Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 103537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
“You do, you call me.” I had Luke’s number programed in my phone; that was Ream’s doing before they went on tour. “It’s on your phone.”
It was?
Roman strode away and I went up to the penthouse. I didn’t go to bed, though; no way could I sleep when I was still thinking about what Crisis had said to me that morning. I wanted to see him. I wanted to talk to him. Somewhere along the way, he’d become my best friend and I’d never had a best friend. I’d never had friends for most of my life. But Crisis, Vincent, had also raised something in me, an awareness of my body. A body I’d numbed out to feeling anything for years. But now I felt, and I liked what I felt.
He wanted me to give him something of me, but I was dirty. My past was dirty and Charlie . . . Oh, God . . . I swallowed back the memory.
I curled up on the couch with a blanket and watched The Fast and Furious. My past whirled around in my head as I tried to find something I could tell Crisis. Give him a piece of me. I knew that was what he wanted. For me to trust him with my bad parts. But I shut down when Charlie kept surfacing and I started to shake.
Instead, I focused on the movie, burying the memory again. I was completely engrossed in the ending when the elevator dinged. I sat up looking over the back of the couch, my heart pounding as I thought of seeing Crisis.
A girl with bright red shoulder-length hair with tats down her arms came prancing out of the elevator. She swung around as Crisis walked out and threw her arms around his neck and whispered something to him. He kept walking, his hands on her forearms as if trying to peel her away, but she was like cling wrap and refused to budge. Kite came out of the elevator, holding the hand of a short brunette, who was stunning with stark bold features, large breasts and a tiny waist. Miss Cling Wrap finally let Crisis go with his persistent urging and she strutted into the kitchen like she owned the place.
I uncurled from the couch and stood.
“Oh.” The redhead said, her heavily made-up eyes roamed over me sitting on the couch. “You must be the girl he’s been talking about. And you are pretty. Maybe you’ll join us.” She laughed and it sounded husky—sexy.
My heart dropped. No, it rather fell into the pit of my stomach and burned in a bubbling pool of acid.
“Shut it, Lena,” Kite said. He opened the fridge and grabbed a couple of beers, passing one to each of the girls. The brunette stared at me and when I stood, her eyes roamed the length of me then narrowed. She raised her chin and a slight smirk rose which contradicted her sweet appearance.
I walked over. I was not going to be the bitch here, but the real reason was I wanted them to know I was unaffected by them, which wasn’t true. “I’m Haven.” I held out my hand to the brunette.
She glanced at my hand a second before she took it. “Lily.”
“Oh, my God, Haven? Like safe-haven?” The redhead danced over to me and lifted her butt up onto the island.
“No. Like Haven Dust—cocaine,” I corrected and she stared at me for a second before she burst out laughing.
“Wow, cool. I’m Lena.” She held out her hand and I shook it, squeezing a little harder than necessary. It was immature, but I knew exactly why she was here and I didn’t like it. Crisis really was backing off. He was backing off so quick and far that he brought a chick home.
It hurt. No, it ripped me open and gutted me hurt, but it pissed me off, too, because this wasn’t a chick wanting Crisis for the guy he was, but a chick who wanted the bragging rights of fucking a Tear Asunder band member. Crisis was better than that. He deserved better. And to add to my pissed off, he let a girl use him. But he probably saw it as he was using her and maybe that was what he wanted.
Lena. Lena was the name of the girl from Avalanche the night before. Ream had mentioned her. No wonder her body was toned and looking like it was sculpted from clay; she was a dancer. I glanced at Crisis who remained in the foyer by the elevator and a wave of heat passed over me.
Kite quietly came up beside me. “You good with this, Haven?”
Was I? No. I wasn’t good with it at all. But I never thought I’d feel this way about it. I didn’t want to feel this way about it, but I wasn’t going to deny the fact that I did. Just not in front of these girls. “It’s your place. You can do whatever you want.”
“It’s our place. We all live here,” Kite corrected. He moved away and calmly stroked the side of Lily’s face. She tilted her head so his palm cupped her cheek and her eyes flickered up, met mine. I looked away because despite it being a sweet gesture, Kite didn’t have an adoring look. It was intense—serious. “Lena,” Kite said.
“Baby, let me look after you,” Lena said. I didn’t bother looking behind me because I honestly had no desire to see her wrapped around Crisis.
But from the corner of my eye, I saw Lena snag Crisis with her legs around his hips and draw him up against the counter, her hand fisted in his shirt. She said something too low for me to hear, but he scowled and his hands pushed at her legs.
“Come on, sexy. It’ll be fun,” Lena purred.
I didn’t want to see this. I started for the stairs, my stomach rolling with disappointment. But I put that there. This was my fault.
“Not happening—ever,” Crisis said. “Kite, man. Come on. I fuckin’ told you. Keep your chicks off me.”