Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 163089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 815(@200wpm)___ 652(@250wpm)___ 544(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 815(@200wpm)___ 652(@250wpm)___ 544(@300wpm)
Like hell I will.
I’m about to snap her neck right in front of his eyes when a bike stops beside us.
Callahan.
He kills the engine and hops off, removing his helmet.
He flashes a heated look at Vee, then wraps a possessive arm around her waist, his attention on me. “What’s going on here?”
So Jude’s her man after all.
Still don’t like that Preston was so close to her.
But I smirk. “Just a friendly drop-by.”
“Nothing about your presence is friendly, Osborn,” Jude says.
“True.” I tap my lip. “Is Vee your girl, Callahan?”
“Her name is Violet, and yes, she is. You have a problem with that?” Jude stands taller, as if he’ll decapitate me if I take just one step toward her.
“No problem whatsoever.” I point a thumb at Preston. “Armstrong might, though, considering he was flirting with her. Keep a better eye on her, yeah? Wouldn’t want her to end up in a freak accident.”
Jude takes a step forward, his expression hardening, but Preston wraps an arm around my throat from behind, confiscating my air.
“Never mind us, big man,” he growls the words. “I’mma beat the crap out of this creep real quick.”
“Question. What’s with all the choking?” I strain the words, tapping his arm. “Is it a form of paraphilia up for exploring?”
“Just call someone to throw him out of town,” Jude says to Preston. “And don’t kill him.”
“But why not?” Preston glares down at me, his eyes so alive and green even under the dim lighting. “He’s obviously itching to meet his maker.”
“If you’re my grim reaper, why not? Yum.”
“Fucking creep.” Preston pushes me away. “Your face doesn’t even give me the urge to kill. What a turn-off.”
Jude narrows his eyes at me, then drags them to Preston. “Call someone. Don’t do anything alone.”
Then Jude pulls Vee to his bike and drives away with her glued to his back.
I wave at them with one finger at a time.
“What the fuck was that all about?” Preston grunts, surveying our surroundings before squaring up to me.
“Me telling Callahan to watch his girl if he doesn’t want her to…” I speak close to his face. “Poof. Disappear.”
“Have you lost your fucking mind?”
“You have, apparently.” I grab a fistful of his hair. “You think you can replace me, Preston?”
“Let me go,” he speaks low, looking around again as the engine of a car revs in the distance.
“Why? Because everyone will see you with me? Jude seemed to suspect something was off, don’t you think? He’ll ask you what this was all about, and you’ll lie through your teeth and say nothing.” I brush my lips against his, and a tremor goes through him. “But we’re not nothing.”
“Stop it.”
“Afraid one of your teammates will see you kissing your archrival? How about I bend you over right here and fuck you, Preston? I’ll make you scream like a common whore while you ride my cock.”
He lifts his fist to punch me but stops, a painful look passing through his eyes as he drops his arm. “Am I your bitch? Is that what this is?”
“Seems like I’m your bitch, considering you’re the one who keeps running away.”
“That’s not…” He trails off, his lips trembling before he purses them in a line.
“That’s not what?”
“Not what I meant.”
“It’s still what you do, Preston.” I release him with a shove. “And if that’s what you’ll continue to do, it doesn’t matter that I’m infatuated with you. I will match your energy. I’m holding back my toxicity, but I can only do that for so long before it feels like you’re using me.”
He runs a frantic hand through his hair, his eyes looking molten, glassy almost. “I’m not using you, Marcus. I promise.”
“Prove it.”
“Prove it…how?”
“Come with me.”
“Now?” He pauses, then juts his chin in the direction of the club’s entrance. “The guys are waiting for me.”
“Fuck them.”
“But Kane…”
“Just say no and stop making excuses.”
I turn around and head to my bike. As I hop on, I feel a heavy body settle behind me, and a strange sort of feeling grips me when he wraps his arms around my waist.
Tightly.
Until it hurts.
Because this is how Preston hugs.
“Where are we going?” he asks in a low voice, and I know, I just know this man will be the death of me.
28
PRESTON
It’s warm.
The house.
The room.
The hand that’s wrapped snugly around mine.
And…the man himself who’s clutching me tight, pulling me closer.
My gaze keeps flitting to his big hand that’s cradling mine, fascinated with the sight of the protruding veins and the defined fingers.
I’m holding hands with a man.
And it feels intoxicating.
I’ve been hard since I grabbed onto him with all my might on the back of his bike.
And no, I’m not going to overthink that. Or what’s going on in my starved body right now.
We’re just not going to think about this, brain, got it?
Doesn’t mean I’ll stop feeling like I’m being ripped out of my own skin, though. Doesn’t mean I’ll stop hearing my heart thumping loudly, almost spilling out of my chest.