Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 107687 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107687 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
“Progress?”
“Progress into respectable roommates.” When the sentence leaves her lips, she meets my gaze. “’Cause that’s all we’ll ever be.”
“Who said anything about being more?”
She grins, nodding. “Well played, Russian Stallion.”
I fight my grin, looking at the screen. “I thought so, Superior Janie.”
She huffs beside me, and I don’t care.
Because Superior Janie is a liar, liar, pants on fire, and if she needs help removing those pants, I volunteer my services.
thirteen
Austen
I feel his stare on me, but I ignore Dimitri with everything inside me.
His quick grins, the dimples, and those eyes are dangerous. I know men like him, with the quips and the teasing and the endless flirting. You think they’re good men, until they’re forcing themselves down your throat and smacking you if you don’t get them off quickly enough. I know charming men; I was around them all my life. That’s how we kept getting members—the charm, the promises of all good things. They do nothing but hurt you in the end. The kind of guy that takes advantage of you and uses you for his needs. With what Shelli confided in me, I know my suspicions about Dimitri must be true.
Even if I wish they weren’t.
Because honestly, I enjoy him.
It’s hard not to.
As I cuddle into the pillow on the edge of the couch, his game starts. And soon, I don’t feel his gaze on me. Within seconds, he’s loud as all hell.
“Bro! You’re trash! Move! Oh my God, you are trash!”
I roll my eyes. I am used to spending all my time with girls. While my sisters are loud and obnoxious, nothing compares to Dimitri and his friends. I’m not used to it. I never had to be around the men unless we were in the Halo or being courted at church. I use the term church loosely.
Even after being out of the cult for so long, I’ve still never found myself doing much other than healing at home. I don’t go out; I don’t get on social media like my sisters have. I don’t go crazy like they do. I keep to myself, and I read books. I’ve healed my body—and my mind.
The reason why I am hesitant to go to therapy at the Assassins’ compound is because I’ve been going for years. I don’t want to have to reexperience everything or for what happened to me to get out. I just want to be and feel normal. This is the first time I’ve been on my own, which I think is the reason I didn’t want to live at home while I worked for the Assassins. I wanted to believe I could do it, and I know I can.
I also think that’s why Dimitri has caught my eye. Not only is he fun to look at, but he’s also funny, and I love his quick banter. He makes me feel good, even when I’m being sarcastic and rude to him. I enjoy going back and forth. But is that a true feeling? Or have I never had interactions—well, positive interactions—with men, and I’m just getting absorbed in the way I feel?
I don’t know, but he makes it really hard to ignore him.
“You suck!” he yells, throwing off his headset and putting down the controller beside it.
“Gosh, you’re loud.”
He flashes me a look, almost serious, but I think he’s more annoyed with his friends than me. “I am in an intense battle with all the guys. I got sniped ’cause no one had my back.”
“It’s truly unfortunate that you died in your make-believe game.”
He scoffs. “Says the person reading fiction.”
I look up over my book. “How do you know it’s fiction?”
He eyes me. “Janie, I can tell by the cover that’s not a work of facts.”
I shrug. “So?”
“So, maybe we both like our make-believe stuff.”
“Maybe,” I agree, and then I look back at the words that I’m not reading.
“What is your book about?”
My face fills with color. “None of your business.”
“Fine. I’ll Google it,” he says, but before I can even cover the name of the book on the spine, he’s up and moving to the kitchen with his phone. “Dragons, vampires, wolves, and fairies. Oh my.”
I groan as my face heats.
“Oh, so smutty vampire play. That’s hot. Let me borrow it when you’re done.”
“It is not—”
“It says you can discover a new kink. I like reading kink.”
“As if you can even read,” I throw at him, not even touching the kink part. I’m not sure if I know what kink means, which has me picking up my phone to Google it myself.
He smirks back at me. “I can, very well. Did you read Twilight? I’m Team Jacob all day, baby. I wish I could shift into a wolf.”
I just blink at him, and now he’s grinning.
“Do you want a snack?”
His subject change throws me for a loop. “I’m fine.”