Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 37885 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 152(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37885 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 152(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
It’s too much. I’ve gone too far.
“I’m not,” she whispers straight into my pounding heart, a strength filling her eyes. And then, my entire world explodes as she reaches down, slipping her hand against the front of my pants.
I don’t know what the fuck is happening right now, but I’m not going to stop it—
“Mina!” A screech from over my shoulder implodes the perfection of the moment. “You didn’t tell us Jackson was here! Everyone! Jackson Sanders is here!”
Mina jerks her hand away and it’s like an arctic blast through every cell in my body. The screecher, Cindy Hilton, who I know all too well, pushes between us wearing what I know is one of Mina’s handmade evening gowns.
“Everyone! Listen! Jackson’s here! Trojans! Fight on!” She spins, fist pumping the air as my stomach turns to cement.
A drunken roar ripples through the adolescent crowd as Mina steps back. I fling an arm sideways, pushing a few of them away. But as I do, some jaggoff wearing another of my sister’s dresses, the seams ripped apart, reaches over, grabbing Mina by the shoulders, shouting in her face nose to nose.
“Fucking Jackson Sanders!” He yells on a whoop.
His inebriated excitement reminds me of too many college parties. Too many entitled assholes needing an education on how to treat females and behave like human beings, which I doled out as often as I could during my college years, much to my coach’s annoyance. I never looked for a fight, but plenty found me. The wrong kind of attention can hurt a team and for sure hurt my chances with my draft options. None of that matters right now.
I lunge toward the asshole with his hands on Mina as she stumbles, hands flattening on his chest, elbows locked. His fingers dig into her upper arms, spit flying into her face as he yells.
“The whole reason we fucking came here was your fucking brother! Whooooo!” He shakes her like a rag doll, her head whiplashing front to back, and I come un-fucking-glued.
Tables flip and bodies dive left and right. Mina screams as I yank the dark-haired assailant off her, the pop of his shoulder dislocating as I throw him to the ground.
“Shit! Fuck, man, my arm!” He rolls on the grass, cradling his damaged arm.
“You’re fucking lucky I didn’t tear it the fuck off and beat you to death with it. Now get the fuck out.” I point toward the driveway as I turn and see a handful of other assholes heading my way.
There’s screaming. Both excitement and anger as I shove and physically encourage the rest of them toward the driveway gate.
“Take those fucking clothes off.” I nail three of them with my eyes. “Carefully. You pop one more seam, tear one inch of fabric, I’ll make sure you’re never able to dress yourself again.”
There’s shuffling, swearing, laughter and yelling, the music is turned up, bass thumping in the outdoor speakers and my fingers twitch curling and uncurling. There’s a cold prickling on the back of my neck as I scan the darkness, looking for those mint-green eyes that haunt my dreams but they’re no where.
“Mina!” I yell over the heavy bass, pushing by two girls stripping off some of the clothes they were prancing around in a second ago, when a different kind of scream cuts through the chaos.
A blonde in a some stretchy, elastic looking mini-red dress, with a champagne bottle in her hand is jumping up and down at the far end of the pool, as five stumbling partygoers are bolting by the diving board trying to avoid my wrath. “They pushed her! She’s sinking.”
The world turns to ice as I catch the murky outline of her blouse in the dark water, sliding into the deep end. My whole world is under that water. I push the blonde out of the way and dive. The cool water envelops me, dragging me down by the weight of my clothes as I kick and pull at the water, reaching out, out, out, finally slipping a hand around her waist, securing her against me as I push off the bottom.
She’s a dead weight, but as I swim to the surface, her fingers tug at the collar of my shirt. Thank fuck.
I pop through the water with a gasp into the air, Mina coughing and gurgling as I hold her, willing my life into her. My heart races, each pulse hammering against my chest wall as I spit water and find my footing on the shallow end of the pool, carrying her up the steps and into my lap.
“You’re going to be all right,” I whisper into her dripping hair, brushing my fingers against the scratch on her forehead. “I’m going to make fucking sure of it.”
CHAPTER 4
Jackson
The pressure behind my eyes builds as I glare at the young intern with her star-struck eyes. She’s explaining Mina will be okay, going over the discharge packet. Repeating what the other doctors have been telling me all night while I made them run tests they insisted weren’t necessary and keep her overnight for observation just in case.