Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
But I flushed that all down the toilet when I took the fall for Ryan and the team.
The heaviness of it makes it hard to walk out to the Subaru wagon. To open the door. Get behind the wheel and move the seat back as far as it goes to make room for my long legs.
I thought coming back to Wolf Ridge would be a relief, but it’s almost worse than being at Duke. I don’t belong here, either. I feel like I’m having some kind of out-of-body experience. I’m looking down at myself, going through the motions of starting up a car and driving the all-too-familiar route to the high school where I was on top of the world, but I’m a stranger to it all.
I say nothing to Rayne, and she doesn’t try to talk to me, either. She just scrolls on her phone, her body hugging the passenger door. Her scent fills the car. There’s something intriguing in it, but I can’t figure out what. A note that tugs at my senses, like a memory I haven’t yet had.
I cut through the back parking lot that faces the football field, which is the least convenient entrance for Rayne. I barely bring the car to a stop before she throws open the door and drops lightly onto her small feet.
“Thanks,” she mutters.
I don’t reply, but my brain is occupied far too long on the drive home wondering why she bothered to thank me.
Whether it was reflexive, or if she’s actually the thankful sort.
For some reason, I’m dying to know what it would be like to have her really, truly thankful. To have those big blue eyes trained on my face like I’m her master, and she’s my humble slave.
She’d be on her knees. Naked, of course. Or–fuck–maybe in those black lace panties she had on last night. She’d stare up at me with adoration and a longing to please, her tiny body vibrating with the urge to do my bidding.
And now I have a semi.
That’s just crazy town. I am not even attracted to the little runt.
It’s more just that I want to have power over her. I want to put an end to those haughty tosses of her hair and lifts of her dimpled chin. I want to show her who’s boss and have her accept it with every bit of her being.
Now my dick’s fully hard. I’m definitely going in the wrong direction with these thoughts.
After jerking off, going for a run in wolf form and taking a second shower, I obey my dad’s orders and text Coach Jamison to tell him I’m in town and need to talk.
He replies immediately and offers to take me to lunch.
I feel like a total asshole accepting, especially because I know he’s going to be pissed he’s paying when he finds out what I’ve done, but I don’t have any cash myself. I had a full ride to Duke, and they treated us like royalty when we were on the road, staying at the nicest hotels and paying for our meals, but I didn’t have spending cash, and I didn’t have time to work. That was why Ryan was selling. He was using his fame and popularity and the position as the party-man to generate cash.
Between the frat parties and practice, I had no time for studies.
I show up at the New Moon Diner with nothing but a sack full of burdens and the knowledge that it’s time to finally unload some of them.
Matt Jamison is the guy who has always been in my corner. Not that my dad hasn’t been. I know he wanted what was best for me, too, but Coach Jamison knew us inside and out. Better than our own parents. Almost as well as our best friends.
Sitting across the table from him is almost painful because I know he’ll see through all my bullshit and call me on every ounce of it.
“It’s in the news today,” he says flatly, the moment he slides into the booth.
Good. That saves me the trouble of explaining why I’m here.
Except he says, “Care to explain?”
I try to swallow and fail. I know a simple, “No, sir,” won’t fly.
I shake my head weakly. “I don’t know…”
He cocks his head, brows raised but says nothing.
I almost wish for him to berate me the way my dad did, but he waits.
“I didn’t like living among humans.”
There it is. The real crux of the issue. Why I made the choice I did. On some level, I wanted to be kicked out of school and sent home to Wolf Ridge. Except now that I’m here, it’s even worse.
Coach absorbs that for a moment without comment.
The waitress, a middle-aged wolf shifter with a kid on the football team, stops by our table. “Coach. Wilde. What can I get you, boys?”