Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 156392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 782(@200wpm)___ 626(@250wpm)___ 521(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 782(@200wpm)___ 626(@250wpm)___ 521(@300wpm)
He’s too warm for a cold bastard.
“Go home, Ava.”
“Since when do you get to tell me what to do?”
“Since you’re clearly unable to think. Don’t take anyone home. Don’t drive. Take a black cab and leave.”
“Aw, you’re not going to offer to drive me yourself?”
He raises a perfect brow. “Would you take said offer?”
“No.”
“So what’s the point of making it?”
“Indulging me, perhaps?”
“You’re far too indulged by others. I don’t plan on making the list.”
“You won’t make any list, for that matter.”
“Debatable.” He steps closer, his body heat enveloping me like a dark, threatening cloud as his rough voice deepens. “Now, leave.”
“The answer is no.”
“Out of spite?”
“You’re not my keeper.”
“Let’s go with that if it makes you sleep better at night.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Go home,” he says again and then turns to leave. When he reaches the door, he throws me a dark look over his shoulder. “Alone.”
I resist the urge to flip him the middle finger as I stand there fuming, my body warm and my heart thumping so loudly, I’m surprised it doesn’t spill on the ugly carpet in the room.
My state is so extremely disoriented that I have to take some time to pull myself together again.
Ten minutes later, I find my way back to the dance floor. Screw Eli and his orders that definitely won’t be met.
I let myself be absorbed by a swirling vortex of ecstasy, a concoction of substances, and emotions that transport me to a realm of hedonistic bliss. Amidst the lost souls and hollow shells, I find solace and acceptance, a sense of belonging that makes everything else fade into the background.
So I drink another shot, dance until I nearly drop, then I agree to join Ollie and some others at an after-party.
Fuck Eli.
Fuck the cello.
Fuck my fucking head.
By the time we spill outside, it’s somewhere after one in the morning.
I shouldn’t be driving, but our friend Raj’s house is, like, ten minutes away, and the roads are empty at this time, so I should be fine.
Besides, I hold my liquor pretty well, so I’m not even that drunk. Just drunk enough to see the world through pink goggles, like my favorite color.
I stumble into my car and tell the others to go ahead. Ollie offers to drive me, but I decline with a smile.
Before I pull out of the parking lot, I text Cecily that I’m home, like a world-class liar. But it’s because she won’t be able to sleep if she knows I’m still out.
What Cecy and my parents don’t know is that I refuse the notion of spending any unnecessary time alone.
Jesus. I can’t believe I’m graduating in a couple of weeks. What am I going to do without the buffer uni’s offered me?
Make other cliques of friends outside? Join a thousand and one clubs?
I desperately need to stay out of my parents' orbit before they figure out everything.
With a sigh, I shove all those thoughts back to the back of my mental closet as I refresh my makeup.
My phone vibrates and I freeze when I see it’s a text from Eli.
Tin Man
Are you going home?
Me
New phone. Who’s this?
Your location better be on the way home.
Guess where I am for a hundred quid.
I snap a selfie while doing a kissy face and send it over, then silence my phone, and pull out of the car park. I nearly drive into a wall, but my car’s camera saves me in time.
Oops.
I follow the GPS and voice command the car to play music. Bach’s Cello Suite No. 2 in D minor fills the car and I release an annoyed noise as I punch the radio button and listen to some pop music instead.
Classical music and I are officially divorcing.
That’s what I said after my last failed attempt at winning yet another competition last year. Or more like, participating.
And yet I went back this year. Only to make a bigger fool of myself.
What did you see? Or not see?
Eli’s words from earlier send a shiver down my spine.
He couldn’t have known, right?
No one does—
I stare at my rearview mirror when I notice a car without headlights following me.
How long has that been there?
I look ahead but the road is clear.
Shit.
Okay.
I shake my head to come back into focus and speed up, just a tiny bit over the speed limit.
The car matches my speed and my heart starts to gallop in a scary rhythm. I voice command my phone to call the police.
You can never be too careful in these situations. Even if I’m overthinking it.
I come to a junction and hit the brakes when a car flashes past. Jesus. A BMW. No surprises there.
The suspicious car comes to a halt behind me as someone picks up.
“The Metropolitan Police Emergency Department, how might I help?”
“There’s a weird car without headlights following me,” I say as I hit the accelerator again, pushing the car forward with sudden speed. My body flings backward as the tires screech.