Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 111038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 555(@200wpm)___ 444(@250wpm)___ 370(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 555(@200wpm)___ 444(@250wpm)___ 370(@300wpm)
“Yeah.” His head rested against his seat. “We went to the pizzeria, which is a popular place for Roussou kids, by the way.”
I hadn’t thought of that.
“We walked in. Ordered our stuff. The girl at the counter recognized your order and mentioned you.”
That was shocking. And interesting. “What’d she say?”
“That she thought you were cool, but she didn’t like me.” He grimaced. “She also didn’t like the thought that I knew you, was ordering for you.”
“What?”
His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “You better get used to it if we’re going to last. I look like a dick. I walk like a dick. I act like a dick. I am a dick, to almost everyone except you.” He thought on that. “No. I am a dick to everyone but you. People clock that, and they’re going to worry.”
I kept driving, but looked over every now and then.
He studied me intently, his words soft. “You’re good people, Aspen. I’m not.”
Jesus. And then he said things like that…
I felt my tears rising. “Shut up.”
“Aspe—”
“Shut up!” I gripped the wheel with both hands. I wanted to squeeze it in half. “Just stop talking like that. Stop it.”
Then I waited.
I kept gripping the wheel, my heart pounding in my chest.
I clued in.
He was silent.
I glanced over. He grinned. “I stopped, but it’s the truth.”
I cursed under my breath.
His phone started ringing, and he pulled it out, hissing again from his hand. “It’s Zeke.” He hit the button and put it on speaker. “You’re on speaker, Zeke.”
“Who else is there?”
“Hi, Zeke,” I said.
He was quiet for a beat. “I’m glad she’s there. You tell her what set everything off in the first place?”
Blaise had his eyes closed, shaking his head. “No, man.”
Zeke laughed. “Aspen, babe, you must have, like, unicorn glitter in the air around you or something. Everyone goes to bat for you—people who don’t even know you. Monroe. The pizza chick. Who’s next? Hell, I might start worrying about Blaise’s intentions, and I love the guy.”
“What?”
Blaise opened an eye, saw I was not happy with this conversation, and said into his phone, “I’m good. I gotta go.”
“Hey! Don’t hang up,” Zeke rushed out. “Don’t know where you are, but I grabbed the pizza. I’m at my house if you want to drop by. I made sure no one touched your girl’s pie. It’s in the back kitchen.”
That’s when I heard the music blaring from Zeke’s side. Funny. I hadn’t noticed it before.
“You want to grab your pie?” Blaise asked.
My first response was what fucking pie? Blaise had been in a fight—how was pizza important? But then I took a breath, counted to ten, and realized my stomach was growling. I shrugged. “I could go for some pizza.”
Blaise’s eyes warmed. “We’re on our way,” he told Zeke.
“Yessss. See you in two pumps, yeah?”
Blaise hung up, putting his phone in the divider between us.
He rolled his neck and touched the side of his mouth. “Fuck. That hurts.”
The tattoo guy had said they were having a hard time keeping Blaise from his brother. Cross had been in the other room, and his face had been bruised too. I’d been in too much shock over Blaise’s face, but I was remembering now.
I didn’t like what I remembered.
“You fought your brother?”
“Yeah,” Blaise said meekly.
“Why?” Over me? That made no sense.
“Like I said, the pizza chick didn’t like the thought of you and me. Bren came up—”
“Bren? Your brother’s girlfriend?”
He nodded. “Bren came up and actually vouched for me.”
This was so not making sense.
He looked away, sighing. “I don’t know. Cross came up, and the stuff from last night’s still bothering me. I got mad just seeing him, and I mouthed off. I said shit I knew would piss him off.”
“Who threw the first punch?”
He was quiet for a moment. “He did, but I said shit he had to hit me for. I started the fight.”
“Because he got time with a decent dad while you got beat up by a guy who wasn’t your dad. That’s why.”
Hold up. Hold up a freaking minute…
I’d heard my voice. I knew those words were mine, but I hadn’t thought them. They were just there, and they were a lot.
I bit my lip. “I’m sorry.”
Blaise made a gargled sound.
I looked over to see his mouth open, and he stared at me. He blinked and shook his head.
“You’re right.”
I didn’t know what that meant, but I felt bad. “I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have said that—”
“No,” he croaked. “No. You’re right. I saw him, and it was too much. I just wanted to destroy him, you know?”
Not really.
“I wanted to wipe that smirk off his face using the pavement. I wanted to smash his face in. Like, fuck him.” He sighed again. “Aspen, I don’t know where or what you’re going to college for, but you need to go for counseling. It would’ve taken me a year of therapy to figure that out.”