Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 32934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 165(@200wpm)___ 132(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 165(@200wpm)___ 132(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
Drake grunted and stopped, eyeing the door with distaste. “Don’t like the thought of you going in there by yourself,” he muttered.
I squeezed his hand while my heart did the same in my chest. Drake was too good to be true, and I couldn’t get enough of how overprotective he was. To anyone else, it might have felt overbearing, but for once in my life, I felt cared for and safe.
“I’ll be fine,” I assured him. “In and out in a jiffy.”
He sighed, obviously still not liking the idea. I flushed when he leaned down and slanted his lips across mine, his arm binding around my waist. Unable to help myself, I softly moaned into the kiss, my eyes fluttering shut, my hands gripping his hoodie. When he flicked his tongue over my bottom lip, I quietly whimpered and opened my lips beneath his, letting him deepen the kiss.
A throat cleared from beside us, and I jerked back in surprise and a little bit of humiliation, my eyes snapping open wide. Drake smirked at me. Kaleb was chuckling beside us, obviously having been the one to clear his throat. “Go,” Drake quietly told me, tapping my ass, making my cheeks darken even more. “I’ll be waiting here.”
I nodded and quickly slipped into the bathroom, my heart still racing from that hot-as-hell kiss. Drake had a way of making me forget my surroundings, and God, his lips were addictive. I couldn’t get enough of them—didn’t want to.
He was incredible.
I was washing my hands when the lock clicked on the door, echoing in what I thought were the empty restrooms. My heart thumped hard in my chest, fear crawling through my veins and choking me, constricting my lungs.
I jerked my eyes up to the mirror, struggling to breathe as Whitney stared back at me. I jerked to turn around, the water still running, but she was faster given her athleticism, and she slammed my face down onto the sink. I heard and felt the cartilage in my nose break, and I screamed in pain, gagging at the taste of blood as it rolled over my lips.
“I don’t know who the fuck you think you are,” she snarled, dragging me up and shoving me back against the wall. Her hands wrapped around my throat, and I clawed at them, tears rushing down my face, mixing with the blood.
“Let me go!” I choked out, my vision darkening. She was going to kill me. Holy fuck, she was going to kill me!
The door suddenly crashed open just as I slumped, lightheaded. Her hands suddenly left my neck, and strong arms wrapped around me, breaking my fall as I slumped to the floor. I coughed, gasping for air, choking on it. Hot tears rushed down my cheeks again as my entire body began to shake.
“D-D-Drake,” I croaked. My throat was burning. My lungs hurt. And God, my nose!
“I’m here, baby girl. Right here,” he soothed, running his hand over my hair. Someone passed him a shirt, and he held it to my nose. I screeched in pain, trying to push his hand away. He just cupped the side of my head and held me still. “You’re bleeding. I know it hurts, but I need you to trust me.”
I sobbed, breaking down. I could barely breathe. I was freaking out—panicking. She had almost killed me and over what? A guy? A fucking seat in class?
“Here, bro,” Kaleb said, grabbing Drake beneath his arm. “She needs the hospital. Strangulation—not something to fucking play with.”
Drake jerkily nodded his head and scooped me up against his chest before allowing Kaleb to help him off the floor. “Hold the shirt to your nose, Elizabeth,” Drake ordered, striding out of the bathroom. Whitney was screeching and yelling, and I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling like she was right in front of me again, her hands wrapped around my throat, constricting my airways.
“Easy now,” Drake soothed, ignoring teachers as they tried to stop him. “Kaleb, can you drive?”
“Yeah,” Kaleb told him. “Where are your keys?”
“In my hoodie pocket.”
He kept walking as Kaleb snatched his keys out of his pocket, moving ahead of us and out the school doors. He held them open for Drake to slip through. I leaned my head on his shoulder, still crying but so, so tired. I just wanted to sleep and forget this day ever happened.
But every time my eyes shut, I saw Whitney in the mirror right before she bashed my face on the countertop.
I trembled. Drake tightened his hold on me almost to the point it hurt, but I welcomed the pain—his pain. I knew Drake would never hurt me, and somehow, I knew this incident was fucking killing him inside.
“Please don’t leave me,” I begged him when Kaleb wrenched open the back door of Drake’s truck.