Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 142764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Lee hands me the bottle again and lies back against the mattress. I swear the man is in perpetual motion, unable to stay still for even a second.
"Okay, Dr. Phil. Your turn. What are you going to do about this whole marriage thing, and if so, can I help at all?”
He snorts. "I doubt even if I brought you home and declared that we were getting married, my family would be able to get over my sexuality."
I don’t understand that. "What’s the big deal? You fuck women too, a lot of women from the couple of years we've lived together. And they only get pissy about the men you sleep with?"
He sighs again and rolls onto his side to stare at the wall. The bottle sits upright against his hip now. "Who I sleep with doesn’t really matter. They've made up their mind. I know their end goal now. All they want is to marry me off to a suitable girl with the hope I won’t bring any more shame to our family name."
“There’s nothing wrong with fucking men or women. Don’t let them tell you that you’re fucked up or a disgrace because you like both. Do whatever the fuck you want to do. Or better yet, whoever.”
I fall back onto the mattress and stare up at the intricate detail on the ceiling.
"Do you think this is how our families got so fucked up in the first place? From all the parental meddling until everything became so fucked up that it couldn’t be fixed anymore? Like a permanent fucked-up-ness.”
Lee shifts, the covers rustling underneath his legs. "Bleak, man. But hell, probably. Defending the family name is so ingrained in all of our families' heads that it's the only thing they consider. No matter what it does to every individual family member along the way. No matter your feelings, thoughts, or beliefs. As long as the name remains untarnished, everyone in said family could be having a mental breakdown."
I can’t help but laugh. "Maybe we should all be like Aries and fuck our way through the cheerleaders."
Lee smiles now. "Who says I haven't already?"
Considering how many of them tried to get an invitation to The Hunt this year I wasn't so sure he hadn't.
Just outside the door is a crash followed by a curse. Aries. A second later, he appears in the doorway, his big body filling the whole frame. His long curls are wild and combed away from his face, and his blue eyes shine with excitement when they land on us.
"What are you bitches doing? Didn't you see the pile of new inductees downstairs sleeping? Why are we not making their lives miserable right now?”
I laugh and shift to interlace my hands behind my head so I can look up at him from a more comfortable angle. "They'll be there a while. We have time. Where have you been?"
Lee and I exchange a knowing look that Aries doesn’t appear to miss.
"Where the fuck you think I've been? I’m sure you both remember the McBeth twins on the cheerleading squad. Did you know they make the same noises? It's like fucking surround sound."
The room fills with laughter, and I roll over, laughing so hard my fucking stomach hurts, and tears leak from the corners of my eyes.
Aries stands at the end of the bed with his hands shoved into his letter jacket pockets. "What the fuck are you assholes laughing about?"
I recover first, and Lee wipes at his face with his forearm. I’m still smiling when I answer him. "Nothing, man. Just keep doing what you're doing while the rest of our worlds burn down."
His brow furrows, and he takes a step toward the bed. "Who do I need to kill?"
With the menacing scowl on his face and his dead-serious tone, I wouldn't put it past him. Maybe I should send him after my asshole father.
I consider it. Nah, Aries is all brute force. If I sicced one of my friends on my father, it would be Seb and only Seb. Not only is he strategic but he's also fucking lethal, going straight for the jugular. And best of all, he has zero regrets afterward.
Aries slumps down on the end of the bed, and I consider my options. Would Seb help me?
We all know each other's families. What they do, and how they operate. The thing is, we’ve always tried to keep all of that far away from our school life and The Mill. At least, the best we can with my father breathing down my neck. Shit is hard enough without adding in the family inheritances. Maybe I already have the solution to dear ole dad. I just need to nut up and ask a friend for help. I smile to myself, feeling like I might actually have the fix.