Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 85453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Vivienne’s eyes snap to mine. They’re as icy as death. “Tuesday. Okay. Now everything makes sense.”
With years of private karate lessons under my belt, I snatch up her hand before it gets within an inch of Milo’s face. Her bitchy tone announced she was going to slap him long before her hand lifted from her Chanel bag.
My quick reflexes double the redness on Vivienne’s blushed cheeks. “Let me go, you beast!”
“Beast?” I drop her hand as quickly as I lower my eyes to my outfit. I’m wearing fewer clothes than I ever have, and my shoes are strappy. I look nothing like a beast.
A tramp, on the other hand…
The party-like atmosphere dulls to the quietness of a wake when Vivienne spins on her heels and darts into the backyard. Milo waits until the tension almost boils over before he lowers his eyes to mine and says, “I’ll be right back.”
Not waiting for me to reply, he takes off after Vivienne, plummeting the situation to awkward.
Even in a borrowed dress and with far too much leg showing, it is obvious I don’t belong here. This isn’t my scene, but before I can make a break for it, I’m saved from an unlikely source.
“And he says he hates drama.”
After breathing out my nerves, I spin to face Gabriel. “I guess when you have enough of it in real life, you don’t need to fake it.”
He laughs. It seems genuine enough, but he is a trained actor, so I can’t be sure. “That is true.” He removes the red cup from my hand and replaces it with a freshly prepared drink. It smells as toxic as the one Milo handed me. “I couldn’t help but overhear their tussle.” His eyes stray to Milo and Vivienne’s public altercation during the ‘their’ part of his reply. “Do you think they’ll move past it?”
Mindful this is the first time we’ve talked and aware it could be because of what Milo said about men wanting the unattainable, I reply, “Past what? They’ve been over for months. Haven’t they?”
I regret the unease of my last sentence the instant it leaves my mouth. Not only does my hesitation downplay our ruse, but it also sees Gabriel shrugging before he moseys into the heart of the party, leaving me muted and confused.
Chapter 5
Cash
“This new girl is a hoot. How in the world did you ever stumble onto her?”
After switching out the beer Kamil just handed me for a soda, I slump into the chair across from the imaginary dance floor McKayla is dancing on. Since Kamil has my back both on and off the court, I don’t continue with the ruse I started over an hour ago. I be honest. “Professor Ren suggested her as a tutor.”
I smile against the rim of my cup when he curses Professor Ren under his breath. Then he mumbles something along the lines of her always keeping the good ones for either herself or me.
Soda congests in my lungs instead of my stomach when I spot McKayla’s unsteady dance moves. She is clearly intoxicated, but just like Einstein, doesn’t give a fuck about what anyone thinks of her.
It’s a refreshing change.
“What has she been drinking?”
“Drink,” Kamil corrects. “She’s only had one.”
I glare at him with narrowed eyes when he holds up the drinking glass affectionately known as the Chugger. It knocks newbies on their asses with only half a glass, and if McKayla’s sudden wish to shake her booty is any indication, it strips their nerves just as effectively.
Kamil’s dark brows join when I say, “You know she’s underage, right?”
His stunned expression jumps onto my face when he replies, “No, she’s not. She turned twenty-one a couple of weeks back.”
“She’s a freshman,” I spit out in disbelief.
“Because she stayed home to work the farm for two years. She also skipped two years since she studied via correspondence.” He mocks me with a brittle laugh before asking, “How do you not know this? I learned it in two seconds, yet you two have supposedly been hooking up since Tuesday.”
I almost reply because I’m an ass who only ever looks out for himself, but I change the direction of our conversation when I notice Kamil and I aren’t the only ones drinking in McKayla’s metamorphism. Gabriel appears seconds from turning her solo act into a duet.
I’m not surprised. He always wants to be front and center… especially when it involves shunting me to the side.
“She’s really going for it,” Kamil says, drawing my focus back to him.
My smile matches his, but it is more in elation than amusement. McKayla’s dance moves are horrendous, but who hasn’t done the sprinkler at least once in their life?
It is my father’s favorite dance move, and the remembrance sees me doing the last thing I expected when I rocked up to McKayla’s dorm an hour ago.