Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 131330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Austin leans around Aspen to shamelessly flirt with Becs, and I roll my eyes. It’s almost fucking comical how desperately he wants to hook up with her best friend. Does he see how hypocritical it makes him? I know Aspen has more than pointed it out, but I’m almost positive Austin doesn’t see it the way she does, and sure, maybe it is different. Aspen met Becs once they started college together, so when Austin first met her, she was already an adult. As for me and Aspen, she was just a child when she first looked at me as anything more than a friend, so I can understand Austin’s reluctance about it. Hell, I fucking hated it back then. Sure, it was cute and I thought it would just fade away with time, but when I realized it was a permanent fixture, it shook me, and the way I interacted with her instantly changed.
How the fucking tables have turned. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to be inside of her now. To fuck that smart mouth and spread those pretty thighs.
Fuck. I need to get a grip.
As Becs and Austin shamelessly flirt, Aspen groans and climbs over her friend, trying to get out of their little bubble before it turns into the most awkward threesome that ever existed. Only as she climbs over Becs and grips the table to pull her across, I catch sight of a gold shimmer across her wrist and blanch.
What the fuck is that gold moth doing on her wrist? Has she been at Vixen without me? Fuck. Casey and I are going to have to have words. She knows better than to allow Aspen through the door without letting me know about it first.
My heart pounds, a million different scenarios playing out in my head. Was she with someone else in there?
As she settles in on Becs’ other side and happily sips her drink, I can’t fucking take it any longer. I step in closer behind the booth and lower myself toward her, my face concealed from Austin by the back of Becs’ head.
My hand instantly shoots over the top of the booth, clutching her wrist below the cover of the table. “What the fuck is this?” I murmur in her ear, watching the way goosebumps dance across her clammy skin, sweaty from hours of dancing with her best friend.
“Relax. Becs and I just went for a drink and to check out the . . . scenery,” she replies, keeping her tone low and private. “I wasn’t with anyone if that’s what you’re asking.”
I narrow my gaze, wishing I could see her face properly from here, but I have no reason to doubt her. “What’s it to me if you were with anyone else?” I question, playing it off, but we both fucking know what I’m refusing to say out loud.
Aspen scoffs, trying to pull her wrist out of my grasp, but there’s no way in hell I’m about to let her spend the next few hours wandering around my club with that stamp on her wrist and her brother barely a step away. As far as he knows, Aspen was banned from Vixen, and I don’t intend to ruin his night by letting him know that I haven’t exactly stuck to my word.
My thumb swipes at her wrist, smudging the gold stamp, and even long after it’s gone, my thumb continues moving across her skin. “Did you see anything that caught your eye?” I ask, referring to her quick visit to Vixen.
“A few things,” she murmurs, tilting her head toward me, her tone deepening with a hunger I’m now all too familiar with. “I wouldn’t mind . . . stepping out of the dark room.”
My brow arches, my thumb pausing on her wrist in surprise. “You wanna put on a show?”
“Maybe.”
“If that’s what you want, my sweet Birdy, then who am I to hold you back?”
Aspen groans, having to bite her bottom lip as her hand curls up to grip my arm, her nails digging into my flesh. “What did I tell you about calling me that outside the club?”
My head tilts closer to her, my mouth right by her ear, and to anyone looking, it would appear innocent, just two people trying to have a conversation over the sound of the music. “Try and fucking stop me,” I say right into her ear, watching the way her pulse at the base of her throat picks up.
Fuck, I’d do anything to close my mouth over that right now.
Becs laughs, breaking me out of the spell Aspen holds over me, and I hastily pull away just as Becs grips Aspen’s hand and gives her a shove toward the edge of the booth. “Come on, we’re going dancing,” Becs tells her. “I want to shake my ass for your brother.”