Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 94313 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 472(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94313 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 472(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
“You know my cousin?” Becka asked him in confusion.
“Let’s go, Becka,” I ordered, getting to my feet.
“Esther,” Otto said again, his voice nearly a growl.
“What the hell is going on?” Becka asked.
Matt started to laugh. “No fucking way,” he said, looking back and forth between us. His eyes widened as he sniffed the air. “No fucking way! You fucked the—”
Whatever he’d been about to call me was cut off abruptly when Otto’s fist hit his jaw with a loud thunk and he flew, landing on his back in the dirt.
Becka squeaked in fear.
“Let’s go,” I said, tugging on her arm.
“You got somethin’ to say?” Otto asked, standing over my cousin’s idiot boyfriend.
“No,” Matt mumbled, his voice shaking.
“What the heck is happening?” Becka shook her head in confusion.
“Let’s go,” I repeated, jerking her away. “Come on, we’re already so late.”
“Matt?”
“Go, Becks,” Matt said quietly as he sat up. “You’re gonna get in trouble.”
“Are you okay?”
“Go,” he snapped.
He was embarrassed and being an ass, but I didn’t care. I was just happy that he was telling my cousin to leave. I was on the verge of tears and I wanted to get as far from Otto as possible. Even the fear of facing my parents felt small when compared to having to look him in the face again.
“Fine,” Becka said, taking a step backward. She grabbed my hand and stomped toward her car.
“Can you drive?” I asked, hurrying to keep up with her.
“I had half a beer, I’m fine,” she replied, glancing at me out of the corner of her eye. “You know you’re going to have to tell me what the hell you were doing with Otto Hawthorne, right?”
“He liked my hair,” I said faintly as we reached her car.
I slid into the passenger seat and carefully buckled my seat belt. My hands were shaking.
“And?” Becka asked impatiently as she climbed in beside me.
“He kissed me,” I replied with a shrug.
Becka whooped so loud that a couple of heads by the fire turned to stare.
“My cousin got her first kiss and it was Otto Freaking Hawthorne!” she exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear as she poked me in the side. “Dang, girl, go big or go home.”
Becka was still shaking her head and smiling proudly as she drove us down the mountain. She didn’t even notice the way my entire body shook with leftover nerves or that my hands were clenched so tightly in my lap that by the time I got home my nails had left little bloody half-circles on my palms.
Chapter 2
Otto
I was swaying. I knew it. I felt it. But I couldn’t seem to hold myself steady.
“You better go puke,” my cousin Brody advised me cheerfully, throwing his hand around my shoulders. “If you pass out you’ll never hear the end of it.”
“It’s my party,” I replied, leaning heavily against him. “I can pass out if I want to.”
Brody laughed and shoved me away a little so he could grip me by the shoulders and look closely at my face. “You’ll do. How’s the back?”
“Burns like the worst sunburn I’ve ever had,” I mumbled.
He grinned. “Give it a couple days and you’ll forget it’s there.”
“I highly fuckin’ doubt that,” I scoffed. The massive tattoo that covered me from ass crack to the base of my neck was one of the reasons why I’d gotten so hammered. It hadn’t hurt badly while it was being done, I’d had worse scratches given to me during sex, but a few hours after I was done the soreness had begun to grate on my nerves. I couldn’t make even the slightest movement without feeling the scratch of my T-shirt rubbing against it.
“Quit bitchin’,” my brother Rumi ordered loudly as he strode toward us. “We’ve all got one.”
“Pretty sure you whined for a month,” Nova pointed out, wrapping her arm around his waist. “Nova, can you rub this ointment on my back please? It stings.”
“Sugar, I just wanted your hands on me,” he replied with a chuckle. “By the third day you can barely feel it.”
Nova scowled.
“You just need to find a woman who’ll grease you up,” Rumi told me.
“No women,” I said, shaking my head. Oh, shit, I’d better not do that again or I was going to end up on my ass. My head was already beginning to throb.
“There’s a few around here,” Brody joked, looking around the room. “Want me to find you one?”
“Make sure none of us are related to her or fucked her already,” Rumi joked.
“Who else have you fucked?” Nova spat incredulously. Then she was looking around the room, too.
“No one, baby,” Rumi murmured. “But Brody gets around.”
“I’m not fuckin’ anyone,” I said, raising my voice to be heard above their bickering. “Mom is here. Jesus.”
“You’re the third son to get patched in. Mom has mastered the art of turning a blind eye,” Rumi joked. “She’ll probably leave soon so she doesn’t have to see the debauchery.”