyes me for a long moment before three bouncy Delta Omegas wearing Boden jerseys that have been cut to reveal everything but their nipples drag him toward the large living room of the house, where a makeshift dance floor has been created in front of the DJ.
I watch as Blake smiles down at the girls, dancing with all three of them in a way that makes it apparent this isn’t his first time handling more than one woman. I guess that’s how it goes when you’re the star quarterback of the school. Add in the fact that Blake is single and has the kind of shaggy strawberry-blond hair and blue eyes that would make most girls my age describe him as stupid hot, I have a feeling he rarely spends his nights alone.
“You coming, Scottie?” Dane asks, unconcerned with Blake Boden on the dance floor or any of his own transgressions against me.
I shake my head. “I don’t think so.”
He lets out an annoyed huff, but that’s squelched when Nadine pipes up, her voice a classic eager beaver. “I’ll go, Dane.”
“Hell yeah! Someone who wants to have some fucking fun!”
And off they go, my boyfriend and another girl, straight into the kitchen where there’s more booze than I’ve ever seen in my life. It covers every counter and available surface, and coolers line the whole back wall.
“You okay?” Kayla asks, placing a gentle hand to my shoulder, and I nod.
She leans closer to search my eyes, a twinkle in her deep brown eyes and perfectly white teeth. “You sure?”
“Promise.” I shrug it off with a smile that feels foreign on my lips. “He’s just drunk, and Nadine’s just Nadine.”
Kayla laughs so hard at that, her whole head of spiral curls shakes—everyone on the squad knows how Nadine can be.
“How long have you been together?”
“Two years.”
“And you both decided to go to Dickson?”
“Not exactly.” I shake my head. “I got a cheerleading scholarship, and Dane decided he wanted to go here too.”
“Interesting.”
There’s a small part of me that wishes Dane would’ve done his own thing. That there would’ve been a university that wanted to recruit him. But Ivy Prep’s football team never garnered the kind of attention that our cheerleading squad did.
We won Nationals all four years that I was in high school. The football team, on the other hand, was lucky to end the season with a handful of wins.
“I want to tell you something, but I don’t want to come across as rude,” Kayla says and steps closer to me, wrapping her arm around mine. “Promise you won’t get mad?”
I tilt my head to the side. “Well, that depends. I mean, if you’re going to tell me I look like a troll tonight, then consider my claws out because I spent an hour trying to get this smoky eye right.”