Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 125866 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 629(@200wpm)___ 503(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125866 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 629(@200wpm)___ 503(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Maybe it was being around me again.
The selfish part of me hoped it was the latter that let her feel safe to cut loose, to laugh and dance and sass my friends.
That was the Madelyn I knew.
God, I’d missed her.
The thought hit me with a roil of my stomach as I drained the last of my tequila when it was time to shut things down, my eyes on where Madelyn was taking a selfie with Mary and Julep. They took a normal one first, all of them smiling. Then, they did some type of smoldering look before breaking out into a fit of laughter.
“I like her.”
I blinked, turning to find Zeke to my left. He was drinking water as usual, sober since the day I’d met him, and he set his glass on the bar before leaning against it.
“How long have you two been seeing each other?”
I folded my arms over my chest. “It’s complicated.”
“How so?”
“Let’s just say we have history.”
He chuckled. “I know all about that.”
I smirked a little. I guessed he did know about that, considering Riley hated his guts after a rough patch they’d gone through in high school.
“Whatever happened between you two, it seems you’ve put it to bed,” he assessed.
I frowned. “Not really. Can’t put it to bed if you don’t talk about it.”
“What’s stopping you?”
I swallowed past the sticky knot in my throat, my eyes still on Madelyn across the room as the last song played.
“Fear of what she’ll say,” I admitted, turning to look at my friend. “Fear of what I’ll say in return.”
Zeke nodded, clapping my shoulder. “When the time is right, you’ll work it out. For now, it seems like you two are doing alright.” His eyes were sincere as he looked at me. “She’s good for you, man. I can tell.”
“Yeah. For once, I’m not annoyed by your antics,” Holden added, sliding up on the other side of me.
“I haven’t seen you pull your phone out once all night,” Leo chimed in, and then I was surrounded by my asshole friends who couldn’t help but rib me.
But I smiled through it all, because they were right.
I hadn’t reached for my phone. I hadn’t even thought about posting in days.
And Madelyn was good for me.
My heart stammered a bit at the realization, because it was all under pretense.
I was helping her, keeping her safe from Marshall until we could find me a house, get her commission, and get her far away from Seattle.
She was just pretending to be mine, putting on a show for my friends as her part of our little deal.
But even as I thought it, something niggled in the back of my mind that maybe there was something more to it, something more to us.
I could still hear her saying my name in that bathtub, see her chest rising and falling as she chased a release she never quite found…
I smirked, eyes heating when Madelyn’s gaze slid to me from the dance floor. The music had stopped, the party over, and I didn’t miss how her cheeks reddened the longer I stared.
I can help with that, I’d promised her.
It was a tease, a way for me to confess without making it too serious.
But her breath had hitched when I’d said it.
Her skin had erupted in chills when I’d breathed the words against her neck.
And now, all I could think about was getting her back to that hotel room with one bed to see if she’d let me make good on my promise.
“Alright, ladies and gentlemen,” Clay said, calling attention to him and Giana in the middle of the room. “We want to thank you for celebrating with us tonight, and for getting together on such short notice to celebrate our wedding.”
“We can’t wait to continue celebrating with you tomorrow,” Giana added, one hand absentmindedly cradling her small bump.
“Our time is up here, but… the night isn’t over yet,” Clay added, and then he nodded his head at Braden, who appeared with a box full of glow sticks in one hand and a flashing volleyball in the other.
Madelyn joined me at the bar just as I laughed and said, “Oh, shit,” under my breath.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
I smirked, arching a brow at her, but it was Clay who answered as the rest of us erupted in a mixture of cheers and groans, depending.
“It’s Ravey Ball time, bitches!”
Half an hour later, we were at a sand volleyball court on the outskirts of the city.
It was dark, save for the lights from the surrounding buildings and a lone streetlamp overhead. But in no time, we were all wearing glow stick necklaces and bracelets, and the volleyball flashed every color of the rainbow as Braden and Clay volleyed back and forth while we waited for the last of the crew to show up.