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)
Scottie is at her side, clinging to her elbow and avoiding any and all eye contact with me. She’s no longer in the cheerleader uniform I saw her in this afternoon, sporting cutoff jean shorts, white Pumas, and a white T-shirt that reads “Feeling very IDGAF-ish” in black letters instead, and her hair is in a ponytail that cascades down her back. She’s fresh-faced, like she showered off the heavy makeup from today’s game that all the cheerleaders wear, and even more gorgeous than I’d let myself remember.
Yep. I’m still a fucking idiot.
“Scottie came along so I wouldn’t be the only girl at the sausage fest,” Julia remarks, making me smile despite myself. She’s so carefree and funny—almost the way I would expect Scottie to be, given her silver spoon background. I’m always surprised by Scottie’s grit.
But when Julia looks down the stairwell we’re currently standing at the top of, her grin vanishes. “Um, is it just me, or is this giving murder-y vibes?”
“Wait…that’s where we’re going?” Scottie questions.
“Just relax, ladies,” Ace attempts to reassure as he wraps an arm around Julia’s shoulders. “It’s all good in the hood.”
“If I end up in a sex-trafficking ring because of you, Coach is going to be so pissed,” Blake teases, making Ace roll his eyes.
“Come on. We have to get down there before we’re late.” Ace unwraps his arm from Julia’s shoulder and takes her hand in his instead, walking down the stairs with her at the front of the group.
“I swear, Ace, if I didn’t know where you were taking us, there’s no way I’d be following along,” Julia comments. “This is creepy as fuck.”
“At least you know where you’re going,” Blake says through a barking laugh as he follows Ace and Julia down the steps. “Ace hasn’t told us shit.”
“Yeah,” Scottie mutters. “I’m also in the dark.”
“It’s going to be worth it, Scottie! I promise!” Julia calls over her shoulder, but Scottie is still standing at the top of the stairs. I’m beside her, of course, but the power of her indifference is like a force field between us. A force field of my own making, I realize, but fuck if I don’t hate the way it feels.
“You okay?” I ask, my feet refusing to leave her behind.
She nods, her eyes flicking to mine twice before actually settling there. She digs her top teeth into her bottom lip, hesitation to engage with me within her every movement. “I guess you could say I’m not a big fan of the dark.”
Before I can even process what I’m doing, I reach for her hand, gently wrapping it in my grasp. Startled, her big doe eyes meet mine, and the urge to pull her to my chest and kiss her hits me like a fucking truck.
“Finn?” she asks, my name a whisper on her perfect lips. I’m confusing her; I know. Because I’m confusing me too.
“I got you,” I soothe through a pointedly averted gaze. Focusing on anything but Scottie’s eyes or her lips or the way she smells like vanilla and honey is the only thing I can do to keep my sanity right now.
She grips my hand tighter as I guide us down the stairs, and I hate that it makes a small smile form at the corner of my lips. I feel two times taller when she acts like she trusts that I can keep her safe.
Ace knocks on the closed door at the bottom of the stairs four times, a unique staccato making it obvious that it’s some kind of code. It swings open five seconds later, a big, burly-looking guy with a fully shaven head peeking his upper body out.
“Name.”
“Ace Kelly,” my charismatic roommate says cheerfully, like this isn’t the start of at least ten horror movies.
“Everyone else?” the big, scary dude asks then, his eyes narrowing.
“My friends.”
Baldy’s eyebrows draw together, and then the door slams shut, right in Ace’s face. Blake starts laughing, and Scottie looks at me, her eyes wide in question. I don’t have an answer, so I just shrug.
As Ace turns around to look at us, he appears nervous for the first time. “Nothing to worry about. I’m sure this is just part of the process.”
I nod. “Right.”
Scottie pulls her hand from mine and rubs her hands up and down her bare arms, looking over her shoulder and back up the staircase, our moment gone. “Jules, I think I’m gonna—”
The door slams open again, and the burly dude waves us all in with a frown on his face. Blake, shocked, pats Ace on the shoulder as he follows him in.
I gesture for Scottie to go ahead of me to give her some security now that we’re not holding hands anymore, and she accepts shyly. I work hard not to watch her ass as she walks and, instead, settle for watching the sway of her dark locks as her ponytail moves side to side.