Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 116254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Not gonna happen.
The king was pissy and had a headache.
He resisted their efforts. “How long have I been out?”
“Hour and a half.” Shae grinned and pulled his arm harder.
“We were sweet like that,” Shawnie crooned, “and allowed you a nap.”
Ugh. He was fresh out of tricks but had zero intention of going anywhere with these two lionesses. By that look in their eyes, he could tell they were eager, set on sinking their claws in and voraciously eating him alive.
“Hey, hey! Your Majesty’s finally awake!” Charlie’s voice.
Oh, thank God. Saved by that junkyard dog on and off of the court.
Relieved, Breck turned as Charlie and Jegs ambled over.
Jegs beamed excitedly, a beer in one hand, a dripping bikini top clutched in the other. “Bro, did Reggie tell you? Grandmaster Kai was here.”
Breck blinked at his words, then stiffened and shot upright. “What?” He glanced around, yanking his arms free from the girls. “When? Where?”
“Like twenty minutes ago.”
Charlie nodded. “He was in the hallway. Had just come in.”
Breck swallowed, unable to comprehend what he was hearing. Kai had come here? During this party? While I was passed the fuck out? “Why was he here? What did he want?” Had he exposed their secret?
“Dunno.” Charlie shrugged.
Jegs grinned and held up the bikini top. “We got abducted.”
“He was lookin’ for somebody,” Reggie piped in, joining their powwow.
Shit.
“Who?” Breck heard himself croak.
Reggie hiked his beefy shoulders. “Said the guy he came for wasn’t here.”
Oh, thank fuck. Breck exhaled. Kai hadn’t spotted him.
“Was weird, though,” Reggie continued. “He’d been standing right there.” He pointed to the room’s entryway. “Lookin’ tense as hell while eyeing your wasted ass.”
Breck froze, his chest clenching. “He was… looking at me?”
“Yeah,” Reggie laughed. “While Shae was giving you that lap dance and Shawnie was suckin’ on your face.”
The girls flushed and averted their gazes.
Breck’s heart all but flatlined behind his fucking ribs.
Oh, no. Oh, God. Oh, fuck.
“Prolly recognized you from taekwondo,” Jegs offered.
Charlie grinned. “Or maybe he was just jealous of all the female attention.”
Breck was going to vomit. Could literally feel the color draining from his face.
Kai had seen him. Had been watching as Shae and Shawnie had done only God knows what. With Shawnie all up in his grill, Kai might not have even known that he was unconscious. Especially since he’d told Reggie the person he’d been looking for wasn’t there.
Meaning he’d concluded Breck wasn’t the man he’d been hoping he was.
Just another inebriated man-whore who couldn’t get his act together.
Breck lurched to his feet, heart racing, and eyed the door. He had to find him and convince him he wasn’t what he thought. That he hadn’t been messing around with those girls and hadn’t wanted to drink.
He’d just been using it as an escape. As a crutch.
Something he suddenly realized he’d been doing for a while.
Would Kai believe him, though? And if he did, would he even care? Breck had to believe that, somehow, he would. He’d stopped by, after all. Why else would he come? Clearly not to expose Breck. He hadn’t spilled the beans to a single one of his friends.
No, he’d wanted to see Breck. To talk. Maybe extend an olive branch?
While Breck had been trashed with two girls atop him, Kai had been making an effort.
A miserable groan shoved up his throat.
“Shit, G,” Jegs chuckled. “You’re lookin’ rough.” He gestured toward the bathroom. “The porcelain god awaits.”
Shae and Shawnie grimaced and shuffled off.
Thank you, Jegs.
Breck slid him a droll, halfhearted smirk, then headed for the exit.
“Wrong way,” Charlie called after him, laughing.
But Breck wasn’t headed for the bathroom.
His ass was gunning for the front fucking door.
I gotta make this right.
* * *
Sitting on the floor of his dark apartment, the only illumination that of moonlight through the window panes, Kai leaned against the wall in his living room, forearms propped on his knees.
A tired sigh left his lungs.
It was nearly one in the morning, and Breck was downstairs at his door.
Kai wouldn’t be answering it, though. No matter how many times that buzzer rang.
No matter how loud Breck called his name or vigorously knocked. So far, he’d been going at it for ten minutes straight.
Things went quiet.
Maybe he’d finally given up.
But then Kai’s phone lit up on the coffee table, indicating a text. Not the first, and probably not the last. For the last half hour, Breck had been blowing up his cell. Kai hadn’t answered those, either. Nor would he do so now. Wouldn’t open a single one. Had long-since silenced his phone.
Because what was the point? He had nothing to say.
Besides, Mr. Party King was undoubtedly wasted anyway…
A couple more texts and then his cell went dark.
Silence lingered. No more door buzzes. No more knocks.
Breck had left.
Kai settled his head back against the wall and closed his eyes.
There’d be no mere observing his brutal emotions tonight.