Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 96802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Sam shot me an incredulous look. I knew what that meant. Sam, unlike Camden, was a rule-follower. He was probably the least likely person to hang out with me and Camden, who tore up the town and never gave two fucks about anything. But Sam was also a great guy. Someone who didn’t judge my actions. He just gradually steered me in the right direction. Like he was right now.
“We could always just do something less…problematic,” he suggested.
“Like what?”
“I don’t know…video games?”
I snorted and held my hand out for a cab. “I was thinking lots of alcohol and getting laid. Maybe something recreational.”
Sam shook his head. “I don’t care if you get drunk and sleep with someone, but if it gets out that you’re smoking pot or worse…English will kill you.”
“Or worse?” I said with a laugh, getting into the cab. Sam followed, and then we were driving into Midtown. “You say ‘or worse’ like you’ve never snorted cocaine before.”
“I haven’t.”
“Well, look at you, growing up in a stable household.”
Sam shrugged indifferently. “Not apologizing for that.”
“Fair.” Sam had gone all stiff, and I nudged him with my easy smile. “All right, relax. No cocaine tonight. We’ll just get drunk.”
“Good.”
“And wait…what’s wrong with smoking pot?” I asked.
“Besides it being illegal?”
“Yeah, but it shouldn’t be.”
“That’s true. But isn’t English trying to make you look like the golden boy? All straightlaced?”
“Whatever. I don’t care.”
“Yes, you do,” Sam said with a knowing smile as the cab pulled up in front of Sparks.
I threw cash over the seat and stepped out in front of the club. Sam wasn’t wrong. I did care. But the cabin fever had set in, and I needed to get away. Plus, Camden wasn’t wrong. Getting laid might help take the edge off. It’d be better than sitting around in my house, jerking off again.
I stepped into the pulsing nightclub and immediately felt in my element. I was ready to get rid of the pussy-whipped asshole who had done whatever Jane wanted. Ready to shuck off the constraints I’d put on myself the last couple months. It’d be easier to just move on already.
“Let’s find Camden and Gavin,” I called out to Sam. “Then drinks.”
Sam pointed straight ahead. “Found them.”
I followed his attention and saw that Camden stood next to Katherine. Gavin was dancing zealously with Whitley and Lark.
“I didn’t know the girls would be out tonight,” I said.
Sam shrugged. “I didn’t either.”
“Lark didn’t say anything?”
“Nope. I’m surprised myself, considering she’s burning the candle at both ends right now, coming up to the primary.”
“Well, let’s go find out,” I said.
Unease settled in the pit of my stomach. Going out with the guys was different than meeting the girls out. It was more difficult to pick someone up this way. Though still… probably not difficult.
We pushed through the throng of people on the dance floor and into the VIP section. Gavin saw us first and pointed his finger in our direction.
“Court Kensington has arrived, ladies and gentlemen!” Gavin cried.
We clapped our hands together in an aggressive handshake.
“Gavin, my man.”
Lark furrowed her brow when she saw me. “I thought you weren’t supposed to be out.”
“What are you, my mom now?”
She straightened at the bite in my voice. “Don’t be a dick.”
“Comes with the territory.”
“Only when you want it to.”
“Must be confusing me with another Kensington,” I said with a sweeping bow.
Lark was close friends with my brother, Penn. And sometimes, when she looked at me, I swore she saw him and not me. I wasn’t the cookie-cutter Columbia professor who had defied his family’s interests and fallen in love with philosophy, of all things. I wasn’t on some moral high ground. Penn and I had a fraught past, and though we were working toward the right direction, it was times like this that made me remember why I wasn’t him.
“Why do you always deflect like that?” Lark asked.
I shrugged. “Just tired of people telling me what to do. If I want to be out, then I’ll be out. I don’t care who tells me that.”
“You sure?” She arched an eyebrow and nodded her head behind me.
I whipped around and found none other than Anna English.
Busted.
Fuck.
“English,” I said, wide-eyed. “I didn’t know that you were back from LA.”
“Clearly,” she said. Her jaw was set. Her eyes narrowed in my direction. “What the fuck are you doing here, Court?”
“What the fuck am I doing here? What the fuck are you doing here? I thought you were still in LA. Why didn’t you text me or anything?”
English crossed her arms over her ample chest. Something solidified in her eyes. Something lethal. “I just got back.”
“I saw what happened with Josh.”
She flinched. Yeah, that was the wrong thing to say.
“Which is why I’m out. But it makes no sense why you’re out.”
“Because your lockdown was bullshit,” I snapped right back.