Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 150546 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 753(@200wpm)___ 602(@250wpm)___ 502(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 150546 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 753(@200wpm)___ 602(@250wpm)___ 502(@300wpm)
Silence for a moment, with nothing but the starving panting of our lies stripped bare between us.
We peel away from each other as I stumble backward, releasing her delicate body as she slips to the ground.
The sooner I get away from her the better, before I carry her into the room and tell everyone to get the fuck out. “I’m not nearly done with you, so hurry up in here.”
I exit the shower and tug my jeans back on, swiping the panties she was wearing all day and shoving them into my back pocket. I make my way back around the floating wall, ignoring the stares.
Heading straight for the bar, I swipe a bottle of bourbon and the packet of smokes beneath the dresser, before dropping my weight on top of her bed.
Stella and River are both glaring at me from the beanbags, but Priest and Vaden remain silent across the two sofas in the corner of the room.
I lift the bottle to my mouth, catching Priest’s eyes. Nothing. Nil. Void. Because he is who he is, and now… well, now, she’s mine. Even if she didn’t fucking say it. She didn’t have to.
Priest’s knee starts bouncing, and it’s probably the first bit of anything I’ve seen from him since that time…
The time we don’t speak about.
“What happened today?” I ask no one in particular, hoping the girls just spill.
I open the packet of cigarettes and bite one into my mouth as the shower cuts off and both Stella and River look over my shoulder to Halen.
“Hmmm?” I pipe. “Well, come on. Or we can wait until the ritual tomorrow where you’re obliged to after we’re all linked together as one. In front of five hundred members of the EKC.”
River sucks in a deep breath and my eyes sway to Halen as she saunters past us and buries herself in her closet. Annoyingly so, I drag my eyes back to my little sister.
“We decided to create a new race spot in Bayonet Falls as a way to get out from the suffocation of literally this—” River waves her hand around the room.
Stella touches River’s arm. “What she means is that we were sick of going far and wide just to be able to fuck.”
“Stella,” Vaden barks and she at least has the common sense to jump a little.
I pause my drag. “Continue.”
Stella rests her head back on the beanbag. “We would do what we do at Devil’s Cockpit, only the losers are my bitch.”
“Blah, sounds basic. Keep going…” I edge her, my left eye twitching. I said to Priest that I wouldn’t lose my shit over this whole they had another life outside of us thing, but this is testing me. We’d give Halen whatever space she needed, sure, but the vanilla shit can be eaten now.
River stares at Stella, as if waiting for her to continue. She sighs. “The winner who made it, had to race Halen at the end of the night. If they lost, they would give us two things.”
The room falls silent.
River’s eyes widen on Stella, a tickle of a smirk on her lips. “And if you made it through the actual race after losing to Halen,” she shrugs and picks at her nails, “you play Russian roulette.” She pauses again. “While live.” Her mouth twitches as she pins me with a stare. “Naked and in front of everyone.”
More silence.
Halen scoffs from where she’s leaning against the wall.
“What?” I snap at her, no longer bothered to hide my agitation.
Priest’s demon-like eyes fly up to his sister. “Care to enlighten us on why that’s so funny?”
“It’s not…” She shrugs. “That’s exactly as it is. Like River said…”
“Halen?” I don’t hide the cynical tone in my voice. “Now, the truth.”
“That was all a lie, but whoever lost would be with Stella and whatever she wanted to do with them. That’s all.”
“And what happened tonight?” I’ll try the trauma anyway, because we all know vanilla isn’t my thing.
Her face pales. “Oh. I was breaking in the track when my opponent pulled up beside me. Honda Civic—”
I scoff.
She glares at me. “—with a not-Honda engine. Anyway. He looked familiar. I knew him, but it wasn’t him.”
“The man from when you were younger?”
She nods. “Yeah.” When her voice cracks, she clears her throat. “He said he was his son. We raced, I panicked, and I shot him. His car flipped and landed near the Ferris wheel.” She glances at the girls. “That’s all we know.”
“Who is this man, Halen?” I lean forward, wrath clawing its way up my spine. “What did the video that he gave you show?”
She smiles but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “The man who gave me the video? I don’t know. I’ve never seen him again since.”
Priest turns over his shoulder. “Where’s the video?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t have it. I destroyed it straight away.”