Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 80045 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80045 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
“I can't believe you can't take a hint,” I say. “If you ever had any respect for me, you would leave me alone—”
“Respect for you?” he cuts me off, his voice rising enough that I take another step back. “How can I have respect for you when you have none for yourself? You drop me and all of our future dreams to ride some man-whore hockey player? Give up a career so you can be a skate coach? Why? Did you think it'd be easier to get all of their numbers? Are you fucking all of them or just one—”
“Lower your voice,” Lawson’s words are low, but lethal. He comes around Brian, stepping in front of me.
“We were talking,” Brian snaps. “You can fucking leave.”
I glance around anxiously at the other people who are going to and from the ballroom. We haven’t made a scene yet, but we're riding that line. The last thing I want is for some reporter to catch the heated conversation between us and Lawson ends up getting a bad headline because of it. We haven’t even started the season yet, and the last thing we need is bad press for any of the Badgers.
“And I told you to lower your voice,” Lawson says with incredible calm. His hands are not fisted at his sides, but Brian's are. The juxtaposition of the two—calm versus rageful—is spinning my head.
I reach for Lawson’s hand, gently tugging him back to be at my side. To my utter surprise, he comes without hesitation, immediately wrapping an arm around me, but his eyes are on Brian's, daring him to say another word.
“Like I was saying,” I say. “You have to leave me alone. There is nothing left between us.”
“Bullshit,” he says. “There's four years of history between us. And I know when you come to your senses, you're going to realize that.”
“You really shouldn't insult my girlfriend in front of me,” Lawson says, and the claiming declaration makes every independent instinct in my body evaporate. I go all warm and melty at the sensation, and I can’t even chide myself for it.
“Bullshit, she's your girlfriend,” Brian says.
“I know it's hard to believe,” Lawson says without missing a beat. “Someone as gorgeous and smart and funny and brilliant and fucking talented as this one?” He nods down to me. “There's no way in hell she'd ever pick a prick like me, right? I know I don't deserve her, but she chose me, and I'm just selfish enough to let her keep choosing me.” Lawson looks down at me, every inch of confidence laced on the chiseled features of his face. “And I'm just cocky enough to thank her for that every single day.”
My lips part, my eyes only for him, and I have no idea what to say. I know he's playing the role I asked him to play, but he's doing it so damn well.
“You want to get out of here?” Lawson asks me, completely ignoring the practically snorting Brian next to us.
“More than anything,” I admit.
Lawson interlaces our fingers. “Let me take you home.”
He gently tugs me out of Brian’s path, leaving him behind without a second glance. With each step we get away from him, my chest opens up and I can breathe a little easier, but just as quickly anger floods into my system, and by the time the valet brings Lawson’s car and we get into it, I'm fuming.
“Fucking asshole,” I snap, dragging my fingers through my hair in an effort to relieve myself of the ache taking up residence in the back of my head.
Lawson navigates the streets, glancing at me before returning focus to the road. “You need to be more specific than that, damsel,” he says. “I can't tell if you're talking about me or the other one.”
A laugh rips from my lips, and I shake my head at the way tension has the ability of melting from my body with just a few words from him. “Not you,” I say. “Him. He won't listen. He won't believe me. But you show up, another man, and he actually goes quiet? Why does he respect what you say and not me?”
“Because he's a douchebag?” Lawson answers like it's a question, shrugging when he turns onto the road that will take us to my apartment. “I honestly don't understand men like him. I never have. My mom told me stories about my father, and he treated her similarly. Plus, my sister has had her fair share of jerks in and out of her life.”
“That sucks,” I say, shivering at the idea if I’d gotten more connected to Brian than I had. God forbid having a child with a man like that. If he didn't respect my opinions or my needs, of course he wouldn't respect a child’s.