Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 127146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
If only I could get my brain to stop thinking about him. I'm so done with this bullshit hot-and-cold routine with him. I don’t ever know which side of him I’m going to get, and that’s just as frustrating. The dorms come into view after a short while, and I’m more than relieved. I march up the steps into the building and use my key card to get in. Once inside, I feel a little safer. At least he can’t get inside the building unless someone lets him in.
It only takes a few minutes to get up to the suite. Jack was at the carnival earlier and talked about shacking up with some football player, but I know she has an early lab class tomorrow morning, so she might be sleeping already. Possible but unlikely. Jack isn’t the type to pass up a party or moment to socialize.
By the time I make it to my room, my mind is still reeling. It feels like hours ago since I threw that baseball, and he pushed me to my knees on the Ferris wheel.
Quickly, I strip off my cross-body bag and toss it on the table. Then I brace my hands on the worn cheap wood. This isn't me. I need to get myself together and just stop thinking about it, about him.
I sit at the table and spread my fingers, digging in, focusing. Breathing. This is just a fling. It'll go away once he's done with me, tired of me. It’ll be just like what my dad did to my mother. Pretty little rich boys get tired of white trash, eventually. I grit my teeth and stand, unzipping the side of my dress before marching into my bedroom to grab my toiletry bag. A cold shower still sounds like the best idea.
Once I have my bag in hand, I exit back into the suite and connect my phone to the Bluetooth to turn on some music, hoping it will help me relax.
It takes me a moment to find a song before I hit play and slip in my earbuds. The noise canceling cuts out more often than not, but right now, it's working, and I can't hear anything but the sweet tones of one of my favorite singers. Worth the weeks it took me to pay for these on the school marketplace.
I can already feel the tension easing, my muscles growing soft, my heart rate slowing. Music does that to me sometimes, that or a long session at the library. But now, every time I go to the library, all I think about is Drew.
Shit, I need a towel. I walk back out into the suite, making a beeline for my room, when a hand clamps over my mouth and pulls me backward into a solid chest. I'm lifted off my feet a second later, and I kick back at my assailant's legs, but every hit I make is dismal.
A scream clogs my throat, and my ears ring between the music and the erratic beat of my heart. The headphones tumble from my ears and hit the floor with sharp clicks. Teeth sink into the soft spot beneath my ear, and my body, still primed from earlier, grows hotter.
It takes a moment for my mind to catch up with what my body tells me. It's him. He's here. He broke in, and now he's going to take me. I don't know if I should scream and run, or beg him for it, beg him to stop this terrible ache he created. To ease me in a way I know only he can.
The more I struggle, the deeper his teeth cut into my skin. Pain sears my shoulder, and the sound of my scream filters into his big hand that's still clamped tight across the bottom of my face. He releases me from his teeth but not from his grasp.
"Good girl,” he grates into my ear. "Scream for me just like that."
I can feel him hard against my back as he hauls me toward the table in the middle of the room. My reprieve comes when I land against the wood flat on my belly. Before I can mutter a single word, he loops something into my mouth and ties it tight enough that it digs in at the corners. Oh my god. The chase in the woods felt absolutely insane, but this...it's something else entirely.
The need to draw blood and make him feel the same pain encompasses me. With my arms still free, I flail, reaching for him, and when my nails sink into his bare flesh, I sink them deeper before I drag them across his skin.
He lets out a hiss, the only sound of discomfort as he presses his body over mine, securing my hands under his, pinning me hard, his hips flush against mine.