Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 106292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Smugness tears through my chest but comes crashing back down when I catch her eye. “What the fuck is he doing?” she mouths to me, her eyes wide as she nods toward Dalton, as though the asshole can’t sense that she’s talking about him. But something tells me he’s not the kind to care.
“Like I said,” I tell her, not bothering to mask our conversation with ridiculous whispers that he can hear anyway. “Long story.”
“Then get started,” she says.
“Wish I could,” I say, grabbing her hand and dragging her down to my room. “But I’ve got a shift starting in twenty minutes.”
We pass Zade on the way to my room, and I make sure to fix him with a hard stare, but as he passes by and I pull Cara into my room, I catch a strange look in her eye . . . desire, maybe something a little more.
My brows furrow as Zade looks back at her with nothing but an intense boredom that seems to break her heart, which doesn’t make sense. Cara doesn’t even know him. She barely knew his name up until a little while ago, and since then, it’s not like he’s been hanging out here. He’s been too busy keeping me prisoner in his ivory tower.
Shrugging it off, Cara and I step into my room, and I get busy stripping off my clothes and searching for my black tank and jeans. Hell, maybe even some clean underwear too.
“Okay, girl. Spill. Why the fuck are our four stalker neighbors currently rampaging through our apartment?” she questions. “I don’t know if maybe you’ve forgotten, but you shouldn’t be hanging out with those assholes. They kidnapped you, Oakley. Locked you up in a cell for twenty-four hours, then knocked you out.” She steps into me and grabs my wrists, flipping them over to see the scars left from the cuffs the boys fastened around my wrists. “Tell me I didn’t imagine this.”
I groan, frustrated for having dug myself a hole that I have no idea how to get out of. “I just . . . they’re not that bad.”
“Okay, let me repeat myself,” she says, clearing her throat as I attempt to pull my tank top over my head. “THEY KIDNAPPED YOU, YOU FUCKING TWAT! This isn’t a fucking book, babe. This shit doesn’t have a happy ending for you. This is real life. You can’t just disappear for days on end to hang out with your kidnappers.”
“Do you trust me?”
She gapes at me as though I’ve clearly lost my mind. “Umm, no.”
Rolling my eyes, I let out a heavy sigh. I walked right into that one. “Look, I . . . I don’t know how to explain it or even where to start, but just know that while these guys really are assholes at heart, they’re kinda alright, and for the most part, they’re trying to look out for me. They just have a really fucked-up way of showing it.”
Cara watches me a moment longer, her gaze narrowing before her mouth finally pops open. “Holy shit. You’re fucking them all.”
“No,” I rush out. “Well, kinda. Not all of them.”
Her jaw drops further, and I see at least a million questions flashing in her eyes as she drops onto the edge of my bed. “But like . . . What? Which ones?” she breathes, looking dumbfounded, and honestly, for someone who reads about this shit every single night, I thought she’d be a little more enthusiastic. “And how? Like, all together, or at different times?”
Stepping into my jeans, I jump a few times to get them up and quickly button them before running my fingers through my hair, trying to tame my loose curls. “I mean, sometimes it’s together, and sometimes it’s just one on one.”
Her eyes widen as if finally registering what’s going on. “Which ones?”
“Dalton, Sawyer, and Easton.”
“Easton?” she questions. “I thought the other guy’s name was Cross?”
“It is,” I confirm. “It’s his last name, but I kinda like Easton, so I call him that.”
“Right, okay, so . . . You’re not screwing the scary one?” she questions with a strange reluctance in her tone that puts me on edge. “You know, ummm . . . What’s his name? Zane, is it?”
“It’s Zade,” I tell her, noticing how she seems to be holding her breath as she waits for my response. “But no. He’s too intense for me. Besides, the others are keeping me more than busy.” I add, unsure why I feel hesitant to tell her that I’ve started to consider what being with Zade would be like.
Cara lets out a breath and glances away as if to compose herself, and my brows furrow, unsure what the hell is going on with her, but when I glance at the time, her odd behavior is the furthest thing from my mind. “Oh, shit. I have to go.”