Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
“You know this one?” he asked her.
“Yes,” she replied happily.
I watched. For a moment. As they began to dance, I realized I couldn’t do this. I might have sat through watching Calvin with other girls a million times, but it had never felt like this. I had enough pain in my life. I wasn’t adding to it. I didn’t want to care. I shouldn’t care. But I did, and there it was. I had feelings for Forge. Beyond a crush, I was afraid.
“I, uh … excuse me,” I said to Wayon, barely glancing at him before getting up and going straight to the door. Not chancing a look around.
I wanted inside, locked away in my room. Far away from this torture.
I could feel eyes on me the second I walked inside. Trying not to draw attention, I did my best fake smile and briefly made eye contact with a few as I continued through the room. Cressida wasn’t the only concerned face I met, but also Winslet’s. Hopefully, they would leave me alone for the evening. Explaining this to anyone wasn’t happening. I would deal with it and find a way to get over it. I had to.
Twenty-Seven
Forge
“Forge,” Lula Mae whined when I stopped dancing to watch where the fuck Elsie was going.
When she didn’t stop in the great room, I turned to Wayon.
“What did you do?” I asked him through clenched teeth.
He pointed at his chest. “Me? You think that was about me?” He laughed then, as if this was somehow funny. “That was about you,” he replied, pointing at me now, then wagging his finger at both Lula Mae and me. “Or rather, the two of you.”
“Did you say something to her?” I demanded.
He shook his head. “I didn’t get a chance. You started dancing with my sister, and she bolted out of here so fast that I had no time to charm her.”
Lula Mae was too close. Touching me and annoying the hell out of me. I was already strung tight. I didn’t need some clingy-ass female I had no interest in all over me.
I swung my gaze back to the glass doors to see she was gone. Fuck. Was he right? Had she left because of this?
“I need to go check on her,” I told Lula Mae as I stepped back.
“I just bet you do,” Wayon drawled.
“Don’t,” I warned him.
He chuckled again, and I was real damn close to punching his smug-ass face. Bastard. I hated him as much as Than did. He was a son of a bitch, and I would be glad when the entire Davidson clan was out of Mississippi.
“The song isn’t over,” Lula Mae said. “I love this one.”
I’d done my time.
“Locke will come dance with you,” I told her, knowing good and well that wasn’t likely. He’d entertain her but he wasn’t much of a dancer.
I didn’t wait for her to say more when I stalked to the door.
Oz’s eyes were on me the second I stepped inside. I ignored him and turned toward Locke. He had to go deal with the princess now. I was done.
“Lula Mae is asking for you to come dance with her,” I told him.
His brows drew together, and I shrugged as if I didn’t know why she’d chosen him over me. They could all believe what they wanted. I didn’t care. Looking back at Oz, I gave him a nod, then started toward the hallway where Elsie had gone. She’d either escaped to the kitchen or the bedroom. I was betting it was the former. But, hell, I could be wrong. Maybe she just went to the bathroom.
No. She had walked too fast as if she couldn’t get away fast enough. That wasn’t for a pee break. She wasn’t coming back out tonight.
Was it because of my dancing with Lula Mae? Or had that fucker said something that upset her? What was Oz thinking tonight anyway? All these damn people around here. She was grieving. Did he not think of that?
I paused at the kitchen door to see it was empty and continued on toward the stairs. I’d tried to get her away from this earlier, but she pulled away from me and defiantly went over to sit with Wayon. What had that shit been about? If she liked him, she wouldn’t have bolted.
The collar of my T-shirt suddenly felt too tight. I reached up to tug at it. The restlessness was back, but along with it was a different animal trying to break free. One as foreign to me as the other.
My strides were longer as I drew closer to her door. When I reached it, I lifted my fist to knock and stopped, then grabbed the handle and turned it. Not locked. A smirk curled my lips.
Not smart, Pickles. Good girls know to lock their doors when a bad boy is one room away.