Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23556 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 118(@200wpm)___ 94(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23556 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 118(@200wpm)___ 94(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
I kiss her then, and as the wind and snow swirl around us, not a single inch of me is cold. Not when I have Angie Paxton, soon-to-be Adler, in my arms.
A Thousand, Million, Trillion Times, Yes
Callie
I haven’t really seen or spoken to Benny since everything happened with my best friend, Cameron. I think they tried to date, but I get the feeling too much went down too quickly. Then Cameron went home for the summer, and communication stopped between them. In the gym, I’ve found myself asking her if she’s spoken to Benny, but she never really answers me. She just skirts around it and then goes to a different event from me. I know she knows she made the right choice for her, and even for Benny, but I think he scares her. I think she saw a future with him, and that wasn’t what she wanted.
Right guy, wrong time.
I hope that’s the case, because I do really like him.
“I thought you were going home?” Evan says, but Benny shakes his head.
“No, my mom is acting weird. I’d rather be here with you guys than them. Just a bunch of bullshit family stuff.”
“Well, we’re glad you’re here,” I say softly, patting his arm, and he nods.
Visibly uncomfortable, Benny asks, “Have you spoken to Cameron?”
I knew he was going to ask, and still, I have no clue what to say. “Yeah, this morning. She’s doing well.”
“That’s good. Real good.” He shoots me a forgiving smile. “Not trying to put you in the middle of our drama.”
“Nothing like the drama of Dimitri Titov coming back, huh, sis?” Owen says, leaning on the island as Shelli glares at him. I love Owen, I do, but man, he knows how to get under his siblings’ skin.
“You are not funny,” she seethes, and even Mrs. Adler shoots him a dark look. “Mom and I have decided to wait until we’re in the office to discuss this.”
Owen just grins, ear to ear. “Okay. I’m just saying there is drama because you hate him and he is going to play for you.”
“I don’t hate him,” Shelli says. Though, to me, it looks like she does.
“She does,” Evan says under his breath. “They have never gotten along.”
“Why?” I ask. “Isn’t he kinda related to you?”
“In the six degrees of the Assassins?” Evan asks, and I laugh. “Yes, but they have never been able to see eye to eye. He could say the sky was blue, and Shelli would argue with him.”
I grin back at her but promptly quit when I find her mad as hell. “Dimitri has no control over my emotions like that. I don’t argue with stupidity.”
“You argue with the twins all the time,” Posey says, popping a tomato into her mouth. The twins flip her the bird, and she laughs as she leans on the counter too. “He won’t last. He’s played too rough for too long. He won’t be able to clean up. Mom is doing this as a favor to a friend.”
“Dimitri is quick, though, has a good shot,” Owen says. “He always has.”
“I’m telling you, he won’t make the roster,” Posey says, and Boon bounces Zac beside her.
“You never know. People never thought I’d make roster, and I did.”
She looks up at her husband. “That’s because you’re amazing. Dimitri is not.”
Shelli points to her sister. “See? I’m not the only one who doesn’t like him.”
Evan snorts. “She doesn’t like him ’cause you don’t.”
Posey shakes her head. “No. He’s always been very ‘I’m better than you.’ A jackass.”
“Who, Dimitri?” Angie asks, coming to stand beside Owen. She’s holding Asher’s new baby. “Yeah, total jackass. He had a goal to sleep with all the Assassins daughters, and when I found out, I laid him out on the ice.”
Owen glances over at his fiancée and gives her a look. “Why didn’t I know this?”
“Because of that face right there. It was eons ago. I’m marrying you,” she says then hands the baby off to him. “Matter of fact, I’m about to go try on my dress. Callie, wanna join?”
I smile widely. I love that I have a relationship with Angie. At first, she was super reserved. But now, we’re basically besties. We text a lot, and we are always together when Evan and I are back in South Carolina. The goal is for us to move there when we graduate. I’ll work at my home gymnastics center, and if Nico hasn’t killed Evan yet, Evan will work in the center that Nico is opening.
Just the thought of my pseudo-father has me rolling my eyes. He has been so hateful the last couple weeks. I don’t get it. He says he likes Evan just fine, but any time I bring him up, he gets so testy. I know he hates that I’m growing up and that I’m living my own life. It must be because he wants to protect me. After everything that happened with my bio dad, then Aviva’s cancer stuff, and all my issues, I know he is only doing it out of love. But man, he can be very suffocating.