Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75600 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75600 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Blake steps in close to my back. “Maybe you need to rein it in,” he warns me. “I don’t like the sound of these guys. I can’t have you getting hurt, Sky.”
“I can handle myself,” I remind him, already wondering how I can play Blake’s connection to the basketball team seeing as though my gut tells me that Slade Cruz is most likely captain. Though I wouldn’t want to hurt Blake’s opportunities in the team, but then, he’s that talented that they’d be stupid not to use him to his fullest potential. I look back at Maze. “What about Vanessa, Nessy, Nessa…whatever you called her.”
“She’s Vanessa but most people around here just call her Ness or Nessa. She’s an A-class bitch. She’s the mean girl that the cheerleaders couldn’t even handle. She’s either going to see you as a threat and charge full steam ahead or she’ll see you as trash and won’t even bother with you. There’s no in-between with her. If she thinks you’re after her man, then your ass is as good as fried.”
“This gets more exciting by the second,” I say as we finally hit the front of the line. We all shut up and work on getting our lunch and the second we’re done, Blake kisses my cheek. “Stay out of trouble,” he demands before striding away.
I watch after him as he heads off toward the table filled with the rest of the basketball team, everyone except Slade and Damian. Blake drops down in between the guys and they welcome him in as though he’s been a part of the team for years.
Pride surges through me. He’s going to do really well here. Come his senior year, I’m sure he’ll be taking over as Captain and dominating this school just like Slade is. Though hopefully, he won’t take on the asshole tendencies that the current king deems acceptable.
That pride fades away the second some chick steps in front of Blake and drops down onto his lap. “That’s Kathleen Harris,” Maze informs me. “I heard they’ve already been screwing. That brother of yours works fast.”
I shake my head and let out a sigh as Maze pulls me along. “As long as he doesn’t knock her up, I guess it really doesn’t matter.”
“Well, keep your eye on her then. She’s the type to hold on and never let go and something tells me your brother is the kind to use her until he gets bored.”
A laugh bubbles up my throat. “A stage five clinger? Maybe I should encourage this after all. Watching him squirm while trying to get rid of her is going to be fun, it might just teach him a lesson.”
“Oh, geez,” Maze laughs. “I’m so glad I don’t have any siblings.”
With that, she pulls me along to a table filled with girls who spend their lunch break chatting but truth be told, with Slade’s impenetrable glare on me the whole time, I don’t think I heard a single word.
Chapter 3
I walk through the door of my new home after having to catch the bus. The bus. Can you believe it? I’ve gone from millionaire mobster princess to catching public transport. This would have never happened in my old life, though aunt Shaylee and uncle Ben have promised that my own car will be coming soon.
I shouldn’t complain. They didn’t need to take us in and on such short notice, but they have and their whole lives are being turned upside down. We were lucky that we found them in the first place.
Blake and I haven’t exactly had an easy life. The first few years, we started just like everyone else and it quickly went south. Our lives were filled with all sorts of horrors that I’m so damn pleased Blake wasn’t old enough to remember. Me on the other hand, I relive the memories nearly every night despite thirteen years having passed.
Shit went even further south when we ended up with a new family. How we got there wasn’t exactly done legally and our brand-new ‘parents’…well, they’re the kind of people who should be rotting behind bars until the day they die.
I walk through to my bedroom that not a week ago used to be Shaylee’s home gym and dump my bag on my bed. I don’t know how I made it through the day without causing any more trouble, yet here I am. Maybe it’s for Blake’s sake that I kept my mouth shut or maybe I simply didn’t intercept any more dickheads.
Slade made his case known and I guess no one else is willing to step in. I’ve been declared his enemy and anyone else attempting to take me down is classified as a traitor to Slade’s desires. He wants to be the one to scare me off so I guess that means I’m safe from the rest of the morons at Aston Creek High.