Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 64628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
“Pretty little blonde... I bet you’re a virgin, too. That would raise the price.”
My back straightens, and my voice completely fails me. Even if I wanted to speak, what the hell would I say?
“Party’s inside,” Robert says, pointing behind us.
Both the guys don’t look or move. Their eyes stay firmly on me. One, in particular, roams me harder than any man has ever looked at me before. He isn’t much older than me though, maybe a few years at best.
“Quinn, isn’t it? You were three years ahead of us,” Robert states.
I never paid much attention to people the way Robert does. He always seems to know a lot about people we don’t even socialize with. He’s our very own gossip factory.
The guy’s eyes move from me, then quickly to Robert. He dismisses him, doesn’t say a word to Robert, but moves back to me. “Tell me, blondie, much family?”
My breath hitches at his words.
He can’t be serious, can he?
He sounds serious, but who asks such a weird thing?
“What are you doing here?”
We all turn to the voice. Ryken’s standing two feet away and he steps off the driveway toward us. His eyes skim me over before he looks to the two guys in front of us—one whose name is Quinn.
“We came to see what the boss’ son gets up to in his free time.” Quinn’s eyes come back to me. “I see you’ve found us some new merchandise.”
Robert steps back taking me with him, and his grip is firmer on my forearm.
“Leave.” Ryken’s voice is deep and reverberates with authority.
Quinn doesn’t laugh or move, though. “I think I might stay. Be good for future business, don’t you think?”
Ryken shakes his head.
“We’ll leave you to it,” Robert says, still holding onto me but going to move.
“Don’t,” Quinn says.
Ryken steps in front of me blocking Quinn’s eyes from me. “Go! Now,” Ryken says.
I hear a faint mumble under Robert’s breath, “Thank fuck.” Then he pulls me hard, so I have no choice but to move as fast as him.
Entering the party, the music blares even more deafeningly all around us. I want to enjoy, take in the ambiance and look around, but I can still feel Quinn’s eyes searching and assessing me. It makes me feel dirty.
“Shall we dance?”
I shake my head rapidly. “That isn’t happening.” I can feel the red breaking out on my neck. Nerves take a hold of me, gripping tightly as I become bright red and shaky.
“Well, we should at least get a drink? Act like we’re enjoying this party.” He smiles, trying to erase what happened outside, but it won’t work. It’s in my head, floating around, and with each second making me feel anxious and uneasy.
“Sure. Actually, a drink might help.”
He laughs as he walks to the kitchen, picks up two beers from the cooler then heads back to pass me one.
“This should be interesting. Have you ever tasted a beer before?”
I shake my head. In all honesty, I haven’t tried alcohol. “If I get sick, you better look after me.” Putting it to my lips, I taste the cool liquid and almost spit it back out. Jesus, it tastes like shit. Robert laughs then suddenly stops. His eyes go behind me, and I turn to follow his line of sight. Ryken is standing there, his eyes dark like I witnessed at school. He can’t hide the darkness from me. I wonder if he knows I can see it.
“You’ll like this better.” Ryken passes me a glass bottle, which looks pale red in color, so I take it in my other hand.
“Should I be taking a drink from a stranger?” I ask, trying to break the tension I can feel.
“It’s unopened. So I guess you can.”
I nod my head, twisting the lid off and tasting it. It’s sweet, tastes a little like raspberry and it doesn’t make me want to spit it out.
“It’s vodka,” he says.
“I like it,” I reply in all honesty.
“You should leave...” His eyes transfer to Robert behind me. “Take her home,” he orders.
“No. I just got here.”
His dark eyes fall back to me. His demons are playing, and I can see them dancing in his dark eyes. “You shouldn’t have come.”
Before I can say another word, Livia walks up behind Ryken. Her arm tangles with his, linking their arms together, and she smiles at me.
“Ryken, you must dance with me.” She sends me a wink and pulls at him to move. He doesn’t. Instead he watches me closely.
“I wanted to come,” I reply.
Shaking his head, he turns to finally look at Livia. Then nods his head.
I watch as Livia pulls Ryken away and I stand there until he’s out of sight. Drinking the rest of my vodka, I turn to see Robert staring at me.
“I’ve called a taxi, we’re leaving. You can come to my place, okay? I’ll throw us our own personal party with cake.”