Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Really fucking brave considering I was two times his size and I’d snap him like a twig.
Every instinct in my body screamed to make a claim.
The idea of someone else’s hands on her made me feel like I was the one who might snap.
But Hailey and I had already established a boundary.
Made a pact.
And I really needed to get away from her if I was going to maintain it.
So, I sent her a half encouraging half regretful smile as I released her and stepped back.
A piece of myself felt like it was getting hacked off when I did.
I guessed that was always what caring about someone had been about.
Sacrificing.
Putting their needs before your own.
It wasn’t always intuition for me, only showing its face for those who were closest to me, but I think I got it right then.
The truth that this girl could come to mean something if I let her.
She had then, hadn’t she? But I’d tucked the memories of her right into my album of mishaps. My corruption and delinquency. Did my best to forget her when she had touched my spirit in a way no one ever had before and no one had since.
Funny when our interactions had been…innocent.
All except for that energy that had thrummed between us. A connection that had forever strained taut even though I’d believed I’d snipped it.
I started to turn on my heel to give her some peace, only Hailey reached out and wrapped one of those sweet hands around my wrist to draw me back.
Fire raked like claws down my back.
“Wait,” she said, her voice barely breaking above the music that blared from the speakers.
Dickface stepped in front of me, anyway, trying to block me out. It wasn’t until then that I noticed he was sloppy drunk, the way he pushed in and wrapped an arm around her waist and started to rock her back and forth, attempting to guide her deeper into the crowd.
“I don’t feel like dancing.”
The prick turned her so she lost hold of my wrist.
“Sure you do, baby,” I heard him say.
Regret clapped me across the face. I never should have stepped away from her.
In a heartbeat, I was right behind him. My hand clamped down on his shoulder because he wasn’t going to get away with this bullshit.
I leaned in real close to make sure he got the message. “The lady said she doesn’t want to dance. Respect that, yeah?”
“Screw off, asshole,” he slurred through a laugh like he wasn’t about to get torn to shreds, turning back to Hailey whose expression had tinted with disgust.
Motherfucker.
Rage billowed, and I gritted, “I’d suggest you step away from her before you don’t have the capacity to do so.”
I’d hoped to keep my voice even.
Instead, the words whipped out like bullets. Cracks of fucking lightning that reverberated through the bar and would send a wise man running.
This bastard?
He wasn’t wise in the least.
Because he turned and threw a fist.
It came at me from out of nowhere, catching me so off guard that he clocked me in the mouth.
That wasn’t what bothered me, though. That tiny sting that was brought on by a split lip.
The problem I had? He’d caught Hailey in the jaw with his elbow when he’d done it.
A swill of shock and pain rushed the river of those eyes, and her hands shot up to protect her face, but there was no protection for this little prick.
Because I fucking snapped.
FOURTEEN
HAILEY
A blur broke out in front of me.
One second my eyes were wide with the surprise of getting hit in the jaw, and the next, the guy was on the floor and Cody was on top of him.
Cody cocked back an arm and pulled the guy up by the neck of his shirt with the other.
“You hurt her, motherfucker? You’re going to pay for that.” Cody didn’t wait for an answer before that fist flew. It smashed into the guy’s nose.
Blood burst at the connection.
A shriek ripped out of me, and I felt frozen to the spot as Cody started to pound the guy’s face.
A storm of fury whipping the chaotic atmosphere into disorder as Cody threw his fist again and again.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Screams broke out and the couples split apart, a scattering of feet and bodies across the dance floor to get away from the mayhem while a whole slew of new people rushed forward, making a circle around the mess Cody had just thrown himself into.
The music clanked off, and his shouts ricocheted through the cavernous room.
“You piece of shit. You hit her. I’ll end you for that.”
He hit him again.
Finally, the sense came back to me, and I surged forward and pleaded his name, “Cody!”
I thought to jump on his back to stop him from being the stupid one, only Ryder came busting through the crowd, a dark cloud that descended in a flash. He wrapped both arms around Cody’s waist and hauled him back onto his feet.