Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 88936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
“Yes,” she clipped.
“You gonna swindle some more men out of their money over a game of pool?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No.”
She probably has plans with Merce, I thought sourly.
Although she hadn’t mentioned the fact that she had a boyfriend. She was either protecting him or planning on using him to get rid of me.
“You can’t change your plans?” I asked.
She bit her bottom lip like she might be considering it, then shook her head. “I can’t.”
Yep. She had plans with Merce. Well, I’d have to follow them and be more discreet. Not sure I actually wanted to witness them together, but it was why I was here.
“All right then,” I said with a nod. “I hope you have a good night, Royal.”
She frowned. “You know my name?”
I shrugged. “I did follow you all day.”
Her nose scrunched up. “I thought you started at the library.”
“Nope. Started right here at eight a.m.”
She sucked in a breath. “How did you know where I lived?”
“Google,” I lied.
“And my name?”
“Chatty waitress at the pool hall.”
She sighed with an annoyed grimace. “Bet I can guess who that was.”
Telling her my name would tip off Dancastle. He’d question why a Shephard was suddenly in Athens and sniffing around his girlfriend. I couldn’t have that. The less she knew, the more I’d get out of her.
I held out my hand through the car window. “Amory Blaine,” I told her, using a name from one of my favorite novels.
She looked down at my hand, then slowly slid her hand in mine to shake it. There was a slight crinkle between her brows as she lifted her eyes back to mine. “Amory Blaine—was it your mother or father who chose to name you after the protagonist in This Side of Paradise? Or was one of them just a fan of Fitzgerald?”
Damn. I wanted to smile. She was well read. She remembered what she’d read, which meant she’d enjoyed it.
“My father,” I lied.
The right corner of her mouth tugged up. “Last name was Blaine, so he chose Amory to go with it. Or Amory Blaine is your first and middle and you’re leaving out your surname on purpose?”
I was leaving out a lot on purpose. “Surname in Blaine. My dad wanted to name me Amory because of it.”
When she dropped her hand from mine, I pointed toward her house, which was in desperate need of a good power wash, paint job, and new windows—at least three that I could see from here.
“I’ll let you get back to dinner,” I told her before she could ask me any more about myself.
She was smart, and I was going to have to be smarter. Starting with getting my attraction to her under control. I liked beautiful women, but I fucking loved intelligent ones who were well read. In order to keep from getting distracted by this girl, I was going to need someone else to keep me sated sexually.
She nodded, but said nothing as she watched me closely. Too perceptive. I winked as I rolled up my window.
She stepped back and then turned to walk toward her house, only glancing back once when she reached the yard. I lifted my hand in a wave, then pulled out onto the road and drove away. Leaving her behind and forcing my thoughts elsewhere.
It was time I asked out the Dolvin Cosmetics heiress my mother had kept pushing me to do. Just because Hattie Dolvin was a wealthy socialite that did some modeling didn’t make her shallow. I needed to give her a chance. This seemed like the perfect time.
• Five •
“I mean, you said it all. I heard it. Life moved on.”
Royal
So far, I’d been lucky. Not one sighting of Merce while I’d been upstairs, showing face at the Alpha Epsilon Tau party.
Milo had rescued me from a nosy Omega Theta—I believed her name was Becky, but I wasn’t sure. She’d been panting after Merce for over a year, and the word that he had broken up with me seemed to make her giddy.
I sighed in relief as we reached the basement to the frat house. The noise from upstairs had faded, and the only thing other than the damp smell of the room was the round poker table and bar set up beside it, stocked with expensive bourbon, gin, and cognac.
Cody, Witt, and Julian were already down here with their drinks sitting at the table. Cody had his signature cigar in his mouth, but he’d yet to light it. He always waited until the first hand was played. Some superstition of his. I didn’t always win these games. If I did, then they’d figure out the hustle. The nights I let them win, Milo covered the loss for me by giving me the money to play.
Tonight was not one of those nights.
I was here to take them all to the cleaners.