Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 167671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 838(@200wpm)___ 671(@250wpm)___ 559(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 838(@200wpm)___ 671(@250wpm)___ 559(@300wpm)
Max is still busy checking out the hearing aid, completely ignoring what’s going on at the table.
“With bullshit that doesn’t work,” Silas quips. “Besides, she’s not interested. She made that much clear last year. Or did your sad-boy heart not want to believe it?”
My eye twitches.
He fucking dares to bring that up?
“Bro, I’m this”—I pinch my fingers together—“close to shoving this apple down your throat.”
“Try me.” Silas folds his arms and leans back. “See how it works out for you.”
“Hey, what’s this barcode?” Max suddenly asks.
We both grow quiet and stare at him like he’s just unlocked the secret to the universe.
“Give me that.” Silas snatches it out of his hand and looks at the exact spot Max was inspecting. “What am I looking at?”
“There are three different sequences of numbers on the bottom of the battery lid, in the tab.”
Silas narrows his eyes and looks at the hearing aid up close. “Well, fuck me.” A big grin spreads on his lips as he tosses it at me so I can see it too. “Guess we’ll find this little thief in no time.”
Ivy
I park my shoddy bike in the shed and run across the pavement, checking my watch every second because I know I’m late for my classes. The neighbor took her sweet-ass time before she was finally at my door ready to watch over Cora for me. I really need to find a more reliable babysitter.
Picking up the pace, I skid across the pebble path that surrounds the fountain in front of Spine Ridge University and nearly bump into people. “Sorry!” I add a smile so they’re not too mad at me, and I bolt off.
I should really be more careful. Missing one hearing aid messes with my ability to navigate because I’m working with mono instead of stereo sound.
Fuck. When these classes are over, I’m going to look for it.
After I’ve made sure there’s no one at that damn Skull and Serpent Society house on the lookout, of course.
“Hey, Ivy!” River Landon swoops his wavy brown hair aside to show off his handsome smile. He’s leaning against a giant pillar near the big main entrance to the university next to his brother, Talon, who doesn’t even spare me a glance.
“Sorry, no time. I gotta run. I’m late for class!” I say as I pass them and head inside through the massive doors.
“Wanna hang out later?” River yells.
I turn around momentarily with my right ear pointed at him to yell back, “Hit me up in my DMs!”
He smiles and nods, and I turn around again. But the second I do, I bump into someone face-first, my lips making contact with a very defined chest hidden underneath a white shirt with an ominous skull on it.
My body instinctively leans away as my eyes slowly move up his chest and meet the flickering, hollowed bright-green eyes and that distinctive grin on that diamond-shaped face, making him look like he works in a haunted mansion at the carnival.
Oh God.
Silas Rivera.
I step back, shocked by the fact that I ran into him out of all people.
Get yourself together, Ivy. He doesn’t scare you. He’s just a bully. A short one too.
“What do we have here?” he growls, narrowing his eyes. “Another stumbling, bumbling, lovestruck girl?”
My eye begins to twitch. “Over my dead fucking body.”
The smile instantly dissipates from his face. “You wanna die that badly?” He briefly inspects me, and the way his lip contemptuously curls like he’s judging me makes me wanna puke. “I’ll bend you over and snap you in half with ease, twig.”
I get up in his face and hiss, “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size, shortie?”
His eyes almost bulge out of his skull at this point.
Good.
He deserves nothing less for calling me a twig and threatening to kill me over bumping into him.
He buries his hand in his pocket, and I steel myself, but then someone walks up behind him and places a hand on his shoulder, stopping Silas from making a move.
“Silas. Don’t you need to go to class?”
It’s the dean. It’s the actual fucking dean.
Felix Rivera.
I take a step back and look up into those same soul-crushing hollowed-out eyes that mirror Silas’s, and my God, the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree … except for the height difference. And the hair.
“Ivy Clark?” the dean says with a stoic face—like he’s asking me if that’s my name even though he apparently already knows.
Silas’s nostrils flare at the sound of my name.
Fuck. I really did not want that out there for him to know.
He jerks free of his father’s grip and marches off without another word. “See you later, twig.”
The dean waits until he’s out of view before he continues, “Better stay away from trouble like him if you wanna finish your studies at this university.”