Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 127146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
CHAPTER 17
DREW
It’s official. I’ve found a new hobby. Though it might not come as a surprise. Watching Maybel. She is stunning. I could sit here in the library and stare at her all day. I've been here for an hour, alone, but any minute now, she’ll spot me, glare, and then pretend to ignore me until I leave or talk to her. She’s a creature of habit, after all.
Guilt eats away at me slowly. I’m an asshole for treating her like I did the other day. It’s a habit that’s impossible to break with my father breathing down my back. I shouldn’t have snapped at her, but she needs to learn quickly that I won’t discuss my family with her. If being cruel is the only way to impart that lesson, so be it. I can’t have her getting too close or seeing beneath the surface. Everyone prefers the person you portray. They never really care to get to know the person beneath. No one wants to see the broken, dark pieces of your soul. They only want to see the good, the image you portray to the world. The moment you show them the real you, they become scared or disgusted.
I watch the basketball player dickhead sitting beside her, the one she’s tutored twice this week already, and I note his every twitch. If he makes even one inappropriate move toward Bel, I’ll be ripping him apart with my bare hands. I choose to ignore the territorial possessiveness I feel for her.
She’s tutored several basketball team members, but I haven’t seen a single member of the football team with her since I started watching her. Either we are just smarter or the team is steering clear for my sake. Probably the latter. The basketball player’s arm goes to the back of her chair. I clench my hand into a tight fist. I’m about two seconds away from jumping out of my chair when a tiny little brunette cuts into my line of sight. Immediately, I’m pissed. She’s blocking my view of Bel.
She leans down, pressing her tits together so it’s all I see on the way to her face. “Can I help you?”
Her grin is lecherous, and I know exactly what she wants. She’s wearing so much makeup I can’t even tell the true shade of her skin, unlike Bel, who doesn’t seem to wear much makeup at all, letting me see my marks all over her creamy flesh.
I sit forward, a hard-on hitting me fast at the thought of Bel’s bare hips in my hands. The girl still standing here strangling me with her perfume glances at my twitch and grins like she’s the cause for it.
“Did you need something?” I prompt again.
I lean to the side to look past this girl and keep my eyes on Bel. Shockingly, I find hers locked on my little tableau with her gaze narrowed. Even if it finally gets a reaction out of my little wallflower, I don’t want to encourage the little groupies. As strange as it is for me to say it, I only want one woman right now.
Thankfully, as I’m about to tell her to fuck off, a shadow cuts across the table, and I glance up to find Sebastian. He presses his knuckle to the wood, and the little girl takes an instinctive step back. Clearly, she doesn’t need to be told to leave. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the dark halo of energy surrounding us. The girl flees without another word, and he takes the seat across from me, focusing his dark eyes on something over my shoulder, staring down anyone who might be watching us now.
“What’s up?”
He lets out a long sigh. “I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, but it pisses me off when I have to chase you down. I text you, no response. Check your room, empty. It’s like you’ve vanished, but for some reason, I thought to check the library since your latest obsession basically lives here, and would you look at that, found ya.”
“Okay, so that doesn’t explain why you’re here?” I stare at him blankly.
He rolls his eyes and grits his teeth, impatience dripping off him. “I’m here because you haven’t signed up for one of the fucking volunteer slots for the carnival. The charity carnival we are obligated to put on by the school. The one you fucking asked me to run this year. Ringing any bells?”
We stare at each other a moment, and I lean in enough so I can see Bel over his shoulder. Basketball boy still has his arm on the back of her chair, but his hand isn’t touching her, so I guess I’ll let it slide for now. As I anticipated, he notices my movement and glances back over his shoulder. There’s no way he doesn’t notice her, and it makes me want to rip his eyes out of his head and remove the memory of her from his mind.