Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 82949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
My mouth slams closed. “Wait! You knew one was Dion?”
She rolls her eyes again, falling onto the chair tucked beneath my table. “I saw on my For You Page that he was back in Hades Hollow.” She raises her brows at me. “You do know that it has always been painfully obvious how you both cannot seem to stay away from one another. That’s why you both pretend you hate each other. To distract from the fact that you don’t.”
“I hate you.”
Her lips pucker as she blows me a kiss. “I know.”
“Are you mad?” I make my way to her, leaning against the desk in Cooper’s room while handing her the bottle of Grey Goose. “Big mad?”
She glares up at me, swiping the bottle. “No. I’m not mad. I’m disappointed.”
“Ugh!” I push off the table and head to the sound dock, turning the music up. “That’s even worse.” The alcohol has long since made its rounds inside my body, and as each second passes, I feel myself fall deeper and deeper into the slumber of poison.
“I just hope you know what you’re doing, Cookie!” Blaire calls out. “Now, who are the other two?”
She’s turning in her chair; all talks of Dion gone and a smile back on her face.
“Sparrow Dixon and Malyk Carrera.”
Her smile falls again, but only for a second. She quickly recollects herself, but it’s too late. I’ve already seen it.
“What the hell was that?”
“Nothing!” Blaire shakes her head, turning her back to me and swiping the eyeliner from beneath her eyes. “I’m serious! I’m fine, I promise. I just remembered something Ruin said.”
The reminder is like a slap in the face. I’d never had an issue with Ruin touching me—among other things—but since I’d slept with them, now even the thought of him breathing near me tests my gag reflex. This isn’t good. I need to break things off with him ASAP.
The bedroom door swings open, and with a flurry of pastel copper hair, Raidne walks in like a fiery tornado gearing up to rip everything apart. “Hello, my bitches!”
I pull her into a hug, squeezing her tightly and breathing through a deep sigh when my muscles relax. A sense of calm washes over me for the first time in a long while, and having them all here has everything to do with that.
“I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too, baby girl!” She pulls me back by my arms, her bright lilac eyes searching over my body. “Someone is fucking you real good. I can smell him all over you—” She pauses, eyes narrowing up to the ceiling. “Them…I can smell, wait, why is it them?”
I hide my chuckle, turning around to pick up my shoes and catching the tail end of the look she gives Blaire. “They’re just…friends right now.”
“Aha.” Raidne picks up my other Doc, untying the lace and handing it to me.
We’re dressed similarly. Short mini skirt, thigh-high stockings, and a tee. I plan to wear a coat out tonight, though, so the majority of my outfit will be hidden. “And so who are they?”
“You’ll meet them tonight.” I shove my phone into my pocket as Blaire finally stands from her chair, handing the bottle to Raidne before tightening her high pony.
“Can’t wait…and where are you staying right now?” Raidne asks, plucking the old photos hanging on Cooper’s wall. She smiles at all of them but one.
“With Dion at Whisper Manor.”
Her hand stops over a photo of us that was taken during freshman year. Blaire’s mom and mine wanted a photo of us three outside the school. Cliché, but now I’m glad I allowed it since we’ve all lost our mothers.
“Right! And how is that going?” She turns to face me, tilting her head to study me closely. “I mean, staying at the house, not the dealing with your archnemesis.”
“Ah…” I finish up my last boot and look up at her from below. “Not bad. I mean, I don’t sleep much anymore anyway, so I’m always up before the sun and out on the water.”
Her eye twitches, and Blaire jumps in front of her, reaching for my hand. “Let’s get you to your party.”
I smile widely at her. “Please.”
We rush down the stairs of Cooper’s house, waving to his mom before waiting for an Uber outside. Cooper’s mom is usually too high to know who goes in and out.
“We could walk,” I say, squeezing my jacket around myself. “It’s not that far.”
“In these heels?” Blaire gestures to her boots. “I don’t think so. It’s fine. This will be him!”
Headlights flash down the road before a deep growl of an engine comes rumbling up beside us. A black muscle car pulls up on the curb just as the driver’s window rolls down and Malyk’s smirk flashes between all three of us.
“Well, shit, girls. I mean, all this for me?”