Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 106797 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106797 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
“You know what, Shay? This is my town. These are my friends, this is my best friend’s party, and you’re only here because you took the sloppy seconds of my ex-boyfriend and thought that made you one of us. Well guess what? It doesn’t.” I could feel the same quietness that surrounded me when I first entered the party creeping up again. Everyone was watching us. “I’m still trying to figure out where Mason’s lapse in judgement came from when he decided it’d be a good idea to date you, but since you have to be here until he wises up and realizes he can do better, maybe you could stop obsessing over how I look and what I wear and worry about your own damn self?”
Shay’s mouth popped open and Tawnya’s followed. Adrenaline was coursing through my veins at the speed of a freight train. Inside I was shaking, but I didn’t let it show.
“Come on, Willow.” I laced my arm through hers and strutted toward the back door. “We have a game to win. Oh, and since I know you’re watching,” I added, throwing one last glance over my shoulder at Shay’s white face. “How’s my ass look, Shay?”
The kitchen and living room both broke out into a mixture of laughter and oooh’s. Willow was cracking up and I bit against my urge to do the same. When we finally made it outside, I let it out.
“Oh my God! I cannot believe that just happened. I fucking love you.” Willow wrapped me in a crushing hug before turning to the party that was outside. “My best friend is the sexiest bitch alive!” Everyone laughed and a few of the guys whistled. I only blushed in return.
I didn’t see Shay or Mason at all in the next hour. They either left or stayed inside, either option worked for me. It felt good to stand up for myself, even if I did have to stoop to her level to do so, but after the adrenaline crashed, I made my way up to Willow’s bedroom to gather myself. I thought I’d escaped alone, but Willow tailed me, closing the door softly behind us and falling down to sit on the bed with me.
“I’m fine, Lo,” I said with a sigh. “Go back to the party.”
“Listen, as much as I want to believe that, especially with your little show in the kitchen, I know there’s something bothering you.” She winked when she mentioned my showdown with Shay, but her smile fell quickly. “You’re thinking about Rhodes, aren’t you?”
I chewed my lip and nodded, just the mention of his name making my stomach drop. The adrenaline rush had practically sobered me, which just let all the thoughts consumed with him crash in all at once.
“I just… I almost wish none of it had ever happened, Lo. I wish I would have stopped prying. If I could have just left him alone, let him train me and then gone home and forgot about him until the next session, maybe none of this would have ever happened. He’s either going to treat me like I’m just a client again or he’s going to make it where he never has to see me. Either option kills me.”
And it did. My stomach may have dropped at the sound of his name, but it twisted and ached at the thought of completely losing him. I was angry with him, I was hurt, I was confused, but I still yearned for him. I had no idea how to handle what was happening.
It was Willow’s turn to sigh. She shook her head, grabbing my hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. “The worst part of all of this is that now you know what having more of him is like. That’s what changes everything, and that’s why you’re struggling with wanting it back and wishing it never happened at all.” She shrugged, her brown eyes softening. “Ignorance is a blessing as much as it is a curse. You can’t crave what you don’t know exists.”
The truth of her observation hit me harder than anything Rhodes had said to me two nights before. I wasn’t sure what it was that I was feeling until Willow laid it out in front of me like a photograph.
A knock at the door startled both of us. It slowly opened, and suddenly my adrenaline was back. Or was it nerves? I couldn’t be sure. Mason was standing in the frame, hands in the pockets of his faded jeans, messy brown hair curling at his ears and falling into his eyes slightly.
“Hey,” he said timidly, looking to me first and then Willow. “Could I… um… would you mind if I talked to Natalie for a second?”
Willow’s face was stone. She’d invited Mason and Shay only after I’d convinced her that she needed to. She was hell bent on keeping both of them away after she found out what had happened at the fair, but I knew it would kill Mason not to be there for her last night in town. Mason and Willow were almost as close as Mason and I were, and I didn’t want Willow to have to choose. Still, as Mason waited for her to respond, I swore I could feel the daggers she was throwing his way piercing my own skin.