Total pages in book: 191
Estimated words: 188966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 945(@200wpm)___ 756(@250wpm)___ 630(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 188966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 945(@200wpm)___ 756(@250wpm)___ 630(@300wpm)
The snick of the lock had always sent my heart racing when Joel brought me up here. He’d kiss me sweetly, then pull back his covers and wait until I’d snuggled in and removed my jeans and knickers before crawling in beside me and wedging himself on top.
I shuddered as memories fogged my brain. Being with Joel had been okay. But being with Aslan was thermonuclear.
The way I felt about him. The way the world caught fire whenever we touched.
He was incomparable.
Aslan.
My eyes welled as his gorgeous face with his bronze-streaked hair, achingly deep-dark eyes, and stern sexy expression popped into my head.
God, I should never have picked that fight.
What was I thinking?
I’d give anything to be with him right now.
“Please...” Tears beaded and rolled down my face. “I just...I just want to go home.”
“You will. I promise. I’m just gonna take care of you, and then you can go home.”
Dragging me toward Joel’s neatly made bed, he threw me down.
The room spun. Nausea crawled up my throat. I bounced off the mattress and landed on my knees on the black rug. I moaned as the room spun; I very nearly threw up.
A hand landed in my unbound hair, yanking me upright.
I cried out, scratching at his wrists and bending backward from his yank. “Stop, ow—”
“You should’ve drunk the whole thing, you know. This would’ve been so much easier for you.”
Letting my hair go, Ethan bent down and grabbed my elbows. Plucking me from the ground as if I weighed nothing, he tossed me back on the bed.
The familiar sights of Joel’s room with his ocean bedspread, desk in the corner, and posters of surf champions on the wall, spun and dipped as stark, icy fear slammed through me.
The dizziness vanished for a moment.
My mind roared with self-preservation.
Run!
Launching myself off the bed, I bolted for the door. My hand connected with the knob; I fumbled with the lock—
I cried out as Ethan drove his hand against the back of my head, smashing my forehead against the wood.
My legs buckled.
The world went black.
I came to a second later, sprawled on the floor.
Pain.
Pain ricocheted through my skull; I crawled onto my knees. Pressing shaking fingers to my forehead, a single tear rolled down my cheek as I touched a throbbing bruise.
“Ah, see? Now look what you made me do,” Ethan whispered, dropping to his haunches and brushing my hair back. “I didn’t want to hurt you, you know.”
I recoiled away from him, bumping into the side table where Joel kept his junk and surfing magazines. “What do you want? Why are you doing this?”
He didn’t follow me.
His eyes crinkled as he smiled. He shrugged good-naturedly. “You’re really fucking beautiful.”
A full-body shiver rolled down my spine. The way his tongue caressed the awful compliment made me terrified.
“You really shouldn’t tease a guy looking the way you do. This is as much your fault as it is mine, you know.”
I bared my teeth. “You’re a sociopath.”
“Possibly.” He nodded with a laugh. “I admit, I’ve even googled that shit ’cause I don’t seem to work like the others. But...you know what? I don’t care. All I care about right now is I’m hard as fuck, and you’re not leaving this room until you help me out with my little—well, not little, I’m actually bigger than average—problem.”
He sighed and pouted as if I was a bad puppy who’d peed on the rug. “Ah, oops. Guess my secret is out, huh?” His lips turned up. “You’re not leaving until you spread those pretty legs, brother fucker.”
I flinched. “Unlock the door and—”
“I’ll be the perfect gentleman and give you a choice, how about that? You can finish the Coke I made for you. You can fly off into dreamland and enjoy it...or...you can just accept this is happening and get on the bed.” He scratched his jaw. “If you’d just drunk all of it, you would’ve been asleep by now and wouldn’t even know what happened.”
I dry-retched and fought to stay conscious, all while black spots grew bigger and stars sparkled brighter. “Y-you drugged me?”
His smile hardened. His eyes turned sinister. “Well...you have to understand, my friend is with Zara now. I came to visit him from Adelaide, and he’s all obsessed and shit. Says he’s not coming home now that he’s met ‘the one’. I’m merely looking after his girl—doing something nice for him.” He chuckled. “And the fact that I get to fuck you is just a bonus.”
My heart ripped itself apart.
Aslan...
His face crowded my swimming thoughts.
Tears shot up my spine.
Why didn’t I stay home tonight? Why did I think Zara would forgive me? Why had I picked a fight with Aslan when the truth was, I would do whatever he wanted as long as he loved me—
“I’m doing you a favour, really.” Ethan laughed. “You gotta move on from your ex, after all. They say fucking someone else is key to getting over them.” He pointed at his tented crotch. “Happy to be of service.”