Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 102708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
He laughed, nodding to Isla. “Hello, Red.”
“Hi, Brian,” she greeted. “How are you?”
“Not as good as you, apparently.”
“Brian,” I snapped. “Shut the fuck up.” Inhaling a deep drag off the blunt, I held it in for a minute. Through a cloud of smoke, I exhaled, offering Isla, “Want some? First time is always the best. Besides…” I tried to convince her. “It’s legal now.”
She giggled. “We’re not twenty-one.”
“Technicality.”
“Okay.” She chuckled. “But I don’t know how to—”
I didn’t give it a second thought before I tugged her toward me.
CHAPTER
FORTY-NINE
KRAVEN
Lifting the blunt back to my mouth, I left it there and sucked in deeply. Her gaze didn’t waver from mine as I leaned in close to her pouty pink lips, catching her a little off guard. I caged her in with my hands on the wall behind her.
Her stare widened, but she didn’t push me away. I puckered my lips around the blunt and slowly blew smoke into her mouth. Shotgunning her a hit instead of her doing it herself. She mirrored my direction, gently sucking in the smoke.
When she’d had enough, I grabbed the blunt out of my mouth and ordered, “Hold it in for a minute.”
She did as she was told.
“Now breathe it out for me.”
Being surrounded by smoke coming out of our mouths and into each other’s was an experience I’d never gone through. This was as new to me as it was to her.
I didn’t do this with girls. I never cared enough to.
However, with Isla, in the smoke, we could pretend as if the world wasn’t there for a moment.
No problems.
No bullshit.
No drama.
We were free from the demons for a second, living in a space between something sinful and holy.
Where Julius was on one end and I was on the other.
A couple of hours later, Isla had the giggles, which meant she was high as shit, and I couldn’t stop laughing. It was contagious. We were lying on my jacket, out in the field, where we could still hear the music but had some privacy.
“No, I’m serious!” she shouted, looking up at the stars. “Why is it called a shooting star if it’s not a star?”
I snatched the joint out of her hand. “I think you’ve had enough of this.” I sat up, leaning against the tree.
She followed suit, crawling over to me. “Hey!” She giggled. “You don’t tell me what to do!”
“Kitty, you’re cut off now.” I cackled as she lay her head on my thigh, gazing up at me through glossy red eyes.
“I think you should drink some of this.” She eagerly nodded when I handed her a bottle of water.
“Yes, sir.”
My dick twitched at her response.
Bringing the bottle up to her mouth, she leaned over on her elbow and drank the whole thing down.
I was pretty messed up too, but my breathing picked up when she suddenly sat up, closing the gap between us. Using the back of my fingers, I swept the hair away from her face as I took a sip of my drink.
Her intoxicating scent surrounded me, holding my attention. Though it was my curiosity about where she was going with this that led me to surrender to her.
ISLA
I had to give him props for having the ability to get me to just let go. It was like this gift he had for me.
It was fun.
Easy.
Careless, but in the best way.
It was this high that struck when we were together, a euphoria we kept chasing despite the possibility of addiction. It felt good to laugh, to smile, to feel numbness in place of the pain. I knew it wouldn’t last, but for the time being, it was the distraction I craved.
The escape I sought was there under the full moon, dancing off the warehouse. I watched the wind blow through the trees, letting my mind wander to a time when things weren’t so complicated. Except that my life had always been challenging in one way or another.
The overwhelming emotions were too heavy to endure, and I knew he could see right through me.
In ways Julius couldn’t.
It merely added to the internal battle that surfaced in the forefront of my mind. It was a whirlwind of thoughts racing profusely.
From my mind.
To my heart.
To every bone in my body.
I didn’t move, cemented in place.
There was no hiding from it…
I wasn’t that girl. The one torn between two brothers. It wasn’t fair, but when was life ever fair to me?
If anything, this seemed right on par.
Fisting my hands, I fought with the words that already tasted like battery acid on my tongue, and I hadn’t even said them yet.
Leaning into his embrace, I shut my eyes. His hand was warm on my cheek and soft on my skin.
“If Julius doesn’t come home,” I said out loud, “where does that leave us?”
“Right now, it leaves us back home.”